Seeds or no Seeds?

[wildheart]

I am a bit confused about my parrots diet. The vet said NO seeds, several websites say NO seeds and then there are also several that say seeds are good.

I stopped giving her seeds and only give her pellets, fruit and grated vegetables. I do have mustard, turnip, lucerne and many more herbs growing in my iguana garden but she does not show any interest in it. I've cut it in small blocks and whole leaves, she just throws it out of her dish. She also loves apples, but a website said that fruit should only be given occasionally?

I only want to do the best for Sterretjie so please give me your opinions about seed and fruit. Also how do you prepare the leaves?

Is seeds from fruit and squash ok to eat? (I have been giving allowing her to eat the seeds of squash, spanspek, peppers and chillies.)

 

[Ecclipse]

Hi Wildheart, hope lil Sterretjie is doing ok with her leg? I have just been to another vet for a second aponion for Hugo as he is still sneezing and had a runny tummy. He was dewormed and Hugo's tummy is perfect. I do not feed any seeds or the mixed seed mix you can buy in shops. I feed Hugo the Avi-Plus Maintenance diet pellets and the vet gave me the following list to go by. My parrot loves the diet I have him on and is thriving off it. Dont feed any seeds from fresh fruits - the only seeds I let Hugo eat is from the chillies - maybe they also dangerous but I havent heard any warnings about chillies. Here is the list that the vet gave me:

To alternate everyday or give small bits of each:

RAW: carrots, butternut, sweet potatoe, beetroot, green peppers, chillies, broccoli, green beans, baby marrows, apples, pears, granadella

GIVE OCCASIONALLY: Cooked macaroni - no salt or sauces, white chicken meat - no skin, chicken bone, chop - no spices, cheese, boiled egg

EXTRA: Orange, gauva, corn, spanspek, paw-paw, banana

I grate most of the fruit/veg and give most of the raw list everyday and cut the others up in tiny peices. I give a raw egg/chicken leg/meat once a week

DO NOT GIVE: Sunflower seeds, peanuts (In SA with the humidity level its difficult to avoid peanuts with bacteria), lettuce, avo, tea, coffee, alcohol, bread/rusks

I give fruit and veg everyday as part of Hugo's diet...

It also says on the list to give a balanced diet from both green and yellow food groups.

Hope this helps,take care

 

[Ecclipse]

PS The herbs that you have can be mixed with the other food. I usually use a plate and place the different chopped food on the plate. I dont mix it into a mush as Hugo likes to select the food he is eating - your lil one might prefer her fruit/veg mixed.

 

[antoinette]

Wildheart, Ecclipse has given you fantastic advice... well done Ecclipse
Nothing I can think of to add on.
I do not give Mishka any seeds at all. Some sites mention they can be given as treats.....
Sure other members will give their input as well.

 

[HRH Di]

We give our birds some seeds...from things that I've read, about a parrot's diet can have seeds if they make up 10% or less of the total. We get seed mix from our breeder who makes her own seed mix using only organic seeds.

When we got Max, he was exclusively on a seed diet. Poor little guy had "dandruf" and scaly feet. He was also pretty skinny. We put him on pellets, which he loves and eats by color, supplemented with veggies, sprouts, fruit and some seeds and nuts. He's much healthier now...no dry skin and he's put on weight so he's within the weight quidelines for Alexandrines.

From my research, the reason seeds are bad is not because they necessarily have toxic ingredients like avocado and onions, but because they're high in fat and low in other nutrients. Just like people, birds need some fat in their diet, just not a lot. But, just like people, birds like the taste of fat and will over-eat if given too many seeds - resulting in an overweight bird. Unfortunately, many people assume that parrots are exclusively seed-eaters, like the sparrows living in their backyards.

The ratio I've used is this: 60% pellets, 30% veggies (including sprouts) and fruit (mostly vegg), and 10% seeds, nuts and special treats.

 

[parrotqueen]

Hey guys! I'd like to share something with everyone.

Well, I found this awesome seed mix that is Sunflower seed free! So, they don't get so much fat. I love this mix, they even put dried spinach flakes in it as well as some dried bell pepper chunks. If you'd like to know the brand, it's called Volkman 'avian science super'. Good stuff!

The ratio I've used is this: 60% pellets, 30% veggies (including sprouts) and fruit (mostly vegg), and 10% seeds, nuts and special treats.

That's how you do it HRH, your ratios are perfect.

 

[Ecclipse]

HRH, love your ratio too...anyone know how to work out that ratio with your birds weight? Hugo would be the size of a senegal, how do you know how much to give without either underfeeding with pellets or the other way round with the fruit/veg?

 

[HRH Di]

I wish I had a scientific way to figure that, but here's what I do. Max's amounts were trial and error really. He gets 2 tbsp of pellets in his cage each morning - either in his bowl or in his foraging toy (he eats lots more if he has to work for it). When we get home after work, he gets 1 tbsp of veggies and sprouts/fruit in the dish on his play perch. Every other day he gets 1 tsp of seeds in the morning.

In the evenings during family time, he gets more veggies and maybe part of a walnut. About once a week he gets a couple tbsp of Cream of Wheat (fed to him by me out of a spoon). On the days he gets seeds, he doesn't eat as many pellets, so he doesn't get as many sprouts.

Like I said, he eats his pellets by color - some days he eats all of the yellow ones, but leaves the orange ones, the next day he eats the purple and green ones but not the red - it's weird. If he leaves a lot of pellets in his bowl, I know he's either a) had too many seeds or b) spend a lot of the day on his play perch with my son. When (b) happens, he gets his leftover cage pellets at his play perch - then veggies & sprouts when he finishes the pellets.

