So I am searching for a feathered family member, had greys in the past...always was told not to feed a seed diet...I fed pellets for greys, and always a fresh mix of grains fruits and veggies...okay so I found an 8 year old grey someone is trying to rehome...they have owned him for the entire 8 years, vet checked regularly and appears to be a happy healthy guy...but when I asked what his diet was the guy tells me his grey won't eat pellets that he is on a seed diet for about 60-70% of his daily intake, the rest is fresh/raw fruits veggies and what not...says its the bag of seed mix that they sell at petco, says its around $30 and has sunflower seeds and other stuff mixed too...so I come up with it is more than likely the Kaytee fiesta blend for parrot...the bag with the grey on the front...So, how big of a deal is this for the overall health of the bird, and it's my opinion that I would try to change his diet if I do end up purchasing him, I plan to feed a chop basically...I just don't want his 8 years of this stuff to be something the will have ill effects now or later in life...any information you have I would love to hear...thanks for reading!
Question on Grey diet
- Thread starter jodi_odo
- Start date
jasper19
Supporting Member
The vet told me switching angel from her seed diet when i got her, to harrisons...was the single most important thing i could do for her health, by a LOT.
The benefits you will get by switching to something like a harrisons pellet or other, from seeds, is huge. Seeds are not good for birds. They are tasty, but not healthy. Like candy.
Also, the previous owners of angle told me "she will not eat pellets, you just have to feed seeds" "she cant be switched onto pellets, she wont eat them ever"......took me less then a week to get her eating pellets.
The benefits you will get by switching to something like a harrisons pellet or other, from seeds, is huge. Seeds are not good for birds. They are tasty, but not healthy. Like candy.
Also, the previous owners of angle told me "she will not eat pellets, you just have to feed seeds" "she cant be switched onto pellets, she wont eat them ever"......took me less then a week to get her eating pellets.
i have to wonder about this also.....we got a baby b.feb 9th.15......i fed only pellets and veggies..some fruit too..but i caught my gf feeding it a bag with the gray on it.....with health in all animals there is diet...exercise...stress ...i notice with people stress seems to be the biggest problem...then its exercise and diet...our gray has lots of room to fly around ...and he does...i can tell when he gets a little bored or up tight and needs to fly...we also bring his cage outside during the day on our porch which gets lots of sun...and parrots need uv to make calcium...they spread their oil on their feathers and then the oil makes a vitamin d when the sun uv light hits them...they then ingest the vitamin d while pruning and that makes calcium..so i'm going to guess that a bird that isn't stressed out...a bird that gets exercise..gets uv...could most likely eat a diet with more "junk" food then a stressed out parrot without much exercise and little uv...this is a good question about seeds...i also wonder if a parrot needs to ingest a little dirt for minerals since they dig a lot...the seed bag my girl friend thinks is ok is zupreem smart selects with an african gray on the bag..there are no sunflower seeds but theres a mix of other seeds,fruit, some pellets......good luck !
thekarens
New member
- Sep 29, 2013
- 4,022
- 3
The grey we got was on a seed diet. He's 15 and is in good health. He's taken to veggies fine, but we're working on pellets. Personally I think the veggies, grains and fruits are a lot more important than pellets, so if this guy will eat veggies and you click I'd go for it.
Another option is you could make an agreement that you are allowed a limited time to take him to your vet for a full workup to make sure he's healthy.
My birds will always get some seed daily and I don't think it's a problem as long as it's the smallest portion of their diet.
Another option is you could make an agreement that you are allowed a limited time to take him to your vet for a full workup to make sure he's healthy.
My birds will always get some seed daily and I don't think it's a problem as long as it's the smallest portion of their diet.
I may be setting myself up for a lashing but here goes...
I won't put the name brand but this is the ingredient list for a well known pellet diet.
Ingredients: *Ground Hulled White Millet (Proso), *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Hulless Barley, *Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Rice, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, Chia Seed, *Ground Alfalfa, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Spirulina, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Sea Salt, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, d-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate and Sodium Selenite.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT
Let's start from the top, Millet is a seed, not a great one, sunflower yep another seed, barley is a grain seed (seeing a pattern here?) Yellow corn, not great and frankly even if they say it's organic and not GMO in this country that is going to be rare the cross contamination has become very wide spread. Soybeans same as corn and even less nutritious and more health related issues imo.
Peanuts are not a nut they are a bean and often harbor fungus, Ground rice (not even brown rice) just filler, peas are good, chia seeds are great, sea kelp...well that depends a whole lot on where it is harvested from. The rest is mostly just artificial supplemented vitamins and minerals that cannot be made in the same pure digestible form that they come from in real living foods.
My point you might wonder? Why is it better to take most things that are found in a bag of seed and heat them to extreme temps, and then extrude them into compact neat shapes? Some companies even dye them with fake colors thinking that improves them somehow. Mostly it is for the convenience of people...who wants beets and carrots and blueberries staining their walls or carpets or mold or bugs if they aren't fastidious cleaners? Better for the health of your bird...I don't think so.
I feed VERY small amounts of the highest quality seed, no peanuts ever and if the seed won't sprout it is not fresh good seed. Along with that they get nuts, dried veggies and fruits (without sulfur, that is important) as the dry portion of their diet, as well as sprouted living seed too.
