Help with a diet

[marceldacs317]

As of now, I know that my gcc will eat seed, roudybush pellets, and sweet fruits(apples, mangos). I could keep roudybush as part of his diet and give him vegetables and other healthy foods. He is very open minded and will try anything I give him. The problem now is that when I hand him a leafy green, he will chew on it until it is dry but spit out the actual leaf. Is he still getting full from it or getting the vitamins? What would you guys suggest I do?

 

[MonicaMc]

You might try making a chop for your green cheek... combine a variety of ingredients but chop/dice/slice the pieces into tiny chunks so that they are easier to eat.

He may still be getting something from it if he is ingesting some of the leaf, but it's hard to say!

 

[Calace]

There are some fantastic ideas in this thread http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

 

[marceldacs317]

ok thanks. He loves roudybush maintenance and sweet fruits, I know that. He never had a diet issue like being a seed junkie. he is so curious and will try to eat nonfood items. He will pretty much try to eat anything I give him. I think the problem is that he doesn't like the taste of leafy greens or something. I see him chew on it and spit it out.

 

[baron1282]

I switched my bird to a Pellet diet.

My guy loves this stuff and took too it right away.


[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Zupreem-Fruit-Blend-medium-Parrots-Lb/dp/B002KLCJVU/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1377732940&sr=8-13&keywords=Conure+Pellets"]Amazon.com: Zupreem Fruit Blend-medium Parrots 2 Lb.: Pet Supplies[/ame]


We are trying to get him to eat these pellets as well.


[ame="http://www.amazon.com/ZuPreem-AvianMaintenance-Natural-Parrots-Conures/dp/B001OLUVP8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377732940&sr=8-1&keywords=Conure+Pellets"]Amazon.com: ZuPreem AvianMaintenance Natural Bird Diet for Parrots & Conures, 3 lbs.: Pet Supplies[/ame]


They say it's for Conures, but for my pineapple they are too big and I am cutting them up, which makes him accept them more but I will be switching to this when I use it all up.


[ame="http://www.amazon.com/ZuPreem-Natural-Bird-Cockatiel-2-5lb/dp/B0002AQLK6/ref=sr_1_7?s=pet-supplies&srs=2581515011&ie=UTF8&qid=1377733017&sr=1-7&keywords=Zupreem"]Amazon.com: ZuPreem Natural Bird Food Cockatiel 2.5lb: Pet Supplies[/ame]


As far as the fruit blend goes, I am sure that's really all you need. It's good to switch it up, but at least with the pellets they get a lot more nutrition than with seeds. Also you still will feed him everything you make for him as a supplement to the pellets.

 

[marceldacs317]

Yeah. Well, my problem isn't that he doesn't want to eat pellets. He all ready eats pellets willingly and between zupreem fruit blend and roudy bush maintenance, he prefers the roudybush. in fact, I bet he likes pellets more than he likes seeds. The problem I have right now is that he won't eat the leafy greens that I have tried giving him. He will just chew and suck the juice out of them. Should I just keep trying every leafy green on the planet until he eats them, or maybe he will start eating them if I starve him a little?

 

[baron1282]

I wouldn't starve him. As long as he is eating the pellets he is really getting everything he needs.

I would just try different things, like Sweet Potato's and Apples. My guy goes nuts over Blackberries! Oranges are good for them as well. I would just keep trying with different things to see what he likes. The whole reason for the pellets is for picky eaters, that way they get what they need without knowing it. At least that is what I was told by the Vet we took him too.

What I don't get is, why the pets stores don't feed them pellets. They are just as much as the seeds they feed them. It would be much healthier for them if they did.

 

[marceldacs317]

Are you sure? Just asking because everywhere I read people say that veggies should be a big part of their diet. He will eat pellets and fruits all day long since he likes them (apples are his favorite all time food), just not sure about veggies, are they not important?

 

[kellie]

Lukah's favorites are apples too! He hated carrots, kale, broccoli, etc. I made a chop, like Monica said. I took jalepeno, broccoli, kale, apple, raspberries, carrot and possibly something else I'm forgetting and put them all into a food processor. I chopped them till they were little bite-size pieces and then put the chop into an ice-cube tray. Covered the ice cube tray with tin foil and put it into the freezer. Each day I take an ice-cube of chop out, heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds and put it right into his cage. He was hesitant at first, but now he's crazy over the stuff! I also have another mix that is cooked garbanzo beans, cooked lentils and cooked quinoa pasta (no chopping on this one). He loves that as well (though not so much on the lentils!). I switch off which mix he gets each day! (I have a picture of his vegetable/fruit chop I can post if it will help!)

