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Just out of curiosity, why is there such a controversy between a seed diet or a pellet diet? If a bird is on a pellet diet does that mean no seed at all? Not even yummy millet

For the record I give luna just about everything - seed, pellets (when I hand feed her - the little stinker) nutriberries, beak apetit, fresh veggies, frozen veggies, sprouts, anything I'm eating, the kitchen sink etc....

For those of you who have gone pellet diet - do you see a difference in your birds appearance? Behavior? Mollting? etc. And do you think it was/is worth the time, effort, stress etc. to go pellets.

What brands have your birds taken to? Mine will eat (when hand fed) Zupreem fruity and natural and another natural I don't remember the brand and dried egg food in itty bitty morsels

I feed my bird both seeds & pellets plus veggies & birdy muffins. Variety is the way to go.
I think the controversy of seeds v pellets started because people were only feeding their birds seeds and nothing else. Pellets have more vitamens etc.. so that is why the pellet issue was emphasized.
it sounds like you are doing the right thing with a mix of foods.

Casper started off just eating seed. But she has now gone to pellets too. I keep her seed in her cage and a dish of pellets outside of her cage. She loves millett! Of course! I tried to find the Beak Appetit in Petsmart this weekend, but mine didn't have it. I will head to another location.

She is a good veggie eater now, so she is getting a well rounded diet.

Funny thing is, she won't touch sunflower seeds. My lovebirds get all her left-overs. They love them. Casper eats everything else but sunflower and safflower. Even ones outside the shell.

There is / was a big controversy about feeding an all pellet diet, and many thought this led, or might lead to health problems later on. AFIK, the recommendation now is like a 60/20/10 split between pellets, seeds, and vegetables or other healthy human food, but in any instance, variation of diet would be best. Even though seeds may indicate they are fortified with vitamins, the vitamins are on the hull, and not in the seed, so they don't really get the benefit of them. Granted, birds in the wild will eat primarily seed, but they also will eat whatever the easiest food to harvest is, whether it be seeds, bugs, nuts or berries, etc. I provide mine with as much variety as I can provide. As for the pellets, I tried zupreem, and they would not eat them (natural). They took to the LaFebers without much trouble, and I have a couple that eat more pellets than they do seeds. All seem to really like the Avi-cakes. There was one other brand I tried, but (name escapes me) they did not like them either.

As for appearance, I can't really say there was a visible improvement, but I do know they seem content with what they are fed. One thing that will help more for appearance than anything is sunlight. As you probably know, the oil from the uropygial gland they put on feathers converts to vitamin D when hit with UV light from the sun or a full spectrum light. They get all the vitamin D they need from preening, assuming they have at least 2 hours per week of natural sunlight.

Behavior is another area where it's hard to tell if the diet made any difference. Can't say I could quantify any definite changes, but again, mine are all such spoiled brats, it maybe keeps them a tad happier.

Sam

I give my guys in there many food pots The primum coctil mix. it contains dry fruit, seed, sunflower seeds and so on they seems to love it. I also give them lettece, millet's and lots of treats, they especaly love thoses fruit and honey sticks. Dam i think they eat better than me

Theo,

While most birds will eat lettuce, there is no nutritional value to it at all. Lettuce is 90-something percent water, so that's about all they get from it. You might want to try Kale or some other dark green leafy vegetable. Kale is high in calcium, as are most other dark greens, plus things like collard greens are high in vitamins as well.

My Tiel - Twinkie - gets pellets and seed. She LOVES seed and gets mad when I make her eat some pellets!
My Sun Conure-Pebbles will only eat pellets. I've tried EVERYTHING but she won't touch anything but pellets. When I give her a peanut she eats the shell and lets the nut go to the floor and my dog gets it.
My Too-Annie eats a variety. I give her manna mash for breakfast with a little birdie bread mixed in. There's always pellets in her dish and for dinner she eats whatever we have. The manna mash is great, it has so many good nutritious things in it. I've tried to give it to the other birds but they won't touch it.
Gloria

Do you all notice that tiels eat smaller items or does it not matter? Casper likes smaller things. So I will cut up her carrots and beans, etc. I still can't get her to eat much more than broccoli and peas and corn. She did eat some baked potato skin the other day.

She does like bread, so maybe it is time to make the birdie bread again. Throw some things in there that I can't get her to eat! Gotta be sneaky!

Kura eats pellets (zupreem natural, I think), but he won't eat the cockatiel size, only the parakeet size! He also get veggies, brown rice, and greens (turnip is his favorite). Another favorite is the leafy end of a celery stalk. And of course, bread.

Since the discussion about popcorn, I have offered him air popped popcorn several times. Today he finally started crunching. I don't know how much he actually ate, but he made a big mess, and that seemed to make him happy.

Kathy

Oh yes, the popcorn. I believe more goes on the floor and furniture than goes inside the bird!!!

Someone else mentioned the parakeet size pellets too. I will try those.

Thanks!

Perchparty,

Yes, it does, providing the full spectrum lights are truly "full spectrum" and not just UV lights. Straight UV lights would cook them very quickly. It only takes about 2 hours of full sunlight per week to keep their feathers in good shape, and for them to do the conversion from the oil to vitamin D. Just put their cage in a nice sunny window for a while each day, but be sure not to let them cook. Provide a shade place for them, or just limit their time if it's hot.

Sam

Diego's Mom, Lisa wrote:Oh yes, the popcorn. I believe more goes on the floor and furniture than goes inside the bird!!!

Someone else mentioned the parakeet size pellets too. I will try those.

Thanks!

POPCORN!! Annie (the Too) and Sassy (the dog) both stand at my husbands feet and wait for a kernal to drop. Then they both DIVE to get it! It's hilarious!!! Poor Sassy is getting so old she doesn't get very much and what she does get Annie gets pissed off and chases her and will bite her tail!!

My two girls get about 80% pellets - Zupreem natural. I rarely feed seed to them because it puts them both in a breeding frenzy and start laying eggs. I do give it as a treat, like a spray of millet every once in a while - lasts all of about 5 minutes - but I keep it to a minimum.

They eat part of our dinner every night. Usually we give them some of our veggies - they LOVE peas and corn and dark green leafies - and some of the starch. I pin up fresh broccoli in their cage every once in a while. They love it because it's got a texture like millet.

My tiel hates pellet-plus we can't find good one here-seeds are more natural-along with her daily parsley,orange,corn on the cob,broccolli,apple and whatever I eat she does fine.

Bubba is now on an all pellet diet... he gets millet as a treat, and also eats veggies, apples (about the only fruit he likes), and non-sugary cereal (as a treat)... he really likes rasin bran crunch. Anyway... the vet suggested getting him on an all pellet diet--he developed bumblefoot as a result of an all-seed diet. He said that Bubba may never be fully converted b/c he has spent the last 10 years eating seed, and birds are do stubborn... he was, but after a few months, I finally found a food he liked to eat--Zupreem fruit-- and kinda tricked him into eating it (put it in his "treat" bowl) soon enough he was scarfing it down.

-Jackie and Bubba