Pellet grinding?

[DougD]

I have a 6 month old male Eclectus (Gumbo). We feed him fresh veggies and fruit twice a day with Tops pellets as well. When we got him at 4 months old, he had been fed a seed/nut/dried fruit diet. We switched him the fresh food and pellets right away and he seems to be doing very well with it, except for the last few weeks, he has lost a little weight. His activity has been increasing, cage climbing, wing flapping, etc. This may be the reason for small weight loss. He grinds up the pellets as he is eating them (I assume) over the bowl, but there is a lot of ground pellets left in the bowl. My question is how do we know he is actually eating any pellet food and not just grinding it up??? Thanks

 

[SailBoat]

Eclectus diet is to say the least, very unique and requires far more effort than near all other hook billed Parrots. It is well worth your time to visit the Eclectus Forum and search for discussing regarding their diet requirements.
The natural range of Eclectus is fairly barren and enriched foods can cause issues. Most owners work at providing a diet based around 'chop' (veggies, fruits, etc.) with a few pellets like Tops as part of it.
Grinding pellets can indicate many things, including , just size reduction (playing).

 

[HeatherG]

If you were really concerned you could weigh the bowl before eating and after eating/grinding up pellets.

This doesn’t take into account anything they pick up and drop on the floor, though.

I think if it goes in the beak some is getting eaten.

 

[DougD]

If you were really concerned you could weigh the bowl before eating and after eating/grinding up pellets.

This doesn’t take into account anything they pick up and drop on the floor, though.

I think if it goes in the beak some is getting eaten.

Thank you. I've though about weighing, but a lot of what's left ends up on the floor. I wondered, of those who feed their birds pellets, how much remains in the bowl or floor. Not sure if our situation is typical. Probably nothing to worry about?

 

[LeeC]

Eclectus diet is to say the least, very unique and requires far more effort than near all other hook billed Parrots. It is well worth your time to visit the Eclectus Forum and search for discussing regarding their diet requirements.
The natural range of Eclectus is fairly barren and enriched foods can cause issues. Most owners work at providing a diet based around 'chop' (veggies, fruits, etc.) with a few pellets like Tops as part of it.
Grinding pellets can indicate many things, including , just size reduction (playing).

I have wondered if there is any food in Nature, for wild parrots, that resembles pellets in their lack of moisture primarily and their hardness. (I realize there are no multi-ingredient foods in Nature. The usually-synthetic vitamins and usually-not-bioavailable minerals in most "fortified" pellets is an entirely different subject.) Pellets are so very dry, and quite hard. I suppose some nuts in Nature are hard, but probably not as hard as pellets. Nuts in Nature are raw, unroasted, and not "dried" (which I believe is done to slow spoilage, for shelf-stability), so I think they have a significantly higher moisture content.

My point is that I think pellets are quite a strange "food" for parrots, so it does not surprise me when parrots do seemingly strange things with them. In other words, if a parrot does not learn that pellets are food, they treat them as a destructible "toy" in some ways.

My first Senegal, Charlie was on Harrison's coarse when I got him, and there were at least as much pellets left in his water dish as he might have ingested, as well as dry pellet crumbs below the water dish. Parrots tend to "feed the worms" a good bit with whatever they eat, and in my experience pellets are no exception.

 

[Owlet]

Tops pellets are very soft and become powdered easily. It is very common with people who use tops to be worried about consumption. I am included in that group. You could try a smaller pellet size. Or you can collect the the dust and follow their bird bread recipe. just needs some fruit/veggie puree, and I think some baking soda in addition to the dust.

I also use roudybush and zupreem with my other birds. Aster, the one eating zupreem, leaves a good bit of dust behind. Apollo, the one on roudybush, does not. Dust varies from pellet to pellet and bird to bird. It's okay they are eating it even if there is quiet a bit of waste. I think my walls have seen more chop than my birds' stomachs.

 

[LeeC]

@DougD, it would be remiss of me if I did not share with you a wonderful book about feeding parrots really well, which happens to have two Eclectus parrots on the cover.

 

[HeatherG]

I have wondered if there is any food in Nature, for wild parrots, that resembles pellets in their lack of moisture primarily and their hardness. (I realize there are no multi-ingredient foods in Nature. The usually-synthetic vitamins and usually-not-bioavailable minerals in most "fortified" pellets is an entirely different subject.) Pellets are so very dry, and quite hard. I suppose some nuts in Nature are hard, but probably not as hard as pellets. Nuts in Nature are raw, unroasted, and not "dried" (which I believe is done to slow spoilage, for shelf-stability), so I think they have a significantly higher moisture content.

My point is that I think pellets are quite a strange "food" for parrots, so it does not surprise me when parrots do seemingly strange things with them. In other words, if a parrot does not learn that pellets are food, they treat them as a destructible "toy" in some ways.

My first Senegal, Charlie was on Harrison's coarse when I got him, and there were at least as much pellets left in his water dish as he might have ingested, as well as dry pellet crumbs below the water dish. Parrots tend to "feed the worms" a good bit with whatever they eat, and in my experience pellets are no exception.