He never ate carrots, broccoli, raspberries or kale before the chop and no w I think the carrots covered in all the jalepeno and apple juice are his favorite!

 

[Kalidasa]

Another little trick, if you're chopping up everything in a food chopper, is to put a little fresh beet in the mix....it will stain most everything an attractive shade of red which seems to go over better than green. Plus beet is nutritious. they're really attracted to red.

 

[MsPony]

I think my pet store is the only one in existence to heavily believe in pellet!

Anyways, I go to the grocery and buying...everything. I do frozen and fresh, I gran everything leafy and green (or red.) I chop it all up, add some bell peppers and odd veggies (no roots, I do a root specific chop, same with fruits and grains, but I'm overly organized like that.) I've found he doesnt prefer chard, and okra made him angry. (ever hear a conure mutter angrily to themselves? I got that when I tried okra!) But even if he's sucking juice, he gets some good nutrition from that.

 

[baron1282]

One thing I hate about pellets. Is that because they LOVE the red pellets so much (Mine does) his poop comes out almost bright red sometimes. Yea, It freaked me out, and started to research really fast, than I was about to call the Vet.

I learned that the food will dye their poop, but as long as the clear's and the Solids and the whites are still nice and separated your good. My gay seems to be doing great so I am not worried.

From everyone's experience with pellets, I just want to make sure. Feeding my bird only the fruity blend is fine? Also just to ask if that's all I ever fed my bird would be be healthy because the pellets has every vitamin you could ever give your bird in them already?

Just to be clear, I do feed him the vegetable mix as well, he just eats the fruity blend more. I also feed him a lot of fresh fruits and the veggies he likes. I am just trying to get your take on what my vet said. That a pellet only diet will be enough to keep your bird just as healthy as if you were feeding it fresh foods.

 

[marceldacs317]

I volunteer at a bird shelter and this one bird gets supreme fruity blend and Only pics out the red one so then his poop is all red. THats the one thing I think is better with feeding a dye free pellet, because then they can't only choose to eat a specific color. Interestingly, my green cheek likes roudybush more than fruit blend so i just feed him the roudybush maintenance. As for veggies I see him chew and spit out most things, just chewing the juice out of it. He seems to like doing that though almost as if its a toy.

 

[MonicaMc]

Blood in droppings can also affect the color of the poop... which is why I advise against colored pellets. I've also noticed firmer, healthier droppings when fed a dye-free pellet vs a dyed pellet - even if it was just the difference between Zupreem Fruitblend and Zupreem Natural. (I would recommend Harrison's, TOP's or Roudybush as best pellets, though)

Is feeding pellets the same as feeding fresh foods? No it's not! Pellets are "dead" foods. Fresh foods and sprouts are *living* foods. They have enzymes in them.

Pellets are essentially processed food. It's been proven that humans do better on *fresh* foods over processed foods. Dyes, preservatives and the fortifying of the foods is not that healthy... when they fortify something, they may use synthetic vitamins or even using *part* of the vitamins themselves rather than the whole vitamin.


Now, I'm not saying that pellets are *bad*, because they are a huge improvement over seed diets! I'm just saying that *fresh food* is best! I often recommend pellets because it's not always easy to provide a proper fresh food based diet to our birds. Yes, fruits and vegetables are healthy, but where's the protein? Eggs can provide protein, but should be fed in moderation... and when fed as such, do not provide enough protein to make up for the amount of protein lacking in fruits and vegetables. Grains and legumes do. Quinoa is a "superfood" because it's a complete protein! Otherwise, one part legumes (*healthy* ones I would like to stress) to two parts grains can also make a healthy "complete" protein.

Ya, seeds are bad! Seeds are unhealthy! Not quite true... Remember, things in moderation. Some seed is fine! Better yet, sprout it! Then it's awesome! It's alive! It's fresh!




As far as a pelleted diet vs a fresh food diet... I have heard of breeders who fed pellets and had healthy birds... then they switched to a fresh food based diet, and the birds health improved and they had more offspring! Likewise, I have heard the opposite said!

It honestly varies... and it may depend on what foods are being fed and in what proportions.