Best food for Senegal parrot?

[jousze]

What the title says, what do you recommend?
If it’s possible something international because I’m now living in Belgium and I don’t know at all about petfood and all that in here.
Thanks [emoji16] so excited for my baby to arrive


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[itzjbean]

Have you checked out the 'Parrot Food, Recipes and Diet sub-forum?

It's a great resource with TONS of information. A look through the different threads in there will be very helpful to you.

Senegals, like other parrots, thrive on a diet made of fresh fruits and veggies, a good quality pellet mix and seeds served only occasionally. Many members here make what's called CHOP, a mix of chopped up fruits, veggies, grains, beans, sprouts, etc. served to our birds daily! Your bird may develop a favorite so it's important to have lots of variety.

 

[jousze]

Have you checked out the 'Parrot Food, Recipes and Diet sub-forum?

It's a great resource with TONS of information. A look through the different threads in there will be very helpful to you.

Senegals, like other parrots, thrive on a diet made of fresh fruits and veggies, a good quality pellet mix and seeds served only occasionally. Many members here make what's called CHOP, a mix of chopped up fruits, veggies, grains, beans, sprouts, etc. served to our birds daily! Your bird may develop a favorite so it's important to have lots of variety.

I don’t really understand what’s pellets cause that’s not called like that here.. could you put a picture? Sorry for sounding stupid


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[itzjbean]

Basically pellets were created by people who thought birds do not thrive on seeds. It's a recipe thrown together including good nutrients and minerals for bids and provides them a more well rounded and complete diet. Lots of birds like them and there's many kinds.

My cockatiels get some Zupreem fruit pellets...

They also get some Roudybush...

And lots of members here give Harrisons...

Really you can't go wrong with pellets if you can find a good one and your bird likes it. But nothing beats fresh in my opinion. I use the pellets as more a supplement.

 

[jousze]

Basically pellets were created by people who thought birds do not thrive on seeds. It's a recipe thrown together including good nutrients and minerals for bids and provides them a more well rounded and complete diet. Lots of birds like them and there's many kinds.

My cockatiels get some Zupreem fruit pellets...

They also get some Roudybush...

And lots of members here give Harrisons...

Really you can't go wrong with pellets if you can find a good one and your bird likes it. But nothing beats fresh in my opinion. I use the pellets as more a supplement.

Okay I’ll try it when the little parrot will arrive!
Thanks so much!


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[noodles123]

Do keep an eye on your bird to ensure that it is eating....my bird (rehomed) would starve if I only gave her pellets, as she doesn't really eat them...she grinds them up and gets some, but I have to supplement a ton with fruit/veg/ vitamins (WITH CAUTION).

Since mine came to me as a seed addict, I give her a mix of seeds and pellets and I do not give sunflower seeds. The mix I give isn't great, but it's better than many.

 

[noodles123]

ps: I currently own all 3 bags of food shown (in different sizes) as a result of the ex-seed addict's pickiness lol.
Zupreem fruit blend (while worst among the 3) was liked best by my bird.

 

[lac575]

We just switched our bird who was raised on seed, to Harrison's. We adopted him 3 weeks ago, he is 2 years old. He switched to the pellets with no problems. There are certain ways you can switch them over. In our case, we offered him some of the new food and he liked it so we took the seeds away and only give him a couple of sunflower seeds and almond slices a day as treats.

His vet recommended Harrison's and from our research, it is the best food out there. Great organic ingredients, without any dyes, flavors or preservatives. Our bird's poop already look much better! (welcome to being a bird parent lol).

We offered him Lafebar pellets for a few days before we offered him Harrisson's. He barely touched the Lafebar but went for the Harrison's right away. As your bird will be young, it should be easy enough to introduce him to any kind of pellet. I do believe that Harrison's is the best tasting. Our bird acts like it is and we also tried it ourselves. We think it tastes good haha.

 

[EllenD]

My Senegal is just going to be turning 2 in November, and he eats a staple of healthy pellets and a healthy, low-fat seed-mix that contains NO sunflower seeds at all. Those are the two "staples" of his daily diet, he gets more pellets than anything, then seed mix. He also gets fresh veggies every single day, usually in a "Chop" Mix, and usually he gets the fresh veggies around my dinner time, as we all eat together, so he gets his pellets and his seed mix first thing in the morning. He gets fresh fruit 3-4 times a week (shouldn't be every day or in large quantities, as fruit is full of sugar), and he gets occasional other treats like nuts and some people food. But what is important is that you find both a healthy pellet and a healthy seed-mix for him as his main diets every single day, with no sunflower seeds.

They sell pellets in Europe, if you go to any pet shop or bird shop you should be able to find many different brands of parrot pellets, if not, then you'll have to order online. You should not give him only a seed-mix as his daily staple, he must have pellets, as a diet of only seeds will end in Fatty Liver Disease, among other issues. I believe they should be given a healthy, varied seed-mix every single day, but not in place of their pellets, but rather as a supplement to their pellets.

 

[opus88]

It appears Harrison's may be the best pellets mentioned here - but there are many varieties of those to choose from. Is there a best one (or best several) for a Sennie? What about other mixes - nothing is specifically for a Senegal, so is it better to choose something labeled for cockatiels or for parrots? And why was it mentioned to avoid sunflower seeds?

 

[Laurasea]

I would choose a medium size parrot seed mix not cockatiel.

Sunflower seeds used for training and treats are fine. It's just that they have a lot of fat, abd burds will choose them over everything else, become over weight or develop fatty liver disease. Also don't feed peanuts in shell, the shells easily grow mold that is toxic to them. I personally don't feed peanuts at all.

I think TOPS us tge best pellets. But mine like oven baked bites best.

 

[opus88]

Thank you, Laurasea, for your response - this is quite helpful! The main mix I had been giving my 25-year-old Sennie for many years is no longer available and I've been struggling for several years now to find something she truly likes - she just picks a couple favorites from the dish and ignores everything else. She does get veggies and a little fruit, as well as a bit of my hot cereal (oats, spelt, quinoa, kaniwa, amaranth or millet) each morning, too.
I was especially pleased to see you mention TOP's pellets, as I had just placed a bag of it in my Amazon cart. She has never had pellets, so it should be interesting to see how she reacts when she finds a little hiding in her current mix.
She is primarily eating the sunflower seeds from her current mix, and I have been giving her unshelled peanuts fairly often. Ugh. Looks like change is about to happen! But she was just at the vet and she seems to be healthy and happy. I'm glad for that!