I learned a lot from my current Veterinarian the first time I took a bird to be seen by her. She requests you bring what you are feeding & any supplements. She looked at the ingredients & pointed out a number of things & explained why they shouldn’t have these things. I was quite surprised & wished I had recorded her because there was so much information & it got a bit overwhelming. I decided that I would do some research & look up exactly what the ingredients were if I didn’t know for sure & also whether they were safe or good for birds. I have to be honest it was quite the project & I spent 3 weeks researching every brand of food out there that I could Google search & find. I then wrote a 10 page document explaining what the ingredients were, the dangers, unhealthiness & the side effects of the chemical & artificial ingredients. There was only one brand that was good & it was expensive for the amount of food I would need for my birds & my fosters. I have a copy of my research document & would be willing to email it, but too long for a blog post. My email will be at the end of this post & if I forget to include it you will find it on some of my other posts.
I learned pretty quickly that I needed an alternative to manufactured seed mix for my birds & my foster birds at the time. If you are thinking I feed pellets so I’m good, sorry I couldn’t find a pelleted food that didn’t contain a good amount of sugars (toxic to birds) or artificial colors (not safe for birds either). I seriously think I searched every food out there & looked up each ingredient. The first 5-6 ingredients make up the majority of the content by weight of the stuff in the bag. I was sad that most people have no idea nor do they have an alternative food unless they mix their own. I decided to do just that & I searched which seeds to feed each type of bird I was caring for & figured out where I could purchase these. I am blessed to have a feed store in the next town over from me that is family owned & very nice people. They will even mix the seeds together for me, he pours it back & forth in large bags for me.
Before I ever sent my manufactured bird food document to anyone I knew who had birds I first sent it to my Veterinarian to read. I didn’t want to give false information to anyone, or miss anything. She is very precise, so I knew she would let me know if I was misleading or if anything was not correct. She read it & liked it, she commented that I missed a side effect of one of the added chemicals. I think all the chemicals in the food was the one thing that surprised me the most. Some of the side effects were digestive issues, anxiety, agitation, & aggression, along with other issues. It is a possibility that some birds that pick at their chest may be doing this because they are hurting internally from the chemicals & synthetic additives in the food they eat.
I adopted two Cockatiels to a young lady who had a small Conure that if it was a kid you would say was ‘hyper.’ She changed to the seed diet I was making & feeding the Cockatiels & in about 3 weeks she called me & she couldn’t believe the change in her Conure. She was able to hold him & he would now stay on her shoulder while she read or watched TV. She was so excited & happy to see the change. I explained if we don’t feel good on the inside it will show up on the outside, whether in the way we look or the way we act. If you gave a child a bag full of candy daily, do you think that kid would sit still, concentrate & listen to you & do what you asked if they were pumped full of sugar & carbs? If our birds aren’t fed well it will show up in some way as well.
If you’re going to feed a homemade seed diet like mine (recipe will be in this post) then you need to feed fresh foods at least 3 times a week. Manufactured foods add Vitamin A, sometimes real & sometimes synthetic, but birds need Vitamin A & other vitamins as well. If your birds absolutely won’t eat fresh you can add a Vitamin supplement such as Nekton which I wrote about in post # 83.
You can add some dried fruit to your birds diet, but know that fruit is higher in natural sugars & needs to be fed in moderation. I recommend you read the ingredients & make sure there are no added sugars or salts. Below is a photo of the one I feed, I have to cut up or tear up most of the things in the bag as they are too large for my Cockatiels. You’ll need to see if it is the same for your bird.
My recipe is as follows (you may not need to or want to buy the amount I buy)
4 lbs. Canary seed
4 lbs. White Millet
4 lbs. Red Millet
4 lbs. Safflower seed
4 lbs. Canola (Rape) seed
4 lbs. Flaxseed
4 lbs. Niger seed
4 lbs Buckwheat
2 lbs. Oat groats
2 lbs. Sunflower seed (black oil striped-small)
3 lbs Chopped Raw nuts (Walnut, Pecans, Brazil, Almonds & Hazelnuts)
I buy raw nuts in the shell (easier to come by in fall & winter, so I buy extra & have them when needed), they are sold in many grocery stores in bulk starting in Oct-Jan. I crack them & break up the nuts into about the size of a sunflower seed. Nuts you buy chopped up usually contain salt or have been roasted.
I store the seed mix in empty cleaned & rust-free popcorn tins (I have save the moisture resistant packages that come in quality dog treats & other food items & place 1-3 in each can to keep food fresh). If I have purchased extra nuts I keep them in shell & in sealed containers till I’m ready to use them.
I have written other posts on bird care & you can check the table of contents on the main page of my blog under the show tab in the upper left corner. I have had birds for 40 years now & was on the board of a caged bird club for 10+ years (voted President twice) & fostered a variety of birds over 10+ years. I have cared for Finches, Canaries, Parakeets, Conures, Cockatiels, Lovebirds, Amazons, Cockatoo, Macaw, Indian Ringneck, Quaker, & Caique & I love birds & will probably always have them in my life.
If you are enjoying & learning from my blog posts, please help me get the word out there so others can find my blog. I am passionate about helping pets to strive & not just survive. You can help by clicking the “like” button at the bottom of my posts, commenting on something you liked or learned, subscribing to my blog, visiting often, sharing the link on your social media platforms, or emailing the link to friends. All these things help my blog to be seen by others. If you have a question or want to email me you can reach me at echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thanks for reading & I hope you will be back very soon & check out my 110 other pet care topics. Debbie
Echoing Great Pet Care 