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FED MY COCKATIEL 'PARAKEET SEED' - HELP!!

FEESE Oct 13, 2004 10:42 PM

I mistakenly bought parakeet seed from the store today.
The seed looked almost exactly like regular cockatiel seed I normally buy. Will eating the seed make my cockatiel sick?
Also, I want to introduce a pellet diet for her. Seems more nutrition is available with pellets. Do any of you experts think my 4 year old cockatiel will eat the pellets? Or will she refuse them? Any comments will be apreciated. Thanks.

P.S. .... How do I attach a picture to these posts? I am new here and would like to share some photos of my cockatiel.

-FEESE-

Replies (3)

ciscobird Oct 14, 2004 01:11 AM

No it won't make your tiel sick.

ltdead Oct 14, 2004 04:00 AM

Any kind of seed mix is fine, don`t worry.

Pellets are a great idea. A healthy diet includes pellets, seeds and lots of fresh veggies and other table foods. Your bird will eat the pellets... eventually. It may take weeks or, with particularly stubborn birds, months to teach them to eat pellets. Other birds will eat them on day one.

I recommend being careful about what brand of pellets you choose, and making the transition to pellets very slow. I recommend Harrisons, Hagens, Roudybush and Zupreem natural.

When first introducing pellets to your bird you could put a dish of pellets up next to your bird`s favorite perch, in addition to the usual seed dish. You could also sprinkle some seeds in among the pellets to encourage your bird to nose around in the pellets a little.

After a few days, start limiting your bird`s access to seed. Feed the seed in meal times. 1 hour in the morning, and 1 hour in the evening. This is enough to maintain a steady body weight, but it should encourage your hungry little bird to give the pellets a try. As you see her eating the pellets you can start cutting back on the amount of time the seed is available, little by little, week by week. Once you`re sure she`s eating some pellets cut meal times down to 50 mins twice a day. The next week, 40 mins. If possible, weigh your bird regularly to make sure her weight is staying steady. If you see a 10% drop in weight (for example, from 90 grams to 81 grams) then give back full access to seed until the weight is back on, and try again a little more slowly.

Seed should remain a part of the diet. How you include it is up to you. My cockatiels get their seeds-and-nuts quota when we`re doing training sessions as a reward. They also get a nibble of pumpkin seed every night before bed, as part of our bed-time routine.

To post a pic click on the `photo gallery` option way up above and upload some pics to the site. You`ll then find that you have a `select image from photo gallery` option every time you post a message. Here`s one of my boys!

Remy Oct 19, 2004 12:13 AM

submit this photo to something like Bird Talk magazine. It's a real winner, and would be a great talking point for them about how to take your bird outdoors responsibly.

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