Did you know the traditional seed mix isn’t the best daily staple food for your parrot? More and more parrot parents now realize their bird should be eating a complete pelleted or freeze-dried food instead. The problem? The parrots didn’t get the memo—and usually refuse to touch their new, healthier lunch at first!
Whether you’re first considering the switch or came here in desperation after trying everything you can think of, A Bird Toy can help. Here’s everything we’ve learned over the years about introducing your parrot to a healthier diet.
Wait, seeds are bad?
Annoying, right? For as long as we’ve been keeping parrots in our homes, we’ve been told our feathered friends should eat dry mixes of millet, canary seed, sunflower seed, safflower, and the like. But over the last two decades or so, the industry has started backtracking. Based on new studies of parrot nutrition, seeds as a staple are now officially out. Pellets and complete freeze-dried solutions are in. Why? Is this just a sales gimmick?
Nope: the concept of pellets and freeze-dried parrot food is legit. Although seeds can have a place in your bird’s diet, the classic dry seed mix will slowly undermine their health if you feed them exclusively.
The problem with seeds is that they seem natural. That’s what our birds eat in the wild, right? Unfortunately, it isn’t. A $2 bag of budgie seed is a far cry from what said budgie would consume in its natural habitat: a wide range of different seed types (sometimes 30 or more!) in varying stages of development, from unripe to sprouted.
Also, as the authors of a 2015 review explain, “the nutritional characteristics of domestic plants, fruits and vegetables tend to be very different to those of native plants. For example, seeds from domestic plants are more concentrated in energy and lower in protein and many other essential nutrients than are seeds of wild plants”.
To put it very crudely, dry seeds make your parrot fat. At the same time, they don’t contain what’s needed to keep their body running properly. If your bird is on a seed mix, you should begin work to switch it to something more nutritious ASAP.
Pellets and freeze-dried foods
The standard alternatives to the good ol’ seed mix are extruded (produced at high temperatures) or compressed (produced at low temperatures) pellet foods. These can solve the majority of issues associated with an all-seed diet. However, they do come with a caveat: not all of them are high-quality. Cheap pellets full of low-nutrition fillers like corn and soy are common, so you have to choose the brand carefully.
Another concern many parrot owners raise about pelleted foods is how boring they are. Our birds love colors and textures, but formulated foods are often brown and uniform in size. The brighter and fun-shaped brands tend to be high in artificial colorings and flavorings. This is why here at A Bird Toy, although we think pelleted food can absolutely have their place in your bird’s diet, we’re focusing more and more on complete freeze-dried solutions.
Freeze-dried foods keep their nutrition, shape, and colors. This means that if you combine the right grains and legumes in the right amounts and freeze-dry them, you can create a daily staple food for parrots that comes with all the advantages of pellets, but virtually none of the drawbacks. No cooking, no soaking, no fillers, no additives, no boredom. We think that’s pretty impressive!
Parrots and new things
Our birds do not like new things. Getting them to accept a new toy can sometimes be hard enough, while changing up their cage can have them off their game for days. Our flock freaks out when one of us wears a hat! And unfortunately for us parrot parents, there are few things a parrot is as slow to take to as new foods. African grays in particular are notorious for this, but the majority of parrots will refuse unfamiliar pelleted and freeze-dried foods at first.
The above is not anecdotal. Ornithologists call it neophobia (“fear of new things”), and it’s actually been studied pretty widely in parrots. Your bird refusing its healthier and more expensive lunches and dinners is totally normal and not your fault! After all, in the wild, its fear of new things would help it avoid toxins. If your normal diet ain’t broke, why would you “fix it” by introducing new and potentially damaging foodstuffs? Best to just stick to the seed, your parrot thinks.
Luckily, food-related neophobia can be overcome—you just have to figure out how your parrot ticks.
How to make the switch
The most important thing we can do to lower neophobia and increase acceptance of new foods in our parrots is to raise them in a super-varied environment. Regular rotation of enrichment items and toys makes for more resilient birds. We know that’s not useful to you right now, but keep it in mind in the future.
