diet

[conureconnie]

Bringing my conure home in the next couple of days... working on a diet plan.
I have some pellets and treats bought already. Should I be feeding about 65% pellets and the rest fruits and veggies? And do you guys feed once or twice a day and how much?
Thanks, so excited!

 

[chris-md]

Everyone is different, you do what works for you and your bird. Some people keep pellets available 24/7, and 2 meals of veggies, some people do no pellets at all and just 2 meals, the variations go on and on.

Generally speaking however, a lot of people who feed fresh stuff will be doing 2 feedings per day.

 

[Scott]

A great question, one that can be answered over time based on your conure's desires and your lifestyle. Some folks are home much of the time, others work or go to school 8+ hours daily.

Fresh veggies/fruits are the preferred staple, with a supplement of pellets and on occasion, seeds or other treats. There is some variation among species, so members best familiar with conures can fine-tune advice.

I feed fresh foods (aka "chop") almost daily, and remove all pellets. My climate is generally temperate, so the bowls are removed after roughly 6 to 8 hours and pellets are reintroduced.

The decision in the short term will be somewhat governed by the conure's diet at time of purchase. There are many techniques and a great "sticky" thread in this forum for conversion over time.

 

[Jen5200]

Congratulations on your new addition! Sounds like you are off to a good start and planning ahead! I agree with above, each bird is individual and you’ll end up tailoring it to work for you both. Personally my preference would be to find out what your conure is eating now, and provide that on arrival - to avoid stressing with changes in environment, cage, people and food all at the same time. Then after a bit of settling in, I’d start working on the diet. You’ll find that everyone feeds their birds a bit differently, and that you’ll find something that works for you.

I have 3 conures and all have different likes/dislikes (all were on a seed diet when I got them and were transitioned off). They all like different pellets, and all eat chop (mostly veggies, whole grains with a bit of fruit). I feed chop in the morning in a portion that they’ll eat all of it fairly quickly (mine is about a teaspoon per bird, but you figure out what they’ll eat over time). Mine always have pellets available. They get another portion of chop when I get home from work. If I had to guess, I would say that their diet works out to roughly half and half pellets and chop, maybe a bit more pellets. They get seeds, nutriberries, some nuts, little pieces of fruit, etc as treats.

 

[JLHess]

I am a newbie Conure owner, and have a 8 month old Green Cheek, so amounts of fruits and veggies to feed have been difficult to get a handle on based on all the internet info out there. One teaspoon is way less than I have been offering my bird....but there is always has quality pellets available. Any more tips on volume of feeding? Thank you!