lovebird diet

[pebbles1553]

right now, I feed my lovebird pellets, not artificial, because I read that seeds can be too fatty. She has an occasional fruit or veggie, but I'm sure she needs more. Do you follow a specific diet for your parrot? I've never made birdie chop for her before, and do you have any recipes for them?

 

[BirdyBee]

right now, I feed my lovebird pellets, not artificial, because I read that seeds can be too fatty. She has an occasional fruit or veggie, but I'm sure she needs more. Do you follow a specific diet for your parrot? I've never made birdie chop for her before, and do you have any recipes for them?

Hi, so I watched this video a while back, but it's got a ton of tips on how to make a balanced chop recipe. It's a bit long, but helped me a ton:

If you prefer a written explanation, I can provide that too

There's also a thread containing links to chop recipes on this forum shared by other bird owners:

Chop Recipes Resource Thread

Thanks to a wonderful suggestion by chris-md, we decided to create a resource thread for all the chop recipes posted by our members. Each link will take you to a chop recipe or to tips that can make your chop more interesting for your birds. We think they will be easier to find if they are all...

www.parrotforums.com

I'd say a good diet for your bird would be about 40% vegetables, herbs, etc(any fresh greens and stuff), 10% fruits(maybe even less, try avoiding fruits high in sugar) and the other 50% is majority pellets and some wholegrains(can be cooked and added to chop or fed dry with pellets), and a small bit of seeds(birds NEED seed in their diet, just not an excessive amount. Seeds contain essential fatty and amino acids that aren't found anywhere else. Leave out sunflower seeds for only training or treats since they're very high in fat)
The percentages don't matter too much, just make sure about half of the diet is fresh produce(fruits must be limited) and the other half is pellets, grains, and seeds(make sure not to give too much!)
You can also give your bird other goods, like bird-safe flowers and spices to make their meals more interesting.

Hope this helps!

 

[BirdyBee]

Hi, so I watched this video a while back, but it's got a ton of tips on how to make a balanced chop recipe. It's a bit long, but helped me a ton:

If you prefer a written explanation, I can provide that too

There's also a thread containing links to chop recipes on this forum shared by other bird owners:

Chop Recipes Resource Thread

Thanks to a wonderful suggestion by chris-md, we decided to create a resource thread for all the chop recipes posted by our members. Each link will take you to a chop recipe or to tips that can make your chop more interesting for your birds. We think they will be easier to find if they are all...

www.parrotforums.com

I'd say a good diet for your bird would be about 40% vegetables, herbs, etc(any fresh greens and stuff), 10% fruits(maybe even less, try avoiding fruits high in sugar) and the other 50% is majority pellets and some wholegrains(can be cooked and added to chop or fed dry with pellets), and a small bit of seeds(birds NEED seed in their diet, just not an excessive amount. Seeds contain essential fatty and amino acids that aren't found anywhere else. Leave out sunflower seeds for only training or treats since they're very high in fat)
The percentages don't matter too much, just make sure about half of the diet is fresh produce(fruits must be limited) and the other half is pellets, grains, and seeds(make sure not to give too much!)
You can also give your bird other goods, like bird-safe flowers and spices to make their meals more interesting.

Hope this helps!

Also, two affordable brands of pellets I reccomend that you can feed your parrot that is healthy, is Harrison's and Roudybush. I have only tried roudybush since Harrison's isn't available in my country, but a lot of people on here feed their birds Harrison's without a problem and have healthy birds

 

[hiriki]

My lovebird goes absolutely nutso over fruits and veggies! All of my birds get a fresh food bowl daily and all of them eat at least some of it but she is always so excited when I bring it over lol.

I have a lafeber pellet bowl (my vet recommends harrison's or lafeber over other brands) that is always full, and then every day they get a nice full bowl of chopped veggies that is honestly way more than they could possibly finish in the couple of hours they have access to it but I'm ok with that as it encourages them to eat as much as they can. My lovebird also gets 2 lafeber nutriberries, which are little balls that contain seeds, nuts and are enriched with vitamins and minerals... if your bird likes them it's a great way to get them some variety while also being sure they're getting healthy nutrients.

I have a thread somewhere where I explain my process, but basically I put veggies through a food processor to get a mix with little tiny veggie bits that I portion into ice cube trays and freeze. It's a several hour ordeal to prep but I only do it once every other week or so and then thaw a cube per cage once a day. Recently I've also been adding bigger veggie chunks to the bowl (broccoli florets and carrot chips, etc) because a couple of my birds prefer them to the tiny bits. My lovebird goes crazy over all of it though.

Edit: https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/my-bird-chop-process.100808/

Here's the thread I mentioned. I also like that YT channel that birdybee linked, I don't think I've seen that particular video but I like the other stuff she's done so it's probably worth watching

 

[pebbles1553]

wow thx!! you all have been helpful! I will look in to it!