Feeding my conure

[Skye]

Hey guys! Sorry to be asking so many questions! Clearly I'm a newbie haha but I was wondering if when I feed my bird I should be taking the food bowl away after a while or if I should have food available all day? I'm getting worried about my conure because I'm trying to switch him over to a pellet based diet(he is used to a seed mix from the pet store) and he seems to be rejecting the pellets and only digging out the seeds from the mix. If I only let him have access to the pellet/seed mix for a short amount of time periodically throughout the day will he be better about eating? I made an appointment with the vet already but until then I was hoping to get some opinions! Thanks!

 

[Nakiska]

Hello and CONGRATULATIONS on your new conure!

To answer your question: I may go against the grain here...but I keep some sort of food in front of my birds at all times. I feed a varied diet of zupreem natural pellets, healthy selects seed/veggie diet that is in a silage style feeder and every single day I offer some sort of fruit/veggie/beans/rice/pasta etc (just what ever I have on hand) whether it be raw or cooked or a combination there of in their "Special treats" dish.

Both my conures love their chunks of grapes, apple, broccoli, corn on the cob, cauliflower, carrot etc...I give them to them big enough that they can pick up and hold to eat...as my conures, as most all conures I suppose - absolutely enjoy holding, playing with and eating larger chunks.

So in short, my guys are offered their pellet/seed 24/7 and of course fresh water and daily offered something fresh - raw or cooked.

Even if your new guy isn't keen on trying new foods, keep offering them in different ways...could be he doesn't like a chunk of apple or carrot, but will like it if it's thinly sliced, or small cubes.

Also, sharing a mealtime with your conure is a great way to entice them to try new foods...as long as you are eating something safe for your bird of course.

You can also try soaking some pellets in 100% apple or grape juice or even just plain ole water to entice him to try them. It works for some.

Good Luck and keep us all posted.

Toni

 

[MangieSun]

I also have food available to my babies all day. I was able to switch both my conure and Too to pellets by having only pellets in their dish on the playstands. Out of curiosity they started tasting them and by day four they both were loving their pellets. I offer fresh food in the morning and they get a little seed mix in their cage at night. They both are on the playstands 10 plus hours a day so for the most part they eat pellets. I do also offer fresh goodies throughout the day as well. Congrats on your new conure!!!

 

[witchbaby]

I got my conure to eat pellets by pretending to eat them myself. We developed a routine where we eat breakfast together. I put down a towel and a bowl of pellets and acted really excited and dug around in the food bowl and crumbled the pellets up. Sounds silly, I know, but it worked. She eventually joined in after a few mornings of this.

You can make the transition easier by providing a seperate bowl of seed mix in the cage and taking it away after a set amount of time each day, or keep the pellets and seeds mixed together and gradually reduce the amount of seeds and increase the amount of pellets.

I make pellets available all day, but I feed fresh food at least twice a day and take it away a few hours later.

 

[kiwiS]

Kiwi has fresh chop mix with some seeds in it available in the morning. At lunch time I switch it out to her pellet mix. At 6 pm her pellets are taken out and she is offered another chop mix till about 8 pm. Then I switch it out again for pellets and it is available to her for the rest of the night till morning and the cycle continues ^.^

hope this helps

 

[EnglishMuffin]

Just an input from someone with a new baby too! So far I've had food in sootie's cage 24/7. She has a tropical pellet/ dried fruit/ nut mix and I also give her lots of fruit, vegetables, herbs, leaves and nuts as well as some whole grains from whatever I'm eating.

however, I've noticed that she doesn't plat much with her toys. She's very quiet and content in her cage, and happy to go in there, but she just sits in front of her food and eats! I tried making foraging toys to encourage her to search but she preferred the easy way of eating out of her food dish ^_^

She plays with toys when she's out of her cage. So now I have taken her food dish away to see if it will encourage her to explore her cage a bit more. Mostly right now she just seems to be searching for her food dish!

 

[Skye]

Thank you everyone! I have been mixing smaller amounts of seeds in everyday. Not now I've noticed that his beak looks chipped on one side! Am I being paranoid? I know their beaks are really strong but is this something that may commonly happen? He doesn't seem to be in any pain but I just don't want it to interfere with his ability to break the pellets down.