BirdChannel Forum / Life With Birds / Bird Nutrition Forum

can i grow millet

cockatieal lover — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:53:28 GMT

i live in alabama and i was wondering if it was possiable to grow millet were i live? i hope i put this topic in the right place millet is food so i thought it would be ok

Beak Appetit

Pepper's Pa — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:15:23 GMT

If any of you have birds that enjoy eating Beak Appetit, you will be as disappointed as I am to learn that the company that produces it has closed.

Here is the announcement from the company: http://www.beakappetit.com/

While supplies last, you may want to "stock up" on this product. I checked on Doctors and Foster and Smith this morning and they still have it (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=5059+5911+5926+8451&pcatid=8451). This morning, I ordered six more bags of it.

Pepper has eaten these foods daily since he came home with me over four and one-half years ago and I give them lots of credit for helping to keep him healthy and happy. He dives into this food every morning when I place it in his cage.

I am very sorry that this product will no longer be available.

homemade beak appetite

steptoe91 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:27:49 GMT

yay! i'm so proud of myself. i finally ran out of beak appetite so i decided to try my hand at homemade, with the help of their ingredient list. i made organic whole wheat couscous, organic quonia, organic whole oats, fresh carrots, parsley, zuchini, yellow squash, and broccoli, canned bean sprouts, anise seed, ground cinnamin, and slivered almonds, and a touch of "missing link" suppliment. and it passed the feathered test. all three birds ate it excitedly. they were very happy to get it. very productive day off if i say so myself. i am gonna have to make some homemade veg broth for next time. the only ones at the store had 23% of sodium! i said not for my angels! lol!

Harrison's Bird Food

lucylu216 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:02:09 GMT

Just wondering if anyone uses Harrison's Bird Food. My vet recommends it and I was thinking about having Lucy try it out. Just wondering if anyone else uses it or has thoughts on it

tropican bird food

steptoe91 — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:20:57 GMT

has anyone else ever heard of it? i found it once at petsmart over a year ago for my cockatiel and never again anywhere. the birds seem to love it. it has fruit, pellets, legumes, ...i don't remember what else. my point is, i found it again at petsolutions.com. i mix my birds' foods. so i thought that would be a tasty addition to the mix. i actually use: kaytee rainbow pellets, kaytee organic pellets, zupreem spicy pellets, zupreem harvest pellets (for the smaller birds), and now i add the tropican. since i added it, even twiggy is eating from her pellet dish instead of dumping it in the floor.

cat nip for birds

pelesmom — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:37:24 GMT

is cat nip ok for my bird

Underweight 'Tiel

QuakerLuv127 — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:49:44 GMT

Baldwin hasn't gained any weight in the last four months. He just kind of stopped.. He still eats seeds and gets millet once a week. We also have Sun Factor and Avizyme mixed in his seeds. We offer him veggies everyday too. Sometimes he eats them, sometimes he doesn't. He is not very brave when trying new foods but other suggestions are still greatly appreciated. He needs to buff up!

Conure not eating fruits or veggies

hschrunk — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:02:44 GMT

We just brought our 8 month old male Jenday Conure home a couple of weeks ago, and we can't get him to try any fruits or veggies. He totally turns his beck up at them. We are feeding him ZuPreem Fruit Blend and he is eating that just fine. Looking for something to treat him with and nothing works. We have tried bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, melon, cantaloupe, carrots...... I did get him to eat the yogurt off one yogurt treat, but now he won't take another one.
Want to have something to treat him with and want him to eat healthy.
What to do??

I want a good mineral block recipe

darrien — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:59:11 GMT

I want a mineral block recipe that does not call for Plaster of Paris. There is a warning on the package that says not to inhale dust, so i would not want to feed this to my budgies, or have it in their cage.

Chesnuts for parrots?

Tygrne — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:33:57 GMT

I would like to know, if chesnut are safe for parrots or not. Thank you

What's a good budgie mix?

TheZouldian96 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:07:42 GMT

I don't really plan on making my own budgie food mix.

