Pellet vs Seed

[Carolyn]

After a lot of reading, and asking questions to several Avian Vets - I have come up with some conclusion's on this most controversial subject. As these are my ideas only, I would appreciate input from people with a lot more experience than me.

 

 

1) If the only healthy diet for a pet is what it eats in the wild, then we should be feeding our dogs and cats whole small animals, too. After all, "pelleted" dog and cat diets aren't found in the wild, either.

 

2) Parrots don't eat much seed in the wild, in fact, and certainly not the types of seeds one finds in commercial parrot mix. They eat a wide variety of foods that you can't hope to duplicate unless you start importing them from South America. Parrots in the wild eat plants, tubers, fruits, grains, nuts, flowers, seed, insects, and sometimes carrion.

 

3) Seed diets are deficient in vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. In the wild parrots can compensate for deficiencies by eating other things. In captivity, they are dependent on what you give them, and if that's mostly seed they have no way to make up for what the seeds lack. In particular, an all-seed diet lacks calcium, which is very important to parrots for maintaining their delicate bones. Seeds also are lacking in complete proteins, which birds need in order to replace and grow feathers, which are something like 98% protein.

 

4) The premise that "birds eat seed" comes from watching small seed-eating softbills. We don't have many parrots native to the U.S. and Canada, so we don't have first-hand observations about what they eat. (And many of these seed-eaters also eat insects for protein. Remember "the early bird gets the worm?") You can't determine what parrots should eat by watching starlings and sparrows!

 

5) A healthy diet for an olympic athlete would be a good healthy diet for you also - right? The comparison is valid. African Grey’s (and other parrots) fly miles daily in search of food and need a high-energy diet. Our "perch potatoes" will tend to be overweight and have associated health problems if fed the same type of high-fat diet that they eat in the wild. Research has determined that a parrot's diet should be about 12 - 15% fat. Most seed mixes are much higher in fat than that, and it gets worse by the time they have picked out and eaten their high-fat favorites, the sunflower and safflower seeds.

 

6) Research done at The University of Guelph, Avian Studies, say that parrots on pellets and a varied diet of vegetables, fruits, grains, and table food live longer, are healthier, have better color and feather condition, and are more active and playful.

 

7) Parrots have taste buds and in some ways are like small children - they will eat the most of what they like the best, which isn't going to be what's good for them. Although a high-quality, supplemented seed mix -may- actually be a fairly well-balanced diet if eaten in its entirety, it won't be after your little darling has finished picking out the parts it likes the best and dumping the rest on the floor.

 

In conclusion:

Your parrot's diet should consist of a pellet BASE ( 70 - 75% pellets), vegetables, grains, legumes, fruits, other table foods (25%), and some seed, used as treats only. The greater the variety of foods you offer your parrot, the more likely it is that it will be able to meet its nutritional needs.

 

—–More About Seeds and Seed-bearing Treats—–

 

Seeds are not inherently bad, they are just incomplete, and some are high in fat. When used in combination with other things that make up for what they lack.

The "small" seeds, such as millet and canary grass seed, are high in carbohydrates, relatively low in fat, and a good energy source. I think you'll find that most of the seed content in Nutriberries and Avicakes is this type of seed rather than the high-fat sunflower and safflower seeds. The treats then have pellets and other things such as grains and dried fruits added and are coated with a sticky coating, sort of like honey, that dries hard and holds the treat together and contains nutrient additives. Because of the nature of the coating, the parrot almost has to ingest it while eating the treat, which is not true of the methods used to add supplements to loose seed mixes.

Because of the coating and the way the parts of the treat are "glued" together to make it difficult for the parrot to eat only the parts it likes, these treats do overcome some of the problems associated with loose seed mixes. While I personally wouldn't feed them as a main diet, they probably come far closer to being a complete diet than a conventional seed mix.

The problem that arises with seed is when people try to feed a seed mix all by itself, as the whole or great majority of the diet. It's not so bad for the small birds like canaries and budgies, whose seed mix consists mostly of the "good" seed like millet, but "parrot mix" is usually mostly sunflower and safflower seed, which are calcium deficient and very high in fat.

So, don't be afraid to feed your Grey (or other parrot) treats that contain seed as long as it is otherwise on a good, balanced, low-fat diet that provides the nutrients the seeds are lacking, such as vitamin C, calcium, and complete proteins.

 

As I said in the beginning, these are my thought only and would appreciate, the more experienced owners and breeders to chirp in on this delicate subject.

 

Carolyn & Mika<br><br>Post edited by: Carolyn, at: 2009/01/02 20:39

[she]

Carolyn to me that sounds like a very acurate summing up of the right diet for a parrot. Charlie is on an almost identical diet to that which you describe as the best diet for captive parrots. I was given this diet advise by my vet when I first got Charlie. Thank you for posting this very good advise. I am sure it will be of help to many.

