Proper food amounts and dietary needs for conures

[Aphios]

I am working on my conure menu and schedule and have a few questions. I am feeding Wild Harvest Parrot food along with a natural treat mix, a molting and conditioning supplement and we give them some fruits, veggies and grains on the side when able. Approximately how much food does a conure need per day? I have two, a gcc and a sun. What is the minimum to do, such as on days I am out and what should be the basic everyday schedule. I don't want to starve them but I don't want to overfeed them either and everyone seems to say something different. I just want to be taking good care of them.

Thanks so much! Eagerly awaiting your responses!

Blessings,
Aphios

 

[Phlox]

Feeding can be a pretty controversial topic with bird people, so I can only give you my personal advice.

I free feed pellets -- so there are always some in the cage. Daily feedings vary wildly; chop mix(veggies, grains, beans) or just veggies/fruit fresh or dried, birdy bread(cornmeal, beans, sweet potatoes, whatever I stick in it) greens fresh or dried, and about a tablespoon or less of seeds. I save the rest of the seeds as treats/training motivation.

The amount of other food varies on the bird. My GCC is a very active bird, so I give her a decent amount of food. My amazon (for now anyway, working on that bit) is a perch potato, so she gets more low calorie foods.

 

[Aphios]

Thank you, I think that for the most part answered my question, just one more thing. Rather than pellets I have been feeding them a seed mix as their sole meal, in place of pellets. Would the feeding amount be the same? For example, you give them free access to the pellets, would I do the same with the seed mix?

Thanks again!

 

[MrsKay]

Hi Aphios, from my research and what I have read here in the forums, most conure owners do not give a seed mix as the sole meal. Like Phlox, my conure has pellets available 24/7
I know you want to provide the best care for your birds. May I suggest, if $$ allows, introducing some Roudybush or Harrisons conure pellets into your birds diet (the small or mini sizes). The chances of them over-eating a seed diet is highly probable, which from what I have read, can lead to obesity and health problems later on. This can be done by adding a tablespoon of pellets at a time to their current diet, then gradually decrease the seeds and increase the amount of pellets in the feed bowl over a period of time. Like Phlox, my conure gets 'maybe' a teaspoon or two of seed every other day or so. You could also feed some of the Nutriberries tropical fruit. It has 33% pellets, a good way to introduce pellets into the diet and most conures love them because there is still some seed.

 

[Phlox]

I'd like to add that all my birds refuse to eat Roudybush and Harrisons. I put them in the bird bread. They will only eat Zupreem. I know that's controversial too...but I don't see the point in buying pellets just to throw them away again.

 

[Katyo91]

I was wondering about this too Apious!

Usually I give mine a tablespoon (ish) of chop in the morning and I come home for lunch time and he gets a grape, a cherry (minus the pit of course!), or some other fruit. and for dinner some pellets! I usually make sure there's extra pellets in the food bowl for night so when he wakes up he isn't screaming for me to feed him right away..That way he can nibble on his leftover pellets until I replace it with the next morning's chop!

 

[Aphios]

I have looked into Harrison's and Lafaber's but they are a bit expensive and my birds don't seem to care for pellets that much. They are both flighted and are pretty active and I give them a good variety of fruits and veggies as well. Currently, their seed mix consist of several different types of seed like millet, sunflower, oats, I think some buckwheat and such things like. They also have a variety of nuts mixed in, whole peanuts, pine nut (though they get less of these), cashew and the like. They get a lot of dried fruit, banana and mango to name a few, dried veggies, (pepper, corn) and fresh as well.

Also, what are the differences and pros and cons of seed mixes vs. pellets? This bag and mix is advertised to have what they need in regard to nutrients, though it is suggested to feed fresh foods as well, which I do. The big problem for me is cost, pellets are pretty expensive, especially the ones that are remotely organic or all natural, and my birds don't really like them any way. I am a new bird owner so I will follow input to the best able where I can, these are just a few concerns I have about switching to pellets.

Thank you so much for helping me out, I am looking forward to hearing from you all!

 

[Phlox]

I think pellets are good, because seeds tend to be too high in fat, active birds or not. Conures aren't seed eaters in the wild, so I think it's better those are a treat to prevent future issues like fatty liver disease.

That being said, I don't see why you have to buy all natural or organic pellets. I know there's some worries about the food coloring, but I think that's unsubstantiated, whereas the issues with too much seeds and nuts is well known.

It will take a while to switch them, but some bird stores sell samples to try. The fruity and natural Zupreem have always been favorites in my house.

