Mixed seed, stable diet?

[Millis3]

Is a bag of mixed seed good for a stable diet for a CAG? (Mixed seed meaning- sunflower seeds in shell, peanuts in shell, dried peppers, dried banana slices, dried corn, and a few others) cheers.

 

[ShellyBorg]

Nope, seeds are like feeding a human child candy for meals. Please look into what fresh foods and pellets you can give that are available in your area.

 

[Millis3]

Ok cheers, what's the best pellet available?

 

[ShellyBorg]

Many like Harrison's , I love Roudybush. ZooPreems natural is a good one that is easy to find.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Unfortunately it is not a appropriate diet for a CAG. The staple seed diet is a slow death for a parrot. My galah came to me on a staple seed diet, and she was 3-12 months away from dying. It's took well over a year and a half to get her to a point where she could be considered "healthy", but still has a few issues even now. My friends who I adopted Rosie from had 2 African greys on staple seed diets, one passed away at 16 and the other is a feather chewer and plucker.

Are you located in the united states? If so you should start transferring your grey to "high potency Harrison's pellets". My galah above is currently on Harrison's pellets, and my Congo African grey has grown up eating Harrison pellets. My CAG is extremely healthy and has a very good immune system because of his diet.

This is a photo of when I got her, compared with how she looks now to show how terrible she looked on seeds. Eating seeds was giving her organ failure, she had stiff joints and was always tired. She also had a calcium deficiency, and was emaciated because her organs could no longer process the few nutrients that seeds were giving her, paired with the fact that she was sore and tired, and so bored of her food so she wasn't eating enough.

 

[PaperLantern]

I feed my GCC Roudybush, Harrisons is also a good pellet, and Zupreem is good as well. I give Chubby free range for his pellets every day, and then I supplement his pellets with fresh fruits and veggies twice a day. Make sure to keep his water fresh (purified water is best), and to change the pellets at least once a day (I change Chubby's after he is done eating his veggies, because the pellets get soggy). Seeds should only be a treat, and NEVER NEVER feed your bird peanuts, especially not in the shell. They can carry a disease that makes parrots very sick.

Some good veggies and fruits to feed in addition to pellets are carrots, cooked sweet potato, cooked squash, kale, broccoli, blueberries, mango, banana, apple, corn, string beans, green/red/yellow peppers, jalapeno, boiled egg (only a little), etc. Basically any veggie high in Vitamin A is good like carrots, sweet potatos, and Kale. Feed spinach sparingly.

Make sure to stay away from peanuts, avocado, onion, garlic, lemon, chocolate, junk food and foods high in salt and sugar, caffeine, alcohol, smoke, etc.

 

[Millis3]

Thank you very much for both being helpful. I'm buying the CAG tomorrow from a couple who are moving away and can't take her with them. She is a female 5 yr old. I went to my local petshop today and brought the mixed seed bag but they did have some 'Nutribird p15' I just didn't know if it was any good or not? I also brought some fresh grapes and booked a check over with the vets.

 

[ShellyBorg]

Great job on the vet! Feeding her what she is use to will not hurt while she is settling with you. But work on switching her over as soon as you can. I have never heard of that brand I am guessing you are from the UK?

 

[PaperLantern]

Good job with booking a trip to the vets, that's a smart move as you want to make sure there are no underlying health conditions. That brand of pellet is not one I've heard of before, but it's probably better than all-seed. Just make sure you gradually switch him from seed to pellet, and look into ordering some Zupreem, Harrisons, or Roudybush online if you can't find it in your area. That's what I do for Chubby. To switch from seed to pellet or from one pellet to another you start by mixing the two, and then gradually decrease the amount of seed or old pellet until you're just left with the new pellet.

Also, I only give Chubby grapes on occasion, and I make sure they are organic/peeled. Grapes tend to have a high concentration of pesticides, and since the skin of the grape is so thin the chemicals tend to penetrate into the fruit itself. If your CAG doesn't take to fresh veggies and fruits right away keep trying, and keep offering them, sometimes it takes awhile for them to want to try it. You can also pretend to take bites off his veggies and act like it's REALLY good (don't take actual bites though, our saliva can contain gram-negative bacteria which can harm birds).

Feel free to post any other questions or concerns, we are here to help ! Also, congratulations on the new CAG

 

[Millis3]

Yeah I'm from the uk, there is a parrot forum for the uk but I thought this forum would be a lot more helpful and have more useful information.

 

[Millis3]

Good job with booking a trip to the vets, that's a smart move as you want to make sure there are no underlying health conditions. That brand of pellet is not one I've heard of before, but it's probably better than all-seed. Just make sure you gradually switch him from seed to pellet, and look into ordering some Zupreem, Harrisons, or Roudybush online if you can't find it in your area. That's what I do for Chubby. To switch from seed to pellet or from one pellet to another you start by mixing the two, and then gradually decrease the amount of seed or old pellet until you're just left with the new pellet.

Also, I only give Chubby grapes on occasion, and I make sure they are organic/peeled. Grapes tend to have a high concentration of pesticides, and since the skin of the grape is so thin the chemicals tend to penetrate into the fruit itself. If your CAG doesn't take to fresh veggies and fruits right away keep trying, and keep offering them, sometimes it takes awhile for them to want to try it. You can also pretend to take bites off his veggies and act like it's REALLY good (don't take actual bites though, our saliva can contain gram-negative bacteria which can harm birds).

Feel free to post any other questions or concerns, we are here to help ! Also, congratulations on the new CAG

Thank you very much, you have all been more then helpful and very quick to reply. I'm sure I will become a constant question asker!