But, is there any good bird mixes on for sale in the internet?
I've been trying to find some and I wasn't really satisfied, as some mixes are seed-only.
I want a mix with dry fruits and veges.

Thanks .

Scrambled eggs every day?

amea_gari — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:12:04 GMT

Every morning for breakfast, my mom has scrambled eggs. She always gives Taka a bit of that along with a piece of Ezekiel bread and whatever fruit she may have. She does make the eggs with a touch of butter in the pan.

Paranoid as I am, I just wanted to ask if this was good for a daily treat. She says it's the only food he doesn't get tired of (my senegal will eat anything, but likes variety) and he certainly loves it. Should we cut back? I am just worried this may be too high in fat, or the butter (there'd be very little, mind) might be bad.

palm oil

chloe's mom — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:58:43 GMT

does anyone know where i can get palm oil at? i was just reading a article about greys and it said greys should have palm oil but i dont know where i can find it, i was thinking of a health store.

Lafeber

SaraElise27 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:41:30 GMT

I know that all seed diets are bad. Our blue fronted amazon came to us eating lafeber nutriberries. He is not switching to pellets easily at all. It seems, visually, that lafeber is just feeds stuck together, so is this a good, complete food or is it no better than a seed mix? I do give them bits of just about everything we eat along with baby food and fresh fruits and veggies too, but I would still like to feed them a great staple food.

Also, I've been told that pellets are best, but when I look at the ingredients they seem to be mostly corn. I am concerned about this, since corn is not nutritionally dense, to say the least.

And lastly, if you could recommend one packaged food above all others, what would it be?

Quaker weight

Snoopy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:38:12 GMT

I was just reading some of the messages re: healthy foods & what not to give to our birdie friends. Forgot some of them, but a great reminder to read! What i was looking for was correct weight for Quaker Parrots. My Snoopy is 13-14 months old, male and only weighs 75-76 g. He eats ok, plays lots, talks lots, and seems to be doing very well & does not appear to be ill in any way, poops normal, yadda yadda,

but is this weight ok for him? i can't force feed him, i give him greens, corn, rice, brocc, peas, carrots, sweet pot, etc, as well as pellets, i sprinkle them over his food and he seems to nibble on them. but when looking at other birds in the stores, Snoopy seems really small. He's a fiesty little one, lots of NRG, so i thought nothing of it, but isnt that too small for a male Quaker? (DNA tested)

Any comments R most graciously accepted,

Peanuts in your parrot's diet?

Avian Ardor — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:39:07 GMT

I have read a lot of information lately about aspergillosis and peanuts. I recently met a woman who owns a pet store, and she told me stories about how she lost two african grays to aspergillosis. One of them was exposed to it through corn cob bedding (when it was popular many years ago), and the other one was acquired with the disease. Since hearing of these stories I have stopped feeding shelled peanuts to my african gray, yellow naped amazon and dusky headed conure. My question is this: Is there any safe form of peanuts that you can give to a parrot? Is peanut butter smeared on a bit of multi grain bread a healthy choice? What about dry roasted peanuts in a jor (without salt of course)? If anyone has any informaiton on this subject, I would appreciate it. My parrots's good health is of utmost importance to me. My african gray really misses those peanuts! Thanks for your time.

Greens

COCO52 — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:08:56 GMT

I know that cockatiels like different kind of greens, I just got a new little guy and he eats pretty much any green, I was just wondering if Clintro was ok for him, also Is it cool that he likes to eat pieces of my chicken, any and all help would be appreciated.

Budgie only eats millet

darrien — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:32:20 GMT

I got a budgie about 2 or 3 weeks ago from a nearby breeder. She gave me a 1 month supply of food, it seems to be decent food, it has peices of fruits and veggies in it. But my bird refuses to eat anything but the millet in it. I put fresh fruits and veggies in the cage almost daily, but they go untouched, what should i do?

Good Training Treats?

broccoli — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:40:17 GMT

I'm looking for some good treats to train Cin with. What are some treats your fids just can't resist that I could use to train? TY!

