Sunflower seeds?

[veimar]

Hello all,
Maybe you could help me with my confusion.
I'm very confused why most of the even very good mixes have sunflower seeds in them? Everybody tells they are bad for your birds and they shouldn't eat them. WHY would then the producers of the bird food put in the sunflower seeds? I bet they are professionals and know what are they doing. As for humans sunflower seeds are very healthy (in moderation, of course)
I'm just sick of picking out all the sunflower seeds of each bag of bird food I get for my cockatiel and conure/lovebird. Some cheap mixes from Petsmart don't have them, btw. I also noticed that there are large (with white stripes) and small (just black) sunflower seeds - are they any different?
So are sunflower seeds really that bad??? Why do the birds like them so much then?

(Btw, my birds don't eat pellets - so they are not an option for me as a main food source)

 

[Dinosrawr]

I would whole heartedly disagree with the statement that they are "professionals and know what they are doing". I'm afraid they don't. If they did, I wouldn't walk into a pet store to look at bird toys that contain hazardous metals and materials, bird treats that aren't even safe for human consumption and are made in plants that ALSO produce sea food products, and encounter pellet brands that contain ingredients that are excessively high in sugar.

Are sunflower seeds incredibly bad? Well, that's relative. Is your bird high energy, flying around all day, and always active? Then chances are no. But is your bird prone to fatty liver disease, fatty tumors, inactive, doesn't fly around much, and has a diet excessively high in fat? Then probably it's a terrible idea to feed more than a few in a day.

Birds like food that results in their survival.They like high fat because high fat means high energy. Fatty foods = energy for later = survival.

The sunflowers are indeed different. The small black ones contain more oil and more fat, whereas the striped ones contain a little less despite being larger. Sunflowers aren't inherently bad, in fact they contain good fats for your birds. The only problem is in the activity level of your birds... if they were in an outdoor aviary all day, flying around for miles, then it'd be great to offer them. That's why outdoor bird feed is all seed - those high energy birds NEED the fat from the seeds to survive. Our birds are generally quite inactive in comparison to their completely wild counterparts, and therefore do NOT need the excessive fat. You could liken it to an individual who runs marathons, goes to the gym 6 days a week, and then decides to eat a hamburger. Will that make much of an impact on them? Probably not considering how highly active they are, how quickly their metabolism is, and how much energy they need to consume a day to maintain such activity. If someone who was completely inactive and low energy decided to eat a hamburger, it'd do more damage. Their metabolism is slower, they aren't getting rid of excess energy they consume, and as a result the body stores that energy for later - just incase. It's a survival technique.

That's my take on it atleast. Hope that answers your question!

 

[thekarens]

I get a mix that has no sunflower seeds.

 

[4dugnlee]

I have been wondering about sunflower seeds also. Sassy was being fed seed mix with alot of sunflower seeds, and then peanuts, raw macaroni and froot loops was added. When I got her I got her a better parrot mix and added pellets. Now I have her on pellets. When she was on the parrot seed mix, she would pick out every sunflower seed and eat them. So I started picking them out and she only gets them now as treats. Of course she gets fruits and veggies, although she is very picky! She will eat sprouts at least. But she gets so much more excercise now than in her previous home so I wonder if she needs more seeds/fat for energy? What brands of parrot seed mix does not have sunflower seeds? I have not been able to find any without them, and I have wondered why if they are so bad, why are they in all the parrot food, also.

 

[witchbaby]

Volkman has a cockatiel mix with no sunflower seeds if you're looking for a decent seed mix.

 

[RavensGryf]

I noticed that TOPS which prides themselves on being very high in nutrition - cold pressed to maintain 'fresh' nutrients, all natural organic, made with many green ingredients, still uses Sunflower as the first ingredient. The website will even list 'why' they use each ingredient that they do. Give a look. TOP Ingredient Highlights
So, as Chantal (dinosrawr) said, sunflower isn't inherently 'bad' just might be too rich for birds who mainly eat seed, and pick out and all the sunflower so that it makes up a high percentage of their diet without much else.

 

[veimar]

Thank you all for your input! I tried to buy mixes without sunflower seeds, but there are very few for medium birds like conures and cockatiels, and I cannot afford really expensive ones - I buy online in petco when there's a good sale and free shipping. My birds are very active, especially the conure who is practically cage free and flies around a lot (he is the one who loves them most!) My new cockatiel doesn't eat them. So for the current mix I just pick out at least some of them, but later I try to find some mixes without. It's hard to find out the exact contents of a mix if you buy it online.

 

[RavensGryf]

If you still want a mix without sunflower, like witchbaby said, try Volkman's. It's good quality seed. It's one that will never grow bugs.

 

[SilverSage]

I feed volkmans, and it tends to be cheapest on amazon. Right now I am attempting to sprout it

 

[4dugnlee]

This may be a dumb question but if it is cockatiel mix can I give it to my sun conure and amazon? I mean, I think I can but just making sure...

I sprout parakeet seed and Sassy will eat them but Cisco won't. They are both such picky eaters!

 

[Birdman666]

The best analogy I can give you...

If you feed your kid an occasional cookie, he's not going to die from it. It's a nice treat, and it makes the kid happy...

If you feed your kid a diet, where the staple of the diet is cookie? His health will suffer... He may like cookies, and may eat it when ever you put them in front of him, but this kind of a diet will make them sick...

Too much seed can give them fatty liver disease which will kill them in short order. They need some fat in their diets, so 10% or so isn't a bad thing. (Mine get a tiny amount of safflower seed every day.)

The ideal mix is pelets, plus fresh foods, plus a little bit of seed.

Reverse that, and you cut their lives by as much as 2/3rds.

 

[witchbaby]

This may be a dumb question but if it is cockatiel mix can I give it to my sun conure and amazon? I mean, I think I can but just making sure...

I sprout parakeet seed and Sassy will eat them but Cisco won't. They are both such picky eaters!

I don't think it would be a problem. I give the same mix to my conure.

 

[4dugnlee]

I found a seed mix that is for parrots. It's made by Kaytee and it has safflower seeds..not sunflower seeds. I've never used this brand but I may give it a try for their seed. Actually, Cisco doesn't even care if he gets seed, it's Sassy who picks every sunflower seed out of hers to eat. I don't give her alot of seed, for this reason. I found it on Amazon.com if you are interested.

 

[Birdman666]

Amazons are notorious seed junkies. Pretty much all of mine have been...

You just have to limit the amount of seed you give them, cuz they will eat every bit of that stuff first... before moving on to the good stuff.

 

[Phlox]

I use the stuff with sunflower seeds, but since my parrots (the dove is different) get only like a tablespoon or less of seed a day, I'm not really worried about it.