Feeding your bird right is of great importance. Poor diet can lead to a variety of diseases, all preventable by simply feeding your bird correctly. All-seed diets lead to fatty liver disease, rickets, poor feather and skin health, malnutrition, a weak immune system, and premature death among other ailments. It is easy to get your bird eating right with a little work and patience. A healthy diet can make all the difference in the life of your feathered friend. They will be happier and healthier, both inside and out. A good diet will extend their lifespan, keep them protected against disease and help prevent egg binding in females.
Getting your bird eating right is, however, another issue. Our fids are like three year olds. If they are given the choice between seed or fresh, juicy carrots, they will choose the seed. Why? It's the same reason a three year old will choose a snickers bar over a carrot. It's sweet-tasting, fattening, sugary goodness. Birds do not have a moral compass telling them "well this seed looks tasty, but it'll make me fat and unhealthy, so I shouldn't have it." They are exotic pets, a.k.a they've kept most of their wild-born instinct. Thus, they see seeds and think, "this tastes good and I need fat and sugar to fly. This has fat and sugar!" Essentially, your pet is packing on the pounds as prep for miles of flight that he isn't going to fly. Our household birds don't fly hundreds of miles all day every day to burn off the fats from seed. BUT as wild-born instinct tells them, they very well may so it's best to eat for the occasion.
Enter you: bird owner, new or experienced, with a bird who eats crap (seed) all day. How to remedy this? You want your fid to eat well, you know how bad it is for him to eat seed. But no matter how many stalks of broccoli or carrot tops you put in his dish, he refuses to eat until you cave for fear of his starvation and throw in a bowlful of seed. If you're somewhat further along, maybe there's some pellet mixed in. How to get the bird to munch his greens!? Simple: be a chef. No, you don't have to make a gourmet dinner with three courses and a dessert to boot, or find some fancy ingredient from a faraway place. The best (non-italian) restaurants serve a dinky little dish of food for upwards of $50. We still buy it and eat the whole thing. Why? It looks GOOD. This is what you do for your bird. Don't just throw a carrot slice in his dish. Hang it from a toy, take his dishes away and stick a slice through the bars, wrap it in a Kleenex for him to shred before he gets to the apple cube. Thread strings of celery around his perches, push sprigs of broccoli through an empty paper towel roll and adorn it with corn kernels. Presentation is key here.
So now we come to the question of what to feed your birds. In essence, greens and protein. Dark leafy greens like kale, spinach, and carrot tops are good choices. Orange foods like carrots and sweet potatoes have lots of vitamins A and B, which are good for birds who don't get a lot of natural sunlight. Bits of cooked egg or white meat are also good to have your bird consume every now and then. Once your bird has begun to eat right, it is always a good idea to keep them in the habit. Even if your bird is older and not prone to investigate or try new things, it is still worth it to get them on a good, healthy diet.
That's all for this topic, feel free to comment, share your opinion, and +1 this post. Thanks!
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