Weaning Suns

oldiron — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:25:07 GMT

Just want to run this across the board to see if I'm on track. I have raised Lovebirds in the past but it's been years back. Now I have two Suns that I am hand feeding and I'm coming up on weaning so here's where I'm at.

The babies are eight weeks and have been eating somewhat for themselves for almost two weeks. I'm offering fruits (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, & grapes) that they have been quick to take. Vegetables (radishes, collard greens, broccoli, & carrots) that they also seem to be taking well. Then a jalapeno corn muffin with Zoo-Preen fruit pellets and weaning food mixed in that they are being slower to accept. I started them with whole grain Cheerios with Rice Krispies that I have now quit feeding. I added hardboiled egg to the mix the last couple days and that appears to be disapearing (can't find any in the bottom of the cage.

I have read Suns wean between 7 and 13 weeks. I am still feeding once or twice a day with Zoo-Preen formula but I'm trying to cut back the amount I'm feeding to encourage them to feed themselves. My African Grey is enjoying the surplus immensely.

Right? Wrong? Indifferent?

bugs in the food?

broccoli — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:14:46 GMT

I buy my birds roudybush pellets. My husband had left the bucket slightly open a week ago and I shut it and told him hey do not leave it open cuz it'll go bad or something.

Yesterday I opened it and there were WORMS and cocoon things in their food!

I called the vet and they said "just take hte food out-freeze it to killl everything. Then thoroughly clean the container before you put back the food.

I have done this and at the same time ordered a new bucket of food.

Has anyone done this? Can pellets be frozen and thawed and still be okay?

I'm like ug those 10 lb buckets aren't cheap and I had like half a bucket left- I'd hate to through out the food!

Sprouting Disaster

CriminalistW — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:18:43 GMT

I recently bought a sprouting tray and wanted to take my first shot at sprouting seed. I was waiting for my sprouting mix to arrive and decided to try it with my bird's regular seed. I followed the instructions I had from the sprouting tray and the critter creations sprouting book, but on day two I realized instead of cultivating sprouts I cultivated Fruit Flies!!! Yuk. They were definitely fruit flies. Did I do something terribly wrong, or is there something terribly wrong with my bird's seed? I haven't fed any to them since then.

It is probably way too hot to grow them at my house right now, but I was expecting to get nothing, not flies. Little tiny fruit flies. Very gross.

chinese food for dinner

Ringneckrulesmyroost — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:16:49 GMT

Tomorrow night I will be preparing sweet and sour chicken for dinner and I was hoping I could feed some to my bird (rather than prepare his meal seperatly.) He has not had a 'people' meal yet and I just wanted to run the ingredients by y'all first to make sure that it is all A-OK. The chicken will be coated in a corn meal and flour. Is that ok or should I cook his chicken separate without coating? I think that the white rice will be fine and the pineapple too, but does anyone know it water crest poses any threats? As far as the sweet and sour sauce I think it may have too much sugars and fats in it for him but would a little bit be harmful? Thanks

Quaker weaned and now weighs 80g......worried.

missy1424 — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:59:34 GMT

ok my sweet baby quaker has weaned 4 days ago....weight was great 100g now its 80........feeding nutri-berries,and zupreem avain harvest pellets, also saflower harvest seed. with a little sunflower seeds a few times a day. havent accomplished fruits and veggies........help!

whats going on with my baby?

please give all the info you can about weaning baby quakers etc...

