Seed and Grains?

[Kinny]

So I have a green cheek conure pair whose babies I'm hand-raising, and I have multiple pairs of Kakarikis. My husband doesn't want to 'waste money on pellets' and instead give the parrots a grain and seed mix, with a very SMALL amount of pellets as well. I disagree with him. However I'd still like to know which seeds and/or grains have good nutritional value.

I've heard of Quinoa.. is that truly a good grain?

At the moment I'm sneak feeding them 50% vetafarm pellets and the rest is black sunflower seeds, a tiny amount of cracked corn, some millet seed and oat groats.

Any help is appreciated! Also.. is it better to just have calcium perches that the conures can nibble on, or to have calcium powder and sprinkle/mix in a little with their food, or put liquid calcium into their drinking water?

Thanks a bunch ^^

~KinnyKoM

 

[weco]

Hi K, welcome to the forums.....

Your husband is wrong in his beliefs.....all seed diets can lead to various dietary deficiencies and diseases.....there are nutrition lists for fresh veggies in the forum archives.....

Feeding high fat seed diets, i.e. sunflower seeds and worse yet, black oil sunflower seeds can easily lead to fatty liver disease and other nutritional maladies.....

 

[MonicaMc]

I'm not big on feeding sunflower seeds and cracked corn.... in fact, I usually avoid it unless it's in the pellets I buy or a special parrot mix where it's not a major ingredient.


If you don't want to feed just "grains", why not feed sprouted seeds instead? They are ultimately healthier than dry seeds! And add in a bunch of healthy grains, legumes, vegetables and some fruits! Feed them a fresh food based diet!