What do you feed your bird?

[CPinNC]

Hi, I'm a new owner of parrotlet. He's about 10 wks old, I've had him for 2 wks. He came with some parakeet seed that the breeder was feeding him, and I'm slowly mixing the Volkman parrotlet seed in with it. He seems to have a hard time with the larger seeds in the volkman's. He just rolls the safflower around in his mouth and eventually spits them out. Judging by his bite, I'm pretty sure he could open them if he wanted to!! I'm worried he's not getting enough to eat because maybe he doesn't realize the bigger seeds and veggies in the mix are food? Anyone else have/had this problem? Maybe I'm worrying too much and he'll eventually learn how to eat better as he becomes more interested in food.
Thanks! I love everyones pictures and stories.
Courtney

[Azale]

I fed my parrotlet some pellets the breeder gave me... I forget the name, but I'll check when I get home. I also mixed a bit of seed with it when I had to wean my baby lovebird onto it, and I gave my parrotlet some seed just for variety.
A healthy mix of fruits and veggies are also important, as well as the occasional millet!

[Pado]

Hi Courtney and welcome -

Your guy is still young so just keep offering him all the kinds of different foods you want him to eat when he’s older. Even if he seems to ignore it or just seems to pick at it and leave it, he will begin to associate it as food and will end up eating it when he gets older.

I’m glad you realized the parakeet seed your breeder gave you isn’t what he should be eating - good for you for doing your research ;)

I have a young female that has the same issue as your guy with the safflower seed in the Volkman's - she picks it up but never opens it and then drops it. I ended up mixing in other seed mixtures into the Volksman’s - as IMO it has way to much safflower - the whole bag I got was safflower :eek: and my female ended up ignoring the Volkman’s mix the way it came. I’ve decided not to purchase the Volksman again and instead will make my own mix from my local bird shop.

I would say besides offering all different kind of foods - pellets - vegetables - fruits - beans - rice - pasta etc always keep the spray millet available to your youngster. If offered a variety of other foods they won’t become millet hogs - I always keep it available - my female doesn’t eat it exclusively and there are days she doesn’t even touch it - but when young at least you'll know he is getting enough to eat with the millet available to him.

Both my birds favorite is the 15-minute soak & serve mixture :D

Good luck -

[pudsli]

hi.
in the morning my man get's sweet potatoe,sweetcorn, red pepper, broccali with a sprinkle of daily essentials.
after about 2 hours i take it away, and put in some seed.
afternoon out comes the seed and i replace it with fruit.
at about 6-00pm in goes the seed and i keepthe fruit in until morning.
he is a well looked after boy.
all the best steve.

[CPinNC]

Wow, all your birds seem to eat so well! I give him veggies every night but so far he's not interested, nor in any fruit. I don't let him have alot of millet- I keep about an inch or 2 in his cage during the day. There is alot of safflower in the volkman's. I've started picking it out as best I can, but maybe I need to look for something else. If he's only eating the tiny seeds I don't see where he's getting any kind of nutrition benefit from the rest of the ingredients. But I'll keep trying to find something for him. I tried Beak Appetite, but all he did was fling it around. Do you think it's best to put the new foods in his cage in the morning for awhile, then put some seed in there when I leave for work? I've never had a bird this young- I have a tiel but she was 6yrs old and she loves food! I guess I expected my parrotlet to have the same attitude. I forget he's just a baby and needs to learn.
Pado, what is the 15 minute soak & Serve?
And Pudsli, do you freeze your sweet potato mix?
I'm not sure if buying pellets right now would be a waste of $$. He really isn't adventurous in the food area. But I guess he hasn't learned to associate it as something enjoyable yet. I'm going to try some bean mixtures and I guess next time I go to the bird store I'll ask for their opinion on what else I could buy and just mix together. All the seed there seems to be big and chunky. Has anyone tried any of the Goldenfeast Brands?
Thanks everyone for the info!

[Pado]

Its all really just trial and error :rolleyes: - actually with your guy flinging the Beak Appetite - believe it or not, that is good. He's touching it :D - and thats how the youngsters learn its food. Birds not offered all-sorts of food when they are young, end up as Adult birds that won't even touch or try any foods they are not used to - its when they are young and introduced to different food [even if they don't seem to be eating it] that counts.

So my advice is just keep offering the food - when you are not watching he may be actually trying it - remember they are tiny birds so just a tiny bit to them is eating - probably an amount that you wouldn't even notice. Try different ways to offer it to him - his regular bowls - a paper plate on the bottom of his cage - when he is out of the cage, hand feed it to him - pretend you are eating it and let him taste what you are eating. But your bird is young and you don't want to lose this window of time.

My birds [since my female can't fly yet] spend a lot of time on the floor when out together - I put towels on the floor, spread food on the different towels and they forage around eating as they go -

For Vegetables I started my female out with chopped broccoli, chopped cauliflower, shredded carrots and peas out of the pods - at first I though she was just emptying her dish onto the floor but now she sits and eats the vegetables. If I had have stopped offering them to her because I though it was a waste she wouldn't be eating vegetables now - and she really enjoys them.