Alternative Diet

Raine — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:57:29 GMT

Hello everyone. It's been a while (exams, work, family stuff, the greatness of life) but all is well. Everyone in the flock is doing great, and Goonie is progressing nicly. I am still having a bit of an issue with his diet, though. It has been about 2 months since I brought Goonie home, and for the first little while he was eating the rest of the food that was brought over when he came into my home. THe seed mix, Fiesta in the largest form, has been his diet for the last 6 years. I have tried mixing in some pellets here and there, but Goonie REFUSES to eat them with his other foods. I have also tried giving him pellets with his veggie dish in the morning, and only offering seeds in the evening for supper, but he just waits until I get home and waits until he has his play time and then his seeds. I have been kind of using his seeds as a reward for him going back into his cage (we're having issues with Goonie not wanted to go back into his cage. I believe this comes from being locked in it for so long) and although he is getting a reward, I wish it were more because he wants his supper and not because he hasn't eaten seeds at all all day. I have been really watching what he eats from his dish, and it seems to me that he eats the large nuts (which is usually an almond or 2, a peanut and maybe a hazlenut) and then sunflower seeds. The rest is his fruits, veggies, pasta and other things he gets during the day. I am toying with the idea of making him a 'seed diet' from scratch, but I am at a loss of what to put in it exactly. I went out today and got walnuts, peacans, almonds and hazelnuts, and I have peanuts at the house. All of them are in the shell, which will give Goonie something to do while I'm out and about. I am concidering buying a seed mix that has less nuts, but i find most of it lands on the floor for me to sweep up, and I hate to waste it. If anyone can give me some suggestions that would be great:D

Lovebird refuses to eat

Duffo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:10:12 GMT

Hi all,

I have a blue-masked lovebird who's just about turning an adult, he still has some black markings on his beak but his feathers have all grown out. Anyway, I'm having difficulty feeding him seeds. I bought millet and placed a few seeds in the food bowl. He still insists that I feed him the powdered formula and refuses to touch the seeds besides throwing them around. The only other thing he does is to nibble on them but he will spit them out after and he seems to have difficulty peeling the seeds. Any suggestions on how I can help him start on seeds ? Thanks!!

Foods with the most and least Pesticides

Kitty K. — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:38:03 GMT

The mangoes I've been having for breakfast have been tasting very off lately, and I wondered why Wal*Mart's 88ct mangoes tasted better than the $1 ones I bought from a premium store. So I did some reaserch, and came up with no reason about why they taste so bad from that store. But what I did find was information about pesticide use in crops. I learned that kiwi, papaya, mangoes, and pineapple use the least amount of chemicl in the growing process. Here is the link to a GOOGLE book sample about other crops and the concentration of pesticides in them: http://books.google.com/books?id=LsI4YnPUZ3sC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=mexican+mango+pesticides&source=bl&ots=1wMUTXGnLC&sig=ynOSpCOkoiDydotahZlcSX-UJac&hl=en&ei=97EvSsLPNZC_twfo17T_Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPA84,M1

I thought, for all you people feeding organic to birds, that this is something you might like. And for all those that don't, you may still like to read some excerpts.

Fruits and Veggies

sweetpea81 — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:45:43 GMT

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had an insight on how I could get my creamino lovebird to be able to eat some fresh fruit and veggies. He currently eats seeds,pellets, and some cereal like rice krispies and grape nuts but I can not get him to try and eat anything other then that. Is there a trick or something I can do to try and get him to eat a more balanced meal?

Macaroni and cheese?

psycho_the_cockatiel — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:34:08 GMT

Hi there,

I was just wondering if Cockatiels can eat macaroni and cheese?

Deadly parakeet food?

birdlover27 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:16:29 GMT

Yesterday, we lost our budgie named Billy. He had been acting funny for about a month, but he was eating, drinking and his poo looked normal, so we figured it was a mating thing. He spent a lot of time at the bottom of his cage, but otherwise seemed just fine. We did however buy parakeet food from Walmart ( I'm sorry I don't know what the exact brand name was, it came in a big plastic container). And he was the only one of our four birds that was eating it. Coincidentally, my coworker also has a parakeet who has been acting odd, and she is feeding hers the same food. Has anyone else noticed their parakeets (or other birds) acting funny after eating this food?

Feeding Schedule and Details

Kodie — Mon, 25 May 2009 12:46:42 GMT

Hey guys!

So i recently brought home a new member to the flock. He's a beautiful baby Ringneck

I am just curious about how you guys work your feeding schedules, what you feed them and whatnot. He pretty much eats ANYTHING i've given him so far so pickiness will not be an issue as it is with my lovies.

