Converting a Pet Bird From a Seed-Based Diet to a Balanced-Diet
A seed-based diet is not a nutritious or balanced diet, particularly for our larger parrots. That said, a seed-based diet is incredibly appetizing, it is high in a fat and is like eating a big mac meal every day of their lives. So especially in birds that have been on a seed-based diet for any period of time, converting to a balanced-diet can be difficult.
BE PATIENT, SOMETHING WILL WORK
At the end of the day, the time required for conversion depends on many factors. It varies from immediately upon offering the new diet to a few months or even more than a year. The first conversion strategy might work, or you might have to change strategies multiple times. You have very good reason to remain confident and positive, though, regardless of how long it takes: almost any bird can be converted to a balanced diet.
A BALANCED DIET IS
A pelleted food, or similar food, that is prepared in a way that requires the bird to eat all of the ingredients, eliminating the picking-and-choosing that occurs with seed mixes. In general, this balanced diet should make up 80 to 90% of what the bird eats, but, in situations where the choice is 100% balanced diet or 100% seed mix, the pellets are clearly the best choice.
There are two types of balanced diet. One type is an extruded pellet. The ingredients are processed into a very fine powder and then pressed and cooked into pellet form. This is the bird version of dry dog or cat food. Harrison's Bird Food is the best brand. Mazuri and Roudybush are very good as well.
The other type of balanced diet is made by coarsely chopping the ingredients instead of processing them into powder. When you look at this kind of bird food you can see the individual ingredients, but they are assembled in a way that prevents the bird from picking-and-choosing. Lafeber's Nutriberries and Avicakes are the best examples, and the only readily available examples, of this type of balanced diet.
Birds can have a balanced diet and still have some choice and variety: it is fine to feed two or more of these formulated diets at the same time or as part of a rotating menu.
A BALANCED DIET IS NOT
A seed mix. Even if that mix has a lot of good quality individual ingredients, and even if those ingredients taken together make a balanced diet. Every bird will pick and choose from the mix, and eat only two or three of their favorite ingredients. Additionally, it’s important to realize that a seed mix cannot be balanced by adding vitamins or other supplements to it.
SOME GENERAL GUIDELINES AND PRINCIPLES, AND SPECIFIC TIPS AND TRICKS
The bird does not have to be young to be successfully converted to a balanced diet. An old bird can learn to eat a new food.
It isn’t uncommon for it to look like the bird does not like new food, when in fact it simply does not recognize the item as food.
If there is more food in the cage than the bird will eat in a day it will not try new foods. (A more subtle problem, but a serious one, associated with feeding more food than the bird can eat in a day is that this abundance may serve as a signal to the bird to become reproductively active. Reproductive activity in pet birds not intended for breeding usually leads to serious physical and behavioral problems.)
Large parrots can be fed two individual meals each day rather than a continuous source of food throughout the day; converting them to meals prior to introducing the balanced diet may increase their interest in the balanced diet. Small and medium-sized parrots should not be fed meals though, but they should not be fed more than they can eat in a day.
Foods offered in a deep dish are not desirable to most birds; foods offered in a shallow dish or on a flat surface will usually be investigated and often eaten.
Birds learn by mimicry. If they see other birds, or their owner, eating (or pretending to eat) the new food they are more likely to try it. A variation of this strategy that is particularly effective with budgies is to place mirrors behind the food bowl containing the balanced diet, or to place a mirror flat on the bottom of the cage and sprinkle some of the new balanced diet on it.
Small parrot species sometimes like to peck at food fastened to the side of the cage. Lafeber’s Avicakes are a balanced diet that comes in a form that allows this feeding option.
Parrots are social eaters and they enjoy drama. Loudly and happily pretend you are eating the new food, then offer the bird some. With tame birds, sit down at the table with the bird. Sprinkle some of the new food on the table between you and the bird. Happily pick at and pretend you are eating the new food. Repeat for 10 minutes a day.
Ground feeding birds like cockatiels and parakeets prefer to eat from a flat surface. Sprinkle some of the new food (pellets, or Nutriberries broken into pellet-sized pieces) on a table mixed with some of the seed mix.
When they are fed in a cage birds prefer to eat from higher food bowls. Place the bowl with the balanced diet higher in the cage than the bowl with the seed mix.
BEFORE BEGINNING THE CONVERSION
The bird’s health should be reasonably good and stable. Of course, some birds are being converted to a balanced diet to improve their health, or to treat or manage a particular illness; these pets are best served by having a veterinary exam and consultation prior to starting the conversion process.
Learn how to weigh the bird. (Digital scales that weigh in grams are relatively inexpensive.) Plan to weigh the bird first thing each morning, before feeding, throughout the conversion process. 5% weight loss is acceptable; 10% weight loss, except in obese birds, is not. If the conversion process extends for longer than a couple weeks and the bird’s weights have been stable, then the bird can be weighed less frequently.
Learn what the bird’s droppings look like before the start of the conversion, and examine them daily throughout the process. We have found that birds that eat pellets often have slightly lighter colored droppings, and sometimes they will drink more water, so the liquid portion of the dropping might be slightly larger. The output of droppings should not noticeably increase or decrease, the fecal portion should remain formed, and the urine portion should not become very large.
Learn how much the bird eats in a day. Using the bird’s regular food, before offering any of the new balanced diet:
In the morning give the bird a measured amount of food. (teaspoons, tablespoons, or grams - you could use the scale you use to weigh the bird.) This should include all of the food, treats, and supplements. It should be more than the bird can finish that day.
Twenty-four hours later measure how much food is left.
Subtract the amount that was left from the original amount fed to determine the amount eaten.
Repeat this process daily for 5 to 7 days and then average the results. This is the amount the bird is eating in a day.
CONVERSION STRATEGIES
Combine the preceding principles and guidelines, and some of the tips and tricks, with one of the following conversion strategies. If one strategy does not work, try another one.
GRADUAL INTRODUCTION, OPTION 1
Each day, feed only the amount you have learned the bird will eat in a day.
Replace 50% of the seed mix with the balanced diet, mixed into the same dish, on day one.
Replace 5 to 10% more of the seed mix with the balanced diet every day.
If the bird does not appear to be eating the balanced diet, slow the process down by decreasing the amount of seed mix less often than every day; decrease it every second or third day, or even wait a week or two to decrease the amount.
Monitor the bird’s weight, droppings, general behavior and appearance throughout this process.
GRADUAL INTRODUCTION, OPTION 2
Each day, feed only the amount you have learned the bird will eat in a day.
On day one, instead of replacing 50% of the seed mix, replace only 5 to 10% of the seed mix.
Replace 5 to 10% more of the seed mix with the balanced diet every day.
SUBSTITUTION, OPTION 1
This option involves switching the bowl of seed mix and the bowl of balanced diet. Place the amount you have learned the bird will eat in a day in each bowl.
On day one, place the bowl of seed mix in the cage in the morning. About one hour before the bird’s bedtime, replace the bowl of seed mix with the bowl of balanced diet.
On day two, switch to the bowl of balanced diet 15 minutes earlier.
Continue to switch the bowls earlier and earlier in the day.
If the bird does not appear interested in the balanced diet, slow the process down by decreasing the amount of time with the seed mix every second or third day instead of daily.
Monitor the bird’s weight, droppings and general appearance throughout this process.
SUBSTITUTION, OPTION 2
This option is the reverse of the previous option: on day one, place only the bowl of balanced diet in the cage in the morning. At noon, replace it with the bowl of seed mix.
Every day, replace the bowl of pellets with the seed mix 15 minutes later.
