Food

Question
I feed my 2 cockatiels and 1 parakeet small hookbill food which is seed and they seem healthy.Should I change there food?And if I should what do you reccomend?

Answer
Hi, Jordan.  Thanks for posting your questions.

Yes, I recommend you change their food.  Tiels and keets are prone to problems with fat.  Seed is high in fat and low in nutrition.  Your birds may seem healthy and perhaps they are, but take a look at their skin color...separate some feathers and look at the color under their skin (back, chest particularly).  If you see yellow in areas instead of pinkish/purpleish colors, those are fatty deposits.  If they have any yellow that you can see, there is sure to be fatty deposits in/around their organs where you can't see.  If you continue to feed seed, this fat will take it's toll as your birds get older.  This is similar to an overweight human.  Birds are also similar to humans, in that, a healthy diet is something that has to be worked at from birth/hatching in order to maintain health in the older years.

Something that has worked for my birds for many years is a cooked brown rice mash, I call it.  I cook brown rice, to which I add any number of items (I never make the same mix twice!), such as:  green peas (frozen), shredded carrots, shredded zucchini or yellow squash, cooked barley, diced red peppers, ramen noodles, frozen corn, sometimes I'll add: a small amount of shredded cheese, whole grain cereal, shredded apples/pears, applesauce, etc., scrambled eggs...these kinds of healthy things.  Tiels and keets LOVE corn bread, popped corn (a fun food!), wheat bread, greens........VARIETY is key in feeding a bird.  They don't seem to like chunks of veggies and fruits (some do...some don't), however, a broccoli stem is often welcome.  Remember that birds will not eat anything that they do not recognize as food...they may even be afraid of it at first.  However, keep offering the mash every day---they will eventually try it.  For those with only a couple birds, sometimes making the mixture once a week and freezing in ice cube trays makes this easier if you have a busy schedule.  Once frozen, put in a baggy in the freezer.  Every day, take what you need out to thaw and feed once unfrozen.  OR save some of your healthy dinner for your keet and tiels...no sauces, salt, sugar, avacado, chocolate, citrus seed, caffeine, etc.  They only need tablespoon or so.

I also recommend switching to pelleted/extruded food.  This type of food is made of veggies and fruits, with vitamins and minerals baked in.  There are many different brands and shapes, sizes, colors.  The packages are marked for the different sizes of birds.  I prefer ZuPreem and this is what my avian vet recommends.  This food should be made available 24/7.

I allow my keets and tiels to have seed, usually a fortified seed, if they are eating their pellets and they eat their daily mash mixture.  If they don't eat the stuff that's good for them, they don't get their seed.  They get a small amount (seed) AFTER the other is eaten.

Come back if you have more questions.

Chrys