Parrots assure the next generation of the forest understory! Even on my carpet.

 

[Owlet]

Parrots assure the next generation of the forest understory! Even on my carpet.

if I could have a rainforest with trees and flowers and everything in my living room.... I'd call that a win.

 

[HeatherG]

if I could have a rainforest with trees and flowers and everything in my living room.... I'd call that a win.

That’s the phrase I think of when I vacuum, or when I don’t vacuum. Good thing my carpet doesn’t get watered.

 

[DougD]

Tops pellets are very soft and become powdered easily. It is very common with people who use tops to be worried about consumption. I am included in that group. You could try a smaller pellet size. Or you can collect the the dust and follow their bird bread recipe. just needs some fruit/veggie puree, and I think some baking soda in addition to the dust.

I also use roudybush and zupreem with my other birds. Aster, the one eating zupreem, leaves a good bit of dust behind. Apollo, the one on roudybush, does not. Dust varies from pellet to pellet and bird to bird. It's okay they are eating it even if there is quiet a bit of waste. I think my walls have seen more chop than my birds' stomachs.

Thanks for your input. The birdie bread, I'll have to consider that. Sounds like a good idea?

 

[DougD]

Thanks for all your comments. We will keep an eye on his weight. Still not sure how much of the pellets he's ingesting, hopefully some. Doug

 

[DougD]

@DougD, it would be remiss of me if I did not share with you a wonderful book about feeding parrots really well, which happens to have two Eclectus parrots on the cover.

View attachment 46119

Thank you for the recommendation

 

[DougD]

Tops pellets are very soft and become powdered easily. It is very common with people who use tops to be worried about consumption. I am included in that group. You could try a smaller pellet size. Or you can collect the the dust and follow their bird bread recipe. just needs some fruit/veggie puree, and I think some baking soda in addition to the dust.

I also use roudybush and zupreem with my other birds. Aster, the one eating zupreem, leaves a good bit of dust behind. Apollo, the one on roudybush, does not. Dust varies from pellet to pellet and bird to bird. It's okay they are eating it even if there is quiet a bit of waste. I think my walls have seen more chop than my birds' stomachs.

Thank you

 

[SailBoat]

I have wondered if there is any food in Nature, for wild parrots, that resembles pellets in their lack of moisture primarily and their hardness. (I realize there are no multi-ingredient foods in Nature. The usually-synthetic vitamins and usually-not-bioavailable minerals in most "fortified" pellets is an entirely different subject.) Pellets are so very dry, and quite hard. I suppose some nuts in Nature are hard, but probably not as hard as pellets. Nuts in Nature are raw, unroasted, and not "dried" (which I believe is done to slow spoilage, for shelf-stability), so I think they have a significantly higher moisture content.

My point is that I think pellets are quite a strange "food" for parrots, so it does not surprise me when parrots do seemingly strange things with them. In other words, if a parrot does not learn that pellets are food, they treat them as a destructible "toy" in some ways.

My first Senegal, Charlie was on Harrison's coarse when I got him, and there were at least as much pellets left in his water dish as he might have ingested, as well as dry pellet crumbs below the water dish. Parrots tend to "feed the worms" a good bit with whatever they eat, and in my experience pellets are no exception.

I believe that you well know that there is nothing in a natural range of any Parrot that would resemble pellets. As you know, pellets were formulated as a means of feeding Zoo creatures that allowed for shelf life and easy of distribution (feeding). They then began looking for more places to sell the product, which lead to farms and the huge Dog and Cat market.

At the same time, very cheap Wild Bird Seed (High Volumes of Sunflower and corn) was flooding the Parrot market and it was only a matter of time before a Parrot pellet variation was developed for Parrots and that brings us to the current moment where even those Parrots with highly specialized diets are targeted.

Understanding that Parrots are literally at the top of their food chain and their eating habits are seen by Humans as wasteful as they drop more than they eat. In their natural range this works for the ground feeders and the plants as well. In our homes, well one needs to add a step to the process by gathering and taking their leftovers and providing it to those outside. Thus completing the food chain.

IMHO, pellets are a good 'supplement,' which is lightly added to a full spectrum of natural, fresh foods, which includes a wide mix of veggies, some fruits and selected seeds, grains and nuts all found in their natural range.

 

[LeeC]

That’s the phrase I think of when I vacuum, or when I don’t vacuum. Good thing my carpet doesn’t get watered.

Fortunately I have hardwood floors, because my floors do get watered! Grady (Timneh) puts a lot of water on the floor when he bathes! Actually so do the two male Senegals. I am expecting new water dishes for The Conure Club. They have been bathing a bit more frequently, perhaps with the addition of Copperfield there is just more behavior to "mirror". Anyway, the new dishes are shallow, but even larger diameter.

I prefer white ceramic to stainless steel dishes. I also prefer shallow dishes to deep ones.

Just so this isn't too far off topic, picture a bunch of pellet chunks in these dishes clouding the water. :]