Ask Lafeber

Question:

March 25, 2022

Parrotlet diet


Would you please talk about the pros and cons of a pelleted diet in smaller parrots like parrotlets?


Answer:

Hi Maria,

Pellets are popular because they are nutritionally balanced. However, pellets alone do not offer anything in the way of enrichment for pet birds. And for smaller birds that do eat seeds and grains in the wild, the whole seeds are important because they can essentially help clear the intestines as they go through. However, loose seeds are generally not fresh enough to offer much in the way of nutrition, and any added vitamins are lost when the bird hulls the seeds.

A better solution is to feed a combination of pellets and our foraging foods – Nutri-Berries, Avi-Cakes and Pellet-Berries. These diets are all formulated the same as pellets, but they are not ground up. The berrie and square shapes offer natural foraging exercise. Wild parrots spend most of their day in the wild foraging for food. These foraging diets take longer to eat, so the bird gets enrichment from them as well as complete nutrition. All of these diets can be fed alone or combined with pellets. In addition we recommend offering fresh greens, veggies, fruits, nuts and other healthy foods as 20% of the daily diet.

Here is the link to our bird food guide with more information and suggestions.

Bird Food Guide

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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