Although, I have to admit with my female she copies my male because she generally eats what he eats. But this did work with my male also and he was a lone bird at first.

I haven't tried the Goldenfiest brands - the Volkman is a good mix just to many Safflower for my taste :p

[memmey]

Sounds like the seed for Jo she only wants the safflower, what does Sandee M feed Pado , did you already tell us?

[Pado]

Oh, the 15 minute soak & Serve is similar to the Beak Appetite - its a mixture of seeds, veggies, fruits etc that you heat with hot water for 15 minutes - drain and offer to the birds warm.

I ordered it on-line and will order it again as they love it -

Its one of the items I put on the towel on the floor -
http://www.birdseed.com/ :D

[AndreaFahy]

Sorry, I haven't read the entire thread yet, but safflower seeds are the super treat with our parrotlets! They will do anything for those things!

[pudsli]

hi cp in nc.
no i dont freeze my vegies i cook it for him every day.
they don't eat that much anyway.
all the best steve.

[GoingIncognito]

Our parrotlet isn't exactly "food-adventurous", either. When we got her about a month ago she was really only used to seed mix. Since then we've gotten her to eat Nutriberries and Avi-Cakes, and recently found out that she enjoys raisins (and bran flakes, actually). She still ignores the Zupreem pellets and we'll probably try a different pellet soon. I think the pellets might be a bit large for her. It's a slow process sometimes. It took a week before she'd eat the Nutriberries consistently. The Avi-cakes she took to pretty quickly.

[Pado]

Sounds like the seed for Jo she only wants the safflower, what does Sandee M feed Pado , did you already tell us?

Memmey - Sandee gave me some Volkmans and Millet - she said to keep the millet available at all times - [She said you hear all the time that Millet is like 'candy' to the birds - but she said as far as she knows there is no sugar in it :D and its full of protein]

But Penny Peepers doesn't eat the safflower in the Volkmans and throws the seed about to get around it or ignores it all together - when you put the Volksman in the smaller dishes all you see is the safflower on the top - I'm not sure why they put so much in there - I've decided not to use the Volkman's anymore.

I'll add Safflower to the mix I got - just not as much -

[CPinNC]

Thanks so much for all the great advice. I will keep trying with him. Maybe I'll do the foraging thing on floor with the paper towels and different foods. He was clipped by the breeder but still gets around pretty good in short bursts, but maybe he will hang out with me a little and explore. Thanks for the link to the birdseed site. I'll look around there some. I am going to the birdstore in my area this weekend- they occasionally breed parrotlets, so I'll see if they have any recommendations besides Volkmans. And I'll keep at it with the veggies and fruits! I'm going to get a sweet potato this weekend and some pepper. I would really like it if he would enjoy some fresh stuff. I think I'm going to put it in his cage in the morning when he gets up and take his seed out for a bit while I get ready for work. He seems more cooperative then. I work funny hours so at night I don't like to try to encourage him to start eating when it's his bedtime. I need to get a picture posted- I think I am the only person left without a digital camera!
Courtney :)

[Pado]

Another good one to try is Bell pepper seeds - most Parrotlets love these - I just break the bell pepper and give it to them to take the seeds apart themselves :)

[CPinNC]

I will definitely try the peppers. I am looking for something he likes that I can use as a treat (besides millet) when I'm working with him. I've tried to reward him with cereal, broccoli, black sunflower, safflower, apple, peas- he won't eat them. But maybe as he gets older he'll get more curious. How old is your bird?

[Pado]

I will definitely try the peppers. I am looking for something he likes that I can use as a treat (besides millet) when I'm working with him. I've tried to reward him with cereal, broccoli, black sunflower, safflower, apple, peas- he won't eat them. But maybe as he gets older he'll get more curious. How old is your bird?


My male is 11 months [he’s a rescue]
My female is just about 4 months now –

[CPinNC]

Oh, I know about your birds! It just clicked-sometimes I am an idiot! You have the Peepers- right? I've been reading your story. You were so nice to take that poor little bird living in a shoebox- I'm glad that he's doing okay and enjoying his new friend.

[memmey]

What????Mr.Peepers in a shoe box???Do I have alzheimers did you tell us that and I don't remember? Please tell it again for those of us who wake up in a new world every day.

[ArtS]

Nah, Memmey, Pado's faking it...nowadays it's trendy to have a rescue bird. In reality, Mr. Peepers was born with a silver spoon in his mouth ;) .

Regards,

Art S.

[BCChins]

I am going though the same thing as you CPinNC. Burdy is 11 weeks old and not real interested in human foods. So you are not alone here!
I bought some Beak Appetit l(apple carrot harvest) last night and I made a 1/4 portion this am and offered it before seed mix. She picked though the dish and was eating a decent amount of it. So I am hoping this will make her more courious about human foods.
I also feed Volkmans mixed with another Cockateil Supreme seed mix and 10% pellets. She seems to do really well eating this mix and it cuts down on the safflower content.
I hope yor bird starts eating some fruits and veggies for you soon as I know it gets frustrating as we know how good these are for them.