 

[MrsKay]

Guess I should be thankful that my conure is not such a finnicky eater eh? hehe
I am fortunate that Larry likes his RoudyBush pellets. That eliminates a lot of headache for me as far as his getting a lot of nutrients are concerned.

According to everything I have read, researched, advice from breeders and bird owners, I have decided the best thing for me to do is to give as much variety in the diet as possible. This includes some pellets, seeds, fruits, veges, etc. good luck.

 

[bonita]

Folks, Please excuse if I am out of order. I have similar concerns. I have a rescued gcc that eats only sunflower seeds, millet spray, fruit, birdie bread and pasta. Every time I try to make him eat pellets he leaves them picks thru the mix for sun flower seeds. He was taken to a rescue as a baby has bonded with me , he is flighted and weighs 59 grms. very thin but a little heaver than when he arrived. He had been up a grm but lost. Please help I am worried hes so thin. Thanks Bonita

 

[weco]

Hi Bonita...welcome to the forums and no, you're not out of order, though you're in a thread that's a couple of weeks old, but no problem there either.....

Switching a bird from seed to pellets, especially sun flower seeds and millet as that's like taking candy away from a child spoiled on chocolate.....

you can try different fruit juices, so you can figure out his/her favorite, then put some of that juice in a spray bottle & lightly spray the pellets and offer only that first thing in the morning, to see if (s)he tries the juiced pellets...if misting doesn't really help, wait 'til lunch & mist a little harder with the juice (wetter) & see if there's any difference in the interest, then at supper, feed the regular seed diet, but with less millet...reducing the millet gradually over 3-4 weeks, 'til you're only offering maybe a third of a spray a week.....the same will need to be done with fresh veggies, until you find something it likes, then slowly reduce the pasta, then, after you've got it eating more new things, you can start reducing its daily dose of sunflower seeds.....

You may want to start keeping a log of what it might like, and dates tried, because this will probably be a long process and what combinations you tried 6 months ago, might work this time, if only you could remember what they were.....

Others will jump in here & offer other suggestions, so don't get discouraged if it takes a long time converting it.....

Good luck.....

 

[Colorguarder08]

Seeds (especially sunflower) are basically like french fries sure they taste good but they don't really offer the nutrition you need. All pet foods are going to advertise being nutritionally complete thats how they sell their products. With my first dog I was feeding it what the vet reccommended thinking its the vet they wouldn't tell me to feed my dog something bad for it. Well they reccommended I feed her pedigree. However she had food allergies and it was only making it worse so I decided to read the label on pedigree and found out not only was the meat NOT one of the main ingrediants but it was listed towards the end of the ingrediants (meaning very little of it was actually in there) and it didn't even say what kind of meat it was it was just listed as meat. Had I known that at first I never would have bought that brand and never have since because I know the food wasn't going to give my dog the nutrition it needed. Same with birds seeds always say they provide complete nutrition but in reality it couldn't be further from the truth. All seed diets can cause your bird to develop whats called fatty liver diease which is exactly what it sounds like and can shorten your birds life.

A couple other ways to try the switch is to start off with a seed mix that has a few pellets in it. (theres some at walmart or I got Rileys at a farm supply store) then slowly add some more pellets in and gradually do it that way.
Another way is to ground the pellets into a powder and coat the seeds in it for about a week (doing it everyday of course) as it will get the birds use to the taste and smell of the pellets and the next week make the powder a little courser and then the next week a little courser so that eventually you wont have to do it at all because they will be used to the taste, smell and texture of the pellets.

 

[ErichT]

My Conures love their pellets , I think the key with pellets is to make sure they have a water supply close by to where their pellets are. Both of my Conures dip the pellets in the water to soften them up to eat. I only wish they wouldn't bath in that same bowl
. I cannot however get either of them to eat veggies. Fruits they will do.

 

[veimar]

It's controversial topic and VERY MUCH depends on your bird taste too! My conure won't eat pellets unless I soak them in juice, so his main food is Volkman seed mix right now - all my birds love it. He won't eat any veggies except my garden grown broccoli, but loves to nibble on fruits. He is extremely active fully flighted bird, so I give him some sunflower seeds too. He loves to eat yogurt with cereal from my breakfast plate and drink juice from my cup. He nibbles on everything I eat, but his main food is still his seed.

 

[bonita]

Dear Friends, I am most grateful for your help! I have a plan, first I am removing the large dish of seed mix, second replacing with a little seed and a couple spoons of zupreen fruit pellets, still allowing fresh apple and blueberry and a little millet. Any suggestions? Thanks Again, Bonita