Over the years, the greatest problems I have seen in pet parrots, macaws, cockatiels and budgies like yours, relate back to nutritionally imbalanced diets based on seeds and the failure to feed fresh fruit and vegetables. The things you find in commercial seed mixes are things that no parrot in the wild ever ate.

The Problems:

All common seeds are too low in a crucial vitamin, vitamin A, as well as other vitamins and nutrients. Seeds that these hookbills love also contain too much fat for their lifestyle. This leads to obesity; lusterless and easily-damaged plumage, listlessness, increased susceptibility to disease and a shortened life-span. You can read more about good bird diets in another article on this website.

The problem also results from your birds’ natural suspicion of new objects and new situations. It may also relate to addictive compounds (possibly lipids (fats) that are present in certain seeds (sunflower, safflower, white and red proso millet and peanuts).

Absolutely none of these seeds are part of your parrot’s natural diet in the wild. They seem to produce a “high” shortly after they are eaten and depression when they are not available. Just like a mom who prepares a wonderfully nutritious meal for her kids - and then placed a bowl of Snickers bars in the center of the table, parrots and macaws will go straight for the candy bars and eat them until they are full.

I have had so many clients prepare beautiful diets for their birds, only to have their little rascals carefully sort through the mix eating only the portions they like. The problem is worse in hand-fed domestic parrots who may have been fed one, monotonous oil-rich diet during hand rearing or those that were feed the bitter U.S.D.A. corn-based tetracycline-laced diet during quarantine.

Birds also choose their diet based on appearance, size, and mouth-feel as much ,or more, than taste. This is why I always suggest that pet birds be feed pelleted diets in which all necessary vitamins; minerals and nutrients are homogeneously dispersed.

Where Should I Buy A Good Diet For My Bird?

Over the years, more and more reputable pelleted parrot diets have come on the market. Katee Exact, ZuPreem, Roudybush, Mazuri and LaFabers as well as others market good products. I am always suspicious of supposedly “unique” formulas that are sold in few locations, contain miracle "Swedish" ingredients and of any brand, stored in feed store or hot conditions where rat contamination is likely. Diets for your pet are best purchased through a large jobber with high turnover so that the products are sold fresh.

The Benefits Of Feeding Pellets:

When a reputable extruded pellet is feed, no other vitamin supplementation is necessary or desirable other than when birds are breeding or in molt (see my article on molt). Too much vitamin A and D are as bad as not enough. However, the addition of anti-oxidants sprinkled from microcapsules seems to retard disease and prolong life. Many pellet manufacturers have already added anti-oxidants in the form of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol).

How Do I Get My Bird To Eat These Pellets?

The best way to convert birds to a pelleted diet is slowly with a lot of patience. I never recommend the “Drill Sergeant” approach. A few brave parrots will eat it immediately but this is not generally the case. Most parrots, macaws and cockatiels are creatures of habit. It is also unwise to force a parrot to switch from seeds to pellets. A lot of pellet companies give helpful suggestions on their packages. Birds can be very stubborn about changes in diet. It's just part of their natural wariness of change of any kind - like new toys, a new cage or a new owner. Basically, try any number of tricks and encouragement: extra feed bowels, crushed pellets, pellets dipped in fruit juice, pellets placed here and there in the cage, etc. The colorful Nutri Berries that Lafeber Co. markets can be helpful.

Usually, you can just mix the two diets 50-50 and after a month or so the bird will suddenly be eating both. Then gradually decrease the seeds to zero. Or, you may add a topping of brightly colored foods, like carrot scrapings, diced spinach or purple cabbage (not too much) that will make them bolder about testing the new foods.

Another technique is to offer the pellets early in the morning when the birdie is hungriest and the mix later in the day. Or start sprouting the same seeds he is eating now to encourage acceptance of variety. The more sunflower, safflower seed, proso millet and nuts the bird is on now, the more stubborn he will probably be about change. Remember, the color of the bird’s droppings will change on the new diet. Pellets with red pigments in them could be mistaken for blood in the stool. I prefer pelleted diets preserved with vitamin E, rather than artificial anti-oxidants like B.H.C. or ethoxyquin. I prefer brands that have no artificial coloring agents added. Most of the “natural” brands are brown.

What If My Pet Is Already ill?

If your pet is already suffering from health problems, (silent heart, liver or obesity-induced respiratory distress or multiple feather stress bars) one must be extra cautious and patient in making the change. Birds with life-threatening health problems should probably be hospitalized during diet change. A healthy parrot should be able to fly 15-20 feet without becoming exhausted, mouth breathing, or having its tail bob up and down. Some bird enthusiasts suggest placing newly acquired hookbills in cages alongside parrots, which are already are eating pellets. I hesitate to do this because the infectious disease status of the new birds is often unknown.