MOSTLY they get fresh, real foods. I cringe at the threads that tote pellets as the bulk of a parrots diet which in my opinion is no better than the bulk seed diets of days gone past.
If you spend some time reading labels you will see what I mean. The standard pellet you can pick up at Petsmart...even worse, first three ingredients are corn, wheat and soy all garbage fillers imo mostly gmo and more pesticides than you can imagine.
I won't put the name brand but this is the ingredient list for a well known pellet diet.
Ingredients: *Ground Hulled White Millet (Proso), *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Hulless Barley, *Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Rice, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, Chia Seed, *Ground Alfalfa, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Spirulina, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Sea Salt, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, d-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate and Sodium Selenite.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT
Let's start from the top, Millet is a seed, not a great one, sunflower yep another seed, barley is a grain seed (seeing a pattern here?) Yellow corn, not great and frankly even if they say it's organic and not GMO in this country that is going to be rare the cross contamination has become very wide spread. Soybeans same as corn and even less nutritious and more health related issues imo.
Peanuts are not a nut they are a bean and often harbor fungus, Ground rice (not even brown rice) just filler, peas are good, chia seeds are great, sea kelp...well that depends a whole lot on where it is harvested from. The rest is mostly just artificial supplemented vitamins and minerals that cannot be made in the same pure digestible form that they come from in real living foods.
My point you might wonder? Why is it better to take most things that are found in a bag of seed and heat them to extreme temps, and then extrude them into compact neat shapes? Some companies even dye them with fake colors thinking that improves them somehow. Mostly it is for the convenience of people...who wants beets and carrots and blueberries staining their walls or carpets or mold or bugs if they aren't fastidious cleaners? Better for the health of your bird...I don't think so.
I feed VERY small amounts of the highest quality seed, no peanuts ever and if the seed won't sprout it is not fresh good seed. Along with that they get nuts, dried veggies and fruits (without sulfur, that is important) as the dry portion of their diet, as well as sprouted living seed too.
MOSTLY they get fresh, real foods. I cringe at the threads that tote pellets as the bulk of a parrots diet which in my opinion is no better than the bulk seed diets of days gone past.
If you spend some time reading labels you will see what I mean. The standard pellet you can pick up at Petsmart...even worse, first three ingredients are corn, wheat and soy all garbage fillers imo mostly gmo and more pesticides than you can imagine.
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
- #6
Thank you for all thr great comments...supposedly the bird just saw an avian vet in June and checked out good plus had toes and beak done...my main concern is if the seed diet for 8 years would have hurt his health enough prior to now to create issues later...also he has been pinioned. Thoughts on that?
Adding lots of fresh foods now will help in the long run. Without a full blood panel workup there is no way to tell if the only seed diet has caused damage. I do believe that problems from bad diets can be turned around.
Being pinioned however makes me feel like throwing up after I beat the tar out of the person responsible!!
- Thread Starter
- Thread starter
- #8
I agree on the pinioning...I would never have that done on my own...but would it be wrong to get this guy and provide him what I would hope with be a better quality of life? At least as far as the feeding goes? I can't reverse the other
I agree on the pinioning...I would never have that done on my own...but would it be wrong to get this guy and provide him what I would hope with be a better quality of life? At least as far as the feeding goes? I can't reverse the other
If you are up to it how can it ever be wrong to commit to giving a living creature a better life. If you have the patience and time I think it would be wonderful for this grey to get a chance at a good life.
Ann333
New member
- Jan 8, 2015
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- Parrots
- --PUMPKIN - male YS GCC. Hatched Halloween Day 2014. Came home Jan. 4, 2015. Started talking in July '15!
-BUTTERNUT- female TYS GCC Hatched in late Jan. 2016 and came home March 14, 2016
What is pinioned?
Ann333
New member
- Jan 8, 2015
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- --PUMPKIN - male YS GCC. Hatched Halloween Day 2014. Came home Jan. 4, 2015. Started talking in July '15!
-BUTTERNUT- female TYS GCC Hatched in late Jan. 2016 and came home March 14, 2016
Just Googled it... wish I hadnt. Apparently it's usually done to ducks and geese rather than companion parrots? .... like that makes it okay..... I'm very sad and hurt and disgusted right now to find out this is a thing that people do to any living creature.....
Mimsy01
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- Jul 7, 2014
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European Starling-Zeki
BCC-Ellie House Sparrow-Napolean Parakeet-Bean
I had to look up what pinioning is as well. So cruel and unnecessary.
Diet would not stop me from getting a parrot I hit it off with. That is changeable and it sounds like he eats veggies and fruits so great. As far as the pinioning, it would not stop me either, I would just be sick that someone did that.
Diet would not stop me from getting a parrot I hit it off with. That is changeable and it sounds like he eats veggies and fruits so great. As far as the pinioning, it would not stop me either, I would just be sick that someone did that.
Ann333
New member
- Jan 8, 2015
- 1,119
- 0
- Parrots
- --PUMPKIN - male YS GCC. Hatched Halloween Day 2014. Came home Jan. 4, 2015. Started talking in July '15!
-BUTTERNUT- female TYS GCC Hatched in late Jan. 2016 and came home March 14, 2016
That is pretty small. May be good for a sleeping cage though.
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