[Pado]

CpinNC – wow, I'm impressed :) good memory – Yep, I have the Peepers [Rupert and Penny] –

Memmey – I don’t think I posted about him here – when I went to the ‘other” bird website and Cindy was helping me with introducing the birds I posted about him – I’ll have to pull that post and post it here – yep, poor little Rupert had a rough start in life – :mad:

Art – I’m always on the cutting edge – that’s me Mr. Trendy :cool: :cool: :D :D :rolleyes:

[CPinNC]

That was such a nice story. I love to hear happy endings! Most of my friends think I'm nuts to worry about the well being of my pets so much, so it's nice to talk to people who understand. I didn't realize that was on the other site.
Beans and I had a small break thru last night. He actually ate some of a crumbled up nutriberry. Of course that was only after I acted like they were sooooo good. But at least he ate it and that fact that he's starting to be interested in what I'm doing was good.
He still won't eat the Beak Appetit, just flings it around. Tomorrow I am going to try sweet potato and the bell pepper/seeds. Wish me luck!! I am going to the bird store tomorrow to look for different seed with less safflower, and might even get some pellet crumbles to mix in. And I want to see if they have the soak and serve. That sounds like it might be easier to deal with in smaller portions than the Beak Appetit.
I also bought him a larger cage- I didn't realize how many toys I would buy this little guy!:o I can't stop!! Do you guys think its best to set up the new cage and let him mess around in it for a little while each day? And then return him to his old cage until he gets used to it? I don't want to stress him out too much with new things.
courtney

[CPinNC]

Wow, your bird is so pretty! I've never seen one with those colors & markings. Thanks for the encouragement and the food ideas. I hope your bird starts eating fruits and veggies for you soon also!

[Pado]

That was such a nice story. I love to hear happy endings! Most of my friends think I'm nuts to worry about the well being of my pets so much, so it's nice to talk to people who understand. I didn't realize that was on the other site.
Beans and I had a small break thru last night. He actually ate some of a crumbled up nutriberry. Of course that was only after I acted like they were sooooo good. But at least he ate it and that fact that he's starting to be interested in what I'm doing was good.
He still won't eat the Beak Appetit, just flings it around. Tomorrow I am going to try sweet potato and the bell pepper/seeds. Wish me luck!! I am going to the bird store tomorrow to look for different seed with less safflower, and might even get some pellet crumbles to mix in. And I want to see if they have the soak and serve. That sounds like it might be easier to deal with in smaller portions than the Beak Appetit.
I also bought him a larger cage- I didn't realize how many toys I would buy this little guy!:o I can't stop!! Do you guys think its best to set up the new cage and let him mess around in it for a little while each day? And then return him to his old cage until he gets used to it? I don't want to stress him out too much with new things.
courtney

Courtney if you’re nuts then ALL of us here are in the same ward!! - :D

One flew over the ‘Parrotlets’ nest – any volunteers to be Nurse Ratched? [There am I showing my age or what] :eek:

Courtney – good luck this weekend with the sweet potato and Bell Pepper seeds :) Glad to hear he is taking more foods from you and is interested in what you are doing – that’s always a good sign.

As for the cage – I think you have the right idea – Set the new cage up and like you said keep his old cage available just in case he needs it – Some will take to the new cages with no problems – some won’t.
My male acted like it was nothing to get a new cage. He was jumping and climbing around it as I was building it and setting it up –

Make him part of you setting up the new cage and he may take to it better –

Good Luck!! BTW what are your bird’s names? – The cockatiel and the Parrotlet?

[CPinNC]

Whoops- I was trying to tell BCChins that their little yellow Burdy was cute!
Pado- my p'let is Beans and the tiel is Sammy. Sammy is going on 7 yrs old. Her favorite food is cheezits, which has been hard to break. She won't experiment with any of her food, but she's very interested in whatever is on our dinner plate! I got her from a co-worker who did not take very good care of her. I didn't think I wanted a bird, but couldn't stand to know what kind of conditions she was living in and not take her. She also hates me (hisses at me constantly!) but loves my husband; but as long as she is clean, fed, excercised and loved, I can deal with it. She sits on his head/shoulder and hops on his finger without a sound. But when put my hand in the cage and tell her "up" she runs around and freaks out like I am trying to strangle her for 5 minutes before she finally hops up and comes out. I think she's doing it for the husbands benefit!
I think I should be able to turn in my roll of film this weekend of Beans and get it on a cd so I can post a picture. I've been trying all week to get him on his swing, but everytime he sees me coming he hops off, little stinker!
So does Rupert still respond to you now that he has Penny? You got to go to the Parrotlet Ranch, right? Where the Sandee lady is? I remember everyone was jealous that you would get to meet her.

[memmey]

That was me being jealous and I STILL AM>>>>>>

[BCChins]

CPin NC Thank you very much! Again today she ate some Beak Appetit but also threw some out. Silly little BURDY. I am also going to try some pepper seeds.

[AndreaFahy]

CPinNC - hi from another NC member! I am in New Bern, haven't been to Charlotte in a few months.