As for the current problem, there’s actually a good list of tricks you can use to try to get your bird to take those first bites. Most play on its social nature, using the way its brain works to make pellets or freeze-dried foods seem irresistible. Others help increase palatability.
Try the following:
- Mixing: If you aren’t mixing seeds and pellets yet, try it. Although our birds like to pick out the items they prefer, this may just trick yours into going for its new food.
- Palatability: Wetting pellets or freeze-dried foods just slightly is all that’s needed to get some birds to eat them.
- Jealousy: Is your bird the type that tries to steal your dinner straight from your plate? It sounds silly, but pretend to eat the parrot food. Refuse to give your parrot any at first. It might just see so green it forgets its fear!
- Excitement: On the social note, you should act extremely excited whenever you offer pellets. Our parrots pick up on social cues like wide eyes and a high-pitched voice.
- Imitation: If your bird has other parrot friends who do eat the new foods, ensure it can see them doing so. Don’t have a flock? Even a mirror in the food bowl sometimes does the trick.
- Flavor acceptance: Some parrot owners find that grinding the new food and sprinkling it over the normal seeds helps get their birds used to the flavor.
- Flavor acceptance II: If your parrot likes mashed foods, like banana or sweet potato, hide the new food in its favorite purées.
- Color: As we mentioned, colored pellets aren’t always of the best quality. But they can be a useful tool to get your parrot used to pellets before switching to something healthier, as our birds love color.
- Social: Does your parrot like to eat from your hand? Consistently keep offering pellets or your freeze-dried option. And again, pretend to eat them yourself while you’re at it!
Please remember: never fully switch your bird’s food without ensuring it actually eats the new option. Unfortunately, parrots are fully capable of starving themselves to death! In fact, it’s usually a good idea to speak to your vet before trying to make the switch, especially if your parrot is older or feels under the weather. Regular weigh-ins are also a good idea.
Green light from the vet? Time to work your way down the list above, combining different tricks as you see fit. You know your bird best! It’s all about getting those first few bites in: once you’ve managed that, it’s usually smooth sailing. A member of our team recently switched a cockatiel over by wetting the pellets slightly, and within a day she was eating the dry version as well—with almost exaggerated gusto.
Tip: We like to try these tricks in the morning. Our birds are hungry and rowdy during the early hours, making them more likely to take the plunge.
Foxy the cockatiel eventually discovered pellets aren't so bad. Her plumage has improved a lot ever since seeds were relegated to being treats rather than a staple.
Your bird’s diet
Although the tricks discussed here sometimes work surprisingly quickly, other times they don’t. The most important thing is not to give up: we promise that switching your parrot away from seeds can make a difference in its health. Always keep trying, though take a break and speak to your vet if your bird seems stressed.
If your parrot has made the switch but you still have seeds on hand, don’t worry. They’re not dangerous or anything like that, and you can still feed them. There’s no problem in sprinkling some on your flock’s meals a few times a week, and you can even make the seeds more nutritious by sprouting them first.
Lastly, don’t forget the importance of fresh produce. Yes, introducing vegetables and fruits to a wary parrot can be just as hard as getting it to eat pellets. But it’s important, and anyway, you know how to introduce new foods now!
Conclusion
Sometimes oldies aren’t goldies. Although most of us grew up viewing dry seed as the classic parrot food, formulated pellets and freeze-dried foods actually make better choices. Our birds don’t always like them at first, but it’s important to keep trying—your flock will understand eventually.
Sources
Hess L, Mauldin G, Rosenthal K (2002) Estimated nutrient content of diets commonly
fed to pet birds. Vet Rec 150: 399–404
Mettke‐Hofmann, C., Winkler, H., & Leisler, B. (2002). The significance of ecological factors for exploration and neophobia in parrots. ethology, 108(3), 249-272.