[Dave007]

My opinion here is that there should be no VERSUS in this thread

Parrot mix-----

 

Parrot seed vs Pellets. One of the big debates that never will end as long as there's people out there saying that the opposite of what they use is absolutely no good and has no nutritional value.

Many new owners of parrots are immediately told to start feeding only pellets. Other people who've owned parrots for a while are told to completely change to a pelleted diet. Personally, I think the pellet should be part of a diet and not considered the only diet. The most picked on seed in parrot mix that causes debates is sunflower seed. Sunflower seed is in just about every parrot mix made today. Whenever the subject of parrot mix comes up, it usually has to do with a parrot's daily diet. With some parrots, sunflower seed might contribute to obesity if that particular species is prone to obesity. Other debates have to do with what nutritional values sunflower seeds actually has. Some people are totally against giving those seeds. Others find it okay to give in moderation. Others buy parrot mix that has safflower seeds in it as opposed to sunflower seeds. Because parrots enjoy eating sunflower seed as well as other seeds in parrot mix, some people believe that it hampers the act of changing a parrot mix diet to a pellet diet. Other people believe it slows down the parrot's desire to accept fruit and veggies.

Sunflower seed has received a bad rap over the years when it comes to the dietary needs of birds. But keep in mind, years ago, there were not the sophisticated seed blends that there are today and many people would just provide sunflower as the only seed source for their birds. If this was the case, then yes, sunflower would not be balanced nutrition for any bird. But today, we have seed manufacturers that spend time and money on research in order to create balanced seed blends that include seveal other ingredients more than just seed. Some have pellets, dried fruit and vegetables, nuts, grains, vitamin and mineral enhancements added to the seed mix.

There are seed mixes that are void of sunflower, and in it's place, safflower is substituted. Safflower is a good seed also, but not very different in it's composition compared to sunflower. But because it's NOT sunflower it is more widely accepted. Most of today's parrot mixes are very nutritious and should be a part of every birds diet. The optimum words being "part of."

Along with seed there should be pellets, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, etc to make what could be described as a balanced diet.

Nutrition is very much a debatable issues when it comes to birds and no one will ever be in complete agreement with what is the best diet for any of the birds we keep. The idea is to offer a wide variety of nutritous foods and hope to develop good eating habits with your bird.

All of the above is just my opinion but it's been my experience that parrots don't have a shorter life span if they only eat parrot mix. I own a couple of birds that refused to eat fruit and veggies. At one time, nothing I do would change their minds. I had some tricks up my sleeve to make pellets a part of their diet. The same applied to fruit and vegetablesThey're perfectly healthy, active, feisty and sometimes, big pains in the ass.

I also believe that parrot mix should be available in their cages all day because parrots and other wild birds don't eat the same way that people do. Fruits and veggies should be given but I always tell people not to get overly upset when they won't accept pellets. AND, also remember that fruit and veggies can't be left in bowls all day.

Many parrots just don't like pellets. Loads of people will confirm that.

What I say to people who are getting overly upset when pellets aren't accepted is this---'in the wild where there are flocks of parrots getting ready to fly off to get their everyday basic food, do you think that they're gonna purposely avoid their natural food and try to find out where that * pellet tree* is located?' It just doesn't exist.

I've raised parrots before pellets were invented and I've never had any problems. I feel that a varied mixed diet of parrot seed, parrot pellets, veggies, fruit and various human food is the best way to go but again, this is just my opinion based on true experiences and the results I've had only led to healthy, robust birds and the customers I've sold those birds to have had no complaints about the general health of their birds. I always fill them in concerning a varied diet but I'm not one to tell people to totally avoid one thing as opposed to another thing. I also tell people that the bird they walk away with will not like everything that's given to them.

Pellets have their place concerning their nutritional value. They also have many vitamins in them which are good for birds. I also tell people that it isn't important to get a certain brand of pellet. All brands are basically the same. It's simply a matter of what they like and will eat with regularity.

Vegetables---I alway tell people not to worry because their bird doesn't like a big variety. There's plenty of vitamins in vegetables and the only thing a person has to do first is try out all the different types of the dark green vegetables. They're better than light vegetables.

Again, this is just my opinion based upon 23 yrs of experience dealing with all sorts of food and that also includes all sorts of food that weren't available.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/01/04 04:47

[Carolyn]

Thank you so much Dave, experience speaks volumes.

and you my friend have that:laugh:

 

I just may have to go read a few seed labels tomorrow, maybe my little perch potatoe might like a new addition?

 

 

Carolyn & Mika

[LindaMary]

Thank you, thank you, Dave - the Voice of Reason speaks again. And thank you, Carolyn, for starting this particular thread on this much-belabored topic - I found your comments very thoughtful as well!