I know that I tend to put more food in my birds' bowls than they will eat in a day. I end up throwing out a lot of stuff which I know is wasteful -- basically, they are picking out what they like the best and the next day I am throwing out what is left over.

What do you all do? Do you measure out how much your bird will eat in a day and only give that much or do you engage in "abundance feeding" like I have been? I'm feeling guilty over the amount of food I seem to be throwing away and am curious as to what others are doing.

Well I give a lot more than my birds can eat but I don't consider the spare food as throwing away as my chickens are more than willing to eat second hand bird food. It is just the way I am doing it really expensive chicken food. I don't give too much of the really favorite food, I make sure the extra is the bulk cooked parrot food and not excess fruit. I just need to know if they hungry they have food to eat, even if it is not the favorite. If they too picky remove the stuff they always eat so that they end up with a balanced feed and you can throw away with a clear conscience.

I know by now about how much of her pellets Ollie will eat throughout the day. I eyeball it, and tend to put just enough in there. Sometimes I have to put a little more in her bowl in the evening if its getting low. With fresh mixes I usually fill her little plate up- I want her to eat as much as she will!

Dakota gets fed in bulk- my parents pay for his food so I don't have to worry about the waste!

I pretty much let them waste it. Throwing food around is part of being a parrot, what can you do.

How do you feel about this: I've read articles that recommend against "cafeteria style" feeding, i.e. mixing a whole bunch of different stuff together, like the kitchen sink mixes. The premise being that the bird only picks out the "candy", and doesn't eat the more nutritious stuff that it needs. These articles seem to think you should feed them what they need, and not give them options. The kids'll never learn to like Brussels Sprouts if you give them the choice between them and ice cream, ya know?

By the way, I do feed kitchen sink mixes, and I always put something in like Pine Nuts, Millet, slivered Almonds, some fruit, etc. that I know they really like. Maybe it's not such a great idea though?

I have heard something similar to this though on a different track, about not feeding the same food for four days ie: apple on monday then not again until friday. Anyone know anything more about it? Anyone feed along this line for your babes?
Lol Nate, I had to stop putting slivered Almonds in my vegie mix, Silk was literally dumping the whole bowl out just to get the tiny amount of almonds in there, it was driving me nuts lmao. Now I give her a little bit at lunch time when she comes out to play.

I'm an abundance feeder, and the leftovers get tossed outside for the wild birds. They're so happy to get it that they even eat the sprout hulls that the tiels already cleaned out! I guess the tiels must miss a molecule every now and then.

I would also consider myself to be a cafeteria-style feeder, although I would define it differently than using mashes and kitchen-sink mixes. Instead I have a bunch of little bowls all over the cage with different things in them. There's one with pellets, one with dry seed, one with dehydrated fruits and vegetables, three with sprouts (a very popular item), and one with a limited amount of wheat bread and Nutriberries. I hang up some fresh veggies for them too. All the birds eat at least a little bit of everything - it's fun to watch them play 'musical food cups'.

It's all basically healthy stuff and no one knows exactly what any given bird's nutritional needs are anyway, but it seems to me that they're getting a pretty well-balanced diet this way.

I mix a bit of seed in the parrot cooked mix of legumes and corn. On top I put the fruit, veggies and peanuts. I do limit apple when they have babies or they give the babies only apple. If I mix it all together they tip the dish to get the tiny bits. Less waste this way, although it does not stop them going for the second from the bottom pea. If they had a choice they would only eat apple, seed and nuts. Dried fruit and other dry stuff is in another dish.

I understand the idea....but my birds pick one color of pellets to eat at a time. Pretty funny.... one day the tiels aren't eating their yellow and the IRN isn't eating her red, and the next day they switch. Even the budgies seem to pick out certain colors, but everyone does seem to eat every color eventually (except the banana shaped yellow ones, which are more fun to put in the water and watch dissolve on most days). For the rest, I tend to feed them ad lib; they tend to finish yummy things like the millet and greens and pick and choose amongst the rest.

We just had an appointment with the AV a few weeks ago to discuss diet. I brought dishes with me filled with their usual portions and types of food I offer daily.

My AV walked into the room, saw the dishes lined up on the table, stopped still, stared, looked up slowly and said, "What are you feeding, elephants?"

So, I definitely think I'm in the Abundance Feeder group!

Karen I wont even comment