Changing diet in my sun conure

[Starchylde]

I have been reading up on diets. My sun will not eat anything but sunflower seeds and maybe the odd peanut. I've tried taking her food away all day and just put a selection of fresh fruit and veg and the extruded pellets. When I get home from work I see she hasn't touched a thing. So I cave and give her sunflower. I'm scared she'll starve to death if I don't.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Well, sunflower seeds are no diet that should be used regularly. You may want to try mixing the seeds with the other foods and slowly tapering off the seeds.

While she won't starve to death eating just those- she'll be malnourished from lack of necessary nutrients. This can lead to illness and ultimately premature death.

What sorts of diets have you tried and what are you aiming for?

I have Skittles on the Harrisons pellets. He loves those and took right to them- the High Potency Fine which I give to Skittles has sunflower in it (along with a lot of other nutrients) and the 'power treats' I give him have peanuts in them. Have you looked into Harrisons?

Often times you can get free samples by contacting the company.

There is another thread that also includes some great tips, I'll post the link:

http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/55369-changing-diet.html

 

[Starchylde]

I don't think we get Harrison's here. I got aviplus. I'm aiming for healthy. I tried peas in the pod, green beans, lentils, apples, grapes, pears, rice, cauliflower and broccoli. Tried raw and steamed. She refuses to touch anything but sunflower. I try get the white one because I've heard it's not as fatty.

I was wondering if vitamin drops in her water would help?

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Harrisons is only available online (or in a vets office, if they carry it). They sell it at HarrisonsBirdFoods.com and also on Amazon and on the mysafebirdstore website. Best bet is to contact Harrisons directly and see about getting some samples.

As for the vitamin drops- it wouldn't hurt, probably best in the short term- but ideally the vitamins and minerals should come in the form of food sources.

Its really not healthy to just be eating one basic food item all the time that has no real proper nutrients. It'd be different if you said all she'll eat is broccoli because broccoli is a nutrition powerhouse rich in Vitamin A which is the most important vitamin for birds.

It's likely going to require retraining. The older the bird and the longer the habit the more time and effort it will likely take but its totally possible.

 

[Starchylde]

How would I go about retraining?

 

[itzjbean]

You could try mixing in your desired food (CHOP - here's my thread about mine I make) with a couple sunflower seeds mixed in so she has to dig around the other foods to get to them. Or you can offer a healthier seed mix with only a few sunflower seeds mixed in. My birds eat Volkmann's sunflower-seed-less mix, Tropimix pellet mix and zupreem fruit pellets with their CHOP.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

Basically, re-training in regards to diet involves gradually decreasing the current diet while gradually increasing the new diet.

The primary concern when converting a birds diet is ensuring they ARE in fact eating and getting enough nutrition to sustain themselves.

I think there are probably others on this forum who could give you better ideas on how to re-train diet as thats not really an area I have that much experience with since both Peaches and Skittles took right to the Harrisons.

 

[GaleriaGila]

You can order Harrison's online. I do.
Harrison's Bird Foods
I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. 30-ish years ago, Harrison's was still a small company. My vet was actually able to talk to Dr. Harrison about my bird's species and status, and they decided on the High Potency. My bird loves the pellets now, but to get him converted, my avian vet suggested putting pellets out all day, and putting seeds (his old diet) out for two 15-minute periods a day. That would sustain him but leave him hungry enough to try new stuff. I presume the same technique could be used to get him to eat other healthy stuff. My guy was eating pellets in a couple of days, and now I can feed a good variety of other stuff, knowing he has the pellets as a basic. Pellets are out all day... fresh treats a few times a day.