bird food?

[tikeyas_mom]

what do you feed your cockatiels, budgies, lovebirds, finches, or other birds?

I feed Cheeko and Chipper (cockatiels) a comercially made small parrot foood with dried veggies and fruits. they dont seem to mind it.

[popcornbird]

Zupreem Pellets, cockatiel seeds, veggies (peas, broccoli, carrots, corn, cauliflower, cucumber, lettuce, etc.), fruits (they don't like that too much though), bread (whole wheat), cereal (as treat sometimes), millet, white rice, popcorn (with no butter/salt), crackers (occasionally as a treat), and other stuff. My tiels love food. ;)

[My Peanuts]

All seed diets are bad. Here's what I posted in a similar thread... "My tiels eat everything! My vet said whatever I cook for me to give them some. There are a few acceptations. NO avocados, alcohol (that's a no brainer), watch the fat and salt intake, and take the pits out of fruits that have them. My tiels LOVE scrambled eggs with cheese. Alex actually likes ham! My vet told me to get creative. Always keep pellets and some seed in the cage. Change it often. I change the pellets and seed about once every two days depending on how many shells are in the bowl. Change the water daily. Keep a cuttle bone in cage too. If you get a young tiel you should really try to get them to love the pellets. Pellets are way better than seed."

You might want to check out this thread...
questions about birds (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?threadid=57085) Hope it helps :)

[popcornbird]

Originally posted by My Peanuts
All seed diets are bad. Here's what I posted in a similar thread... "My tiels eat everything! My vet said whatever I cook for me to give them some. There are a few acceptations. NO avocados, alcohol (that's a no brainer), watch the fat and salt intake, and take the pits out of fruits that have them. My tiels LOVE scrambled eggs with cheese. Alex actually likes ham! My vet told me to get creative. Always keep pellets and some seed in the cage. Change it often. I change the pellets and seed about once every two days depending on how many shells are in the bowl. Change the water daily. Keep a cuttle bone in cage too. If you get a young tiel you should really try to get them to love the pellets. Pellets are way better than seed."

You might want to check out this thread...
questions about birds (http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?threadid=57085) Hope it helps :)

No chocolate either. ;)

And I agree...all seed diets are bad. They need variety!

[My Peanuts]

Originally posted by popcornbird
No chocolate either. ;)

And I agree...all seed diets are bad. They need variety!

Opps, you are exactly right! :)

[Dogz]

Soda and Cracker were recently on a seed diet, but I changed it to a pellet/seed diet for better health. They have Exact Original cockateil pellets and regular cockatiel seed.

I am afraid that they got too used to the seed-only diet, so they prefer the seeds over the pellets. Once in a while I give the pellets only, just so they get their pellets and I put less seed in the dish.

Sometimes I put a layer of Healthy toppings on the top of their seed for another treat.

Their favorite treats are spray millet, popcorn (not buttered, not salted), soda crackers (:p) and cereal.

I give them bread (wheat), white rice, and a variety of fruit and vegetables/fruits. They seem to like veggies better. (They usually get the veggies from our meal.)

They don't eat everything I give them, especially if it is something new. I try things a few times to see if they like it. They aren't too picky, though.

Nelly, on the other hand, was a VERY picky eater. He would not eat anything new. Nelly was on a seed-only diet, plus he was picky. Poor boy. :(

[NoahsMommy]

My birds get Nutraphase Parakeet Food in their bowl, but have another bowl with fruit, veggies, egg biscuits and a few treats. They get a millet once a week for a treat.

At first, they wouldn't go near anything that wasn't seed...I wonder if that was a pet store thing? They are finally not ignoring all the other stuff in their other bowls.

They've been doing something wierd though. I have a clear bowl that I attach close to their perch with veggies, biscuits, etc. They keep pulling all of it out and sitting IN the bowl!! They're so wierd!! :)

[tikeyas_mom]

Cheeko and Chipper are not on an all seed diet. They eat some tiel seed mixed with small parrot food and dried fruits and veggies.

they get dried banana, raisons, dried apple, and approcoat *sp?*, peanuts, dried peas, dried corn, dried peppers.
i forget what eles.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

My cockatiels and lovebird eat zupreem pellets and parakeet seed along with fruit and vegetables and noodles and cheerios and stuff like that.
My cockatoo and indian ringneck both eat pretty much the same as my other birds, except they get cockatiel seed instead of parakeet seed.

[NoahsMommy]

Because of this thread, I decided to switch the birdies to a pellet diet vs. seed. I just bought some Kaytee Exact "Rainbow" Parakeet (& Lovebird) Food.

:) Thanks for the idea!

[CathyBogart]

At work we feed out birdies a mixture of zupreem pellets, seed, and fresh and dried fruits/veggies. :)

[My Peanuts]

Originally posted by NoahsMommy
Because of this thread, I decided to switch the birdies to a pellet diet vs. seed. I just bought some Kaytee Exact "Rainbow" Parakeet (& Lovebird) Food.

:) Thanks for the idea!

Don't just switch them over. Birds are picky, as you know, and some would rather starve than switch foods abruptly. Make sure you gradually add the pellets to the seed. Put a little more pellets and a little less seed each time you feed them :)

[popcornbird]

Originally posted by My Peanuts
Don't just switch them over. Birds are picky, as you know, and some would rather starve than switch foods abruptly. Make sure you gradually add the pellets to the seed. Put a little more pellets and a little less seed each time you feed them :)

Ditto. And don't take seeds away from them completely either. Seeds are good, but they shouldn't be the only thing the bird gets. My birds always have both seeds and pellets in their cage, and they usually eat an equal amount of both. I wouldn't take the seeds away from them. My vet recommends feeding them both seeds and pellets, as well as everything else I feed them.

[tikeyas_mom]

Cheeko has a habbit of picking through all the seeds and fruits and just eating the sunflower seeds and millet.. sometimes I will catch him eating a mango or raison but it is rare. Chipper on the other hand searches for the peppers and millet.