Right now my macaws, Skittles and Picassso are on Bird Paradise's Ultimate blend. I leave it in their dish for a few days, and they pick out everything and leave pretty much everything but the pellets and raisons at the bottom of the bowl. I fix them 3 fresh meals a day, rangeing from salads of dark greens, carrots, peppers, broccoli, rice and they get the asian medley cooked once a day from Bird Paradise as well. Once a day I feed them what we have for dinner, usually a mix of a grain like pasta or rice, with a veggie like squash or corn or peas, and throw in some nuts and stuff. SOMETIMES i give them some of my husband chicken or fish, but not often. I mix it up of course, they get a varied diet including eggs, sweet potatoes, every veggie you could imagine because i am a vegetarian, and really cool mixes of raw nuts from Trader Joes including macadamias, almonds, walnuts, pinenuts, pistashios, and cashews. Oh, and every night i cut up my kids a bunch of fruit and force it down their throats and the birdies get a dish of it as well as a treat. they will eat everything but those pellets!!!!

I recently bought the Harrisons pepper flavored pellets and tried strategically sneaking it into their food, only to again finding it laying in the bottom of their bowls. So.....my question is.....do they really really need the pellets???? Is their diet containing enough of what they need already? I don't know what else to try. Any suggestions?

This is a very controversial topic. Personally, I don't feed pellets and I am very ambiguous about them. That ambiguity has only increased in the light of the recent pet food recall. I feed a combination of freshly sprouted seed mix and cooked grains and vegetables in the morning. In the evening, I feed a combination of a small amount of dry seed mix, birdie bread that I bake myself and a small amount of non-sweetened, low fat cereal like Grape Nuts, Shredded Wheat, etc. I based all the dietary decisions on careful study of the natural habitat of cockatiels, what they have been observed to eat in the wild, their evolutionary model and actual crop contents reported in various ornithology texts. I am currently researching the flora of Australia in the Australian garden at the Huntington Botanical Gardens where I am a resident lecturer. I hope to be able to cultivate a number of native Australian trees and bushes as a supplement for my birds. I already grow a large number of Australian orchids and figure one hobby will help the other. And yes, all this trouble is for one little cockatiel but will be applied later to a colony of Australian parrots I am planning on developing. Having said that, I must give credit to the website of Aves International, where I first came across the idea of feeding only fresh and freshly cooked items to birds.

I also should note that my bird steadfastly refused to eat any pellets at all. Despite my efforts to retrain her to accept pellets, she simply refused. At this point, I am very happy she did and I can say that pellets will not form any part of my birds' diets in the future. There are a number of birds that have issues with pellets including Eclectus, many of the cockatoos, etc.

That's my .02 cents and I am sure others will have other, very different opinions.

Andrea, its sounds like you feed a very good diet. I'm jealous I wish I could get my two to eat that many vegetables and fresh foods. With all you listed off that they eat, sounds like they're too full of all the good stuff to eat any pellets!

I know the mash I serve is considered to be a complete food source provided they eat it all. Benji is a nit picker and as he just got back from the vet his blood work showed he was low on a few things so I have to make sure he eats the pellets for a bit. Sophie loves the mash as does Zoey and I don't worry too much if they eat the pellets or not. I offer pellets and will continue to do so but I don't really worry as to whether or not they eat them.

Jim,

Is the mash one that you make yourself or is it one that you buy prepared? I've been meaning to ask that... Beetle enjoys his Roudybush pellets and will eat Harrison's (I like to have some variety with pellets in case I run out). He's VERY finicky when it comes to veggies, etc. I'm not persistent enough but I want him to eat a more varied diet.

-e-

I've come across quite a few articles recently that argue against a mostly pellet diet. When I asked Roxie's vet what he recommended he said "I want most of her diet to be made up of what YOU eat". But, God knows I don't always eat healthy and I don't feel Roxie would benefit from that at all. So, along with her fresh veggies, dried fruits, nuts and occasional poeple food - I feed her pellets.
She's all about shapes. I feed her Exact Organic, which is about two-thirds cheerio shapes and that's what she eats. Without fail, when I dump her bowl at the end of the day, all that are left are the little triangular shapes. She also had some treats one time - One bag was little flower shapes, the other was cheerio shapes. You can guess which ones she ate. I couldn't find the Exact one time so bought Zupreem organic - she wouldn't touch them. My boss's B&G won't eat orange pellets, and I have a friend whose U2 won't eat anything purple. Maybe Skittles and Picasso don't like the shape, size or color of the pellets you've tried??
I'm planning on trying out sprouting this summer. If Roxie takes to them - I may stop feeding the pellets.

Andrea - my guys do the same thing - except I don't refill the bowl until they eat their pellets. They also get fresh foods - probably not nearly as often as yours (since I am not home). I truly believe the best diet for all birds (IMO - not to say it is correct) is an all fresh diet of good foods. However, there are two downfalls to that. (1) Most people are not home and are unable to do an all fresh diet; and (2) What happens if you have a life change or job change or you are forced to rehome your birds. I always think about how another person will feed my birds.

I would still offer the Utimate Blend daily (along with the Harrisons) and after they eat all the fruits, nuts and veggies, leave the pellets for them to eat. If they don't eat them, don't top it off with more blend.

You're doing a fabulous job with their diet! Can I give you keys to my house?

yes it is one I make myself.
Mike's manna mash

lol ignore the monster mash unless you feel VERY energetic!

Neither one of mine eat pellets, they just throw them to the ground.

They get their mash and fruit in the morning and
their seeds and nuts at night when I come home from school
Plus all the table food (wink) LOL..........the chicken wings are a hit LOL

Most of my birds including the budgies eat a total cooked and fresh diet. The breeders only ever get a