Thanks!

How much should my Conure be eating?

rowleycole — Sun, 17 May 2009 12:51:15 GMT

I recently changed my Janday Conures diet on advice from an avian vet. Since the change I have been checking the before and after weights of his food, and, allowing for spillages, He is eating a total of between 20 and 30 Grams of food per day.

His main diet consists of Boiled Rice and Broccoli, Boiled mixed beans (From Pretty Bird), Pretty Bird Jungle Munchies and the occasional treat (Chip, biscuit ) and also some fresh fruit (usually grape)

Can anyone tell me if the quantity he is eating is about right for his species?

thank you.

Versele-laga Seed and Egggfood? Anyone heard of it?

LoveMeLoveMyParrots — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:18:39 GMT

I heard from my aunt in europe that one of the top food's there is Versele-laga seed. Anyone have first hand experience trying it? I hear it's being brought into the US Soon. I'm a little nervous about changing my bird's diet, but I want them to eat the best!
Thx

Sprouts

psycho_the_cockatiel — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:56:29 GMT

Does anyone have a list of all the kinds of beans and seeds you can use to sprout?

Macadamia Nuts & Nut Cracker

Kelly & Joe — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:28:55 GMT

We were fortunate enough to add a Hyacinth to our flock. I'm looking for 2 things....perhaps someone has a few ideas.....

1. A good, healthy, as economical as possible source of bulk Macadamia nuts. Generally, they are sold in the shells.

2. A Macadamia nut cracker, preferably an electric one so I don't have to spend hours opening nuts one-by-one. Currently, I'm using a hammer and it's not great fun or good use of time.

I've surfed the net for nut crackers, but without a heck of a lot of success.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks all.....

Joe & Kelly

mysterious seed

Filippo&Debz — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:50:25 GMT

Can anyone identify this seed?

Seeds vs Pellets or Seeds and Pellets

Ringneckrulesmyroost — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:57:13 GMT

I currently have 2 food dishes in my IRNs cage, one with pellet,and one with seed. I feed him fresh fruits and veggies every night when I get home from work. My question is, should he be offered both pellet and seed simultaneously? I have heard that he should be given only pellet for about 3 days and then alternate to seed for about 3 days and so on. I have also heard that he shouldn't be given seed at all. And yet another person told me that I should only give seed outside of his cage as a treat only (but this is when he gets his people food). I get so many conflicting answers to this question, just trying to get to the bottom of it once and for all. Thanks!

Seed sprouts?

Lilbird — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:28:20 GMT

can someone please explain to me how you feed or use seed sprouts. I have heard a lot of people talk about seed sprouts. I haven't heard it until recently and I would love for someone explain it to me.

What kind of seed? etc.

I don't mean to sound stupid or anything, but until about a year ago all I had was 2 seed eating tiels and was not very educated about diet. I have learned alot from these boards. Since I have had my sun conure I have been soaking in the information and want to learn as much as I can. I love my life with my birds and want to continue to make them happy and healthy.

Thanks

:(

anahirox93 — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 10:30:12 GMT

havnt gone on here since like almost a year, well like three days ago something tragic happend. well ok, since my doves live outside for like almost all their lives i never had to worry about anything. nothing ever happend until 3 days ago. there were 15 doves and when i got home i found three on the ground. two had been strangled and 1 was in shock. i was in total shock. the stupid hawk had been lurking around for days, he attacked my doves. i barried them next to a huge tree in my backyard. the third one is in recovery, hes doing well though he lost a lot of feathers. i put my dog in the backyad, hes on patrol......

Birdie Dinner Roll Call

angelicarboreals — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:55:41 GMT

I feel like my guys get bored with the concoctions I come up with for them to eat besides their pellets, so I was interested to see what your birds ate today besides pellets. My guys got "fruit salad" today- a mixture of apples, peaches, and spinach. (I was really lazy, didn't fix myself dinner, so I had to rustle up what I could out of the fridge.)