I'd like him to put a little weight on, since he's about 200 gm and the average weight is 250 gm...but he's just 14 months old and molting, so I'm giving him time.

Our breeder said that since Jade is still a baby (only about 8 months old) we can't really over feed her right now. She gets pellets, sprouts and a few seed in the morning. The more pellets and sprouts in the evening. We've finally found some veggies she likes (peas) so those will be added more and more.

 

[Spiritbird]

Hi Queen and others I too feed the voklkmans sunflower free seed mix but only as a treat. While molting my avain vet told me to feed Rosie 3 nutriberries a day for the fat and energy calories. She now has beautiful new feathers. Bird Seed = french fries. We all want some once in a while right??

 

[parrotqueen]

Lol, my boys are seed junkies.

Yesterday morning, I tried something new. Usually, they like to have a little bit of seed in the morning. Well this time, I took out the seed bowl and replaced it with a plate of wonderful fresh veggies. They understood that they were supposed to have veggies for breakfast instead of seeds. It worked, so now I'm doing this regularly.

Just for more variety, I mix in scrambled eggs cooked in coconut oil. Coconut oil is a cleaner and less fatty oil, and it's very healthy for their feathers.

 

[wildheart]

THANK YOU!

The day after Sterretjie arrived I went out and bought parrot seed (I did not know any better). This seed mix is sunflower, mealy and some tiny seeds, luckily I started reading the same day and stopped giving it to her. I've been to 3 pet shops and all of them sell a variety of seeds for parrots, they dont even have pellets in stock! I get the pellets from the vet at a shocking price.

So I understand that apples and pears are ok to give more than once a week?

Why is fruit seed not good, if I think about it then it makes sense to me that they do get it in the wild?

I did not see peas on the list and Sterretjie loves it?

No mango - my iguana loves mango so I always have it in the house?

You also said raw egg/chicken leg/meat, are you serious about the raw part?

What seeds do you sprout?

(Thanks in advance.)

 

[Ecclipse]

Hi there Wildheart, apples and pears are fine to give more than once a week and mango can go under the extra list for treats etc. You can also give watermelon and most fruits from SA. HAHAHA - Sorry, the chicken and egg must be cooked - must of mistyped there, silly me! I am off to the vet again on Sat and will ask about peas - Im not sure but apparantly the skin can be bad for them - dont quote me, I will ask my vet when I see him on Sat. I would phone but he is fishing in Zim at the mo - who would want to do that - haha. Here is a great link for choosing what to sprout for Sterretjie Sprouting For Healthier Birds

I pay R40 per bag for maintenance pellets - how much you paying for yours and what brand is it? It usually takes Hugo about 2-2.5 months to finish it.

 

[wildheart]

That is a bargain, wow! I am paying R150 for Kaytee Exact Rainbow Kaytee Exact Rainbow Large Parrot and it only last a month. I saw pellets at one pet shop but they were called donuts so I was scared to try it out. What does your pellet bag look like or what is the complete name so I can start searching for it?

Thanks for the link.

 

[Ecclipse]

Its called Avi Plus Maintenance diet and is one of the best on the range, there is no colourants included which suits Hugo because of him being so sensitive. What is your closest big town to you? I buy it at petshops and the vet. Antionette was also feeding that range. I checked out the website and it says R59.00 per bag, must of gone up since I bought but that is still not bad for 2+ months. You can maybe ask your petshop to order it for you or find out which petshop/vet has it that is kinda close to you. As jy wil kan ek vir jou drie sakke elke 4 maande steer, ek weet jy ken my nie maar jy kan my betaal wanner die pakkie by jou kom...hoop my Afrikaans is nie te sleg nie, ek praat beter as ek kan spel - haha. Dit sal baie maklik vir my wees en ek kan net gewoene pos gebryk. Ek is die tiepe persoon wat wil altyd hulp. Jy kan my enige tyd vra.

 

[Ecclipse]

For those who dont speak Afrikaans, I was just asking Wildheart if I could mail her some pellets to help out...dont want anyone to thinking Im saying anything bad...

 

[wildheart]

Your Afrikaans is very delicious! You are very kind, there are a almost no people left like you.

We have a house in Kempton Park so we are here a lot, I am going to phone around and see if I can find your pellets. If I do not come right then I will definitely take you up on your offer, thanks! Where are you from?

I think the pellets I am using is just so expensive because it suits the vet.

 

[Riley's mom]

For years I have given my birds a pellet/seed mix. I use Kaytee large chunky and Zupreem and a Safflower seed mix. I mix it all together using approx 60/40 (pellet/seed). They also get fresh fruits and veggies and the occasional junk food. All are healthy and happy. The vets around here, the ones I work for included, think the birds do not need seeds as long as they are on a Harrison's diet. My birds won't touch Harrisons.

 

[Spiritbird]

Coconut oil to cook is very good as you say. I also learned from my bird classes to put a few drops of hemp seed oil in the food for feather health and omega 3. You are not supposed to cook in it though. Parrotqueen is a good parrot mom and does good things for them.

 

[Ecclipse]

Hemp seed oil?? Sounds good, can I sprinkle that over Hugo's pellets SB? Wildheart - Im from Port Elizabeth. Im sure that one of the petshops will stock that range. Let me know if you come right. If a vet or petshop has the range but not the maintenance Im sure they can order it. If not we can make a plan as said above in my delicious Afrikaans - lol

 

[Spiritbird]

I had to order hemp seed oil in the internet as it was not available in any store I went in. Now I have such a big bottle the directions said you could freeze some of it as it is only good for 6 months. Sprinkle on pellets would be ok but just a few drops about 2 or 3 days per week. I would ok anything Hugo gets with your vet though cause he was so sick.