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[Thomas M]

I would like to know how you all feed your parrots - Like when, what you feed them and why you feed them it. I have just been scared into changing Gonzo's diet. I was watching a pet show and seen a african grey going through and operation to clear his nostril as it had blocked up with puss. This was due to a Vitamin A deficiency cos he was eating to much seed and in particular sunflower seeds which are high in fat. And shock Gonzo loves sunflower seeds and seeds in general.

Right now we do :

Morning - Put Apple in one of his bowl
                Seeds in another
                Water in another.

Dinner - Usually Sweet potato, normal potato or some sort of Veg or pasta.

For Treat - Pistachios
                  Peanuts


How would I go about introducing Pellets into his diet as I am nervous he wont like them or could I get like a Vitamin powder that I could put in his water ?
                 

[Toria]

Sounds like he has a great diet  just add a tablespoon of pellets to his mash or have a period of the day where he just has pellets in his bowl. You could even soak them in natural fruit juice and warm slightly

[Mandi]

hiya thomas,
i feed mine a square of wholemeal seeded toast with palm oil on when i first get up, this occupies them while i give fresh water and pellet, i then put in their dinner for the day. this could either be mixed veg or the parrot mash, depending on what iv got that day
then a few hr later i remove any of this thats left as it soons spoils.
i always make sure their pellet bowl is full
then at tea time i may give them some mixed berries or a piece of fruit and a couple grapes
i only use seed in forraging toys and sunflowers for training

as for changing over to pellets , theres a thread somewhere on the diet section, but for me it was easy as the girls started on the fruity one and seemed to like it straight away, peach them went to the vets and he switched her to harrisons, echo then began staelaing peaches so she got it too, and dave i just offered it and he chose it over the seed,
people may think by feeding their parrots human junk they are fine, yes maybe it not kill them instant but they wont live a long helathy life like they should , good luck with the change over we here every step of the way

just rememebr to weigh him and keep a eye on his weight , xx

[Toria]

thinking of it, my 2 eat too much seed I think   
One thing I want to ask..................
Sammi is out his cage all day but he stays in his shredding corner ALL day and doesnt venture back for food, and when he gets put back in his cage he does an almighty poop! He must save it up! Today I tipped some seed in one of his boxes to shred so hopefully he found a tasty treat!!! Gonna make some birdie bread later, not made any for some time!

[Mandi]

mine dont venture back for food either toria as they dont fly but i put em back every now n then , they are left in for a while first thing so i know they get their fill, i then put em back at tea time , and agaim just befor bein covered i leave em to fill up on pellet for bed xx

[Nikki]

Thomas - don't stress - you just have to do it gradually.   He is still young so he might come round quite quickly   

With my 2 I give them a finger of wholemeal seeded toast with palm oil in the morning.  While they munch that I sort out their bowls.  They get a mix of pellets - Harrisons, TOPS and hagens (if I have all 3).  Along with that they get a mixture of fresh veg (eg pepper, carrot, cabbage, kale, courgette, cucumber etc) and some fruit (eg orange, apple, cherry, blueberry etc).  They also get a nut or 2.
They also have fresh water.

They have this through the day as we are out at work.

When I come home they get either sprout mix or pulses and pasta mix with a veg mash and a couple of Harrison's power treats.

When they go back in their cage at night they have their pellets back as they usually have a munch before cover up.  I sometimes give them a little seed mix instead as a treat - it's the Prestige Amazon mix as it's low in sunflower content   

If I were you I would try the pellets as with the vitamins it can be easy to overdose without knowing or possibly not give enough.  At least with pellets you know they are getting all of the vitamins and minerals they need alongside a variety of other foods      If I can convert an 11 year old stubborn grey I'm sure you'll do fine with Gonzo   

[Pat]

I was explaining to the vet about Charlie's diet, I said I give him Hagen Tropican pellets, she said that Harrisons are the best you can give a parrot, I am actually in the process of changing over to Harrisons with Charlie because the Tropicana pellets are being phased out in UK.  I told her that I give him about three teaspoons of seed a day and she was shocked!  She said that's hell of a lot to cut it back to just foraging or about a half a teaspoon full at bedtime.  I use sunflower seeds cut in half for training only, he doesn't get them otherwise.  The vet was saying that if you were to cut open an African Grey at the age of two years old, that had been fed seeds, it's liver would be surrounded in fat.  So, I'm really going all out to get Charlie off the seeds completely apart from a few for foraging and training.  He obviously gets his fresh veg daily, fruit a couple of times a week and his toast and butter (palm oil) in the mornings. I've been weighing Charlie every morning after the big poop and he's always around 444-446grms.......this morning he was 450......so dunno what he was eating overnight. hahaha.

[lizduncan]

We switched Nico to pellets about 4 months ago.  He was eating seed and I thought it would be really difficult to convince him to eat the pellets.  I bought a small bag of the Harrisons pepper pellets and mixed a few in with his seeds, I gradually reduced the amount of seed until he was on pellets only. It took about 2 weeks.  He didn't touch them for the first couple of day but I noticed that there were nibbled pellets in the bottom of his cage on the third day and after that he gradually started going for the pellets first!  He's now on the Harrisons High Potency and he loves, loves, loves them.

I really notice the difference in the condition of his feathers and beak.

Good luck with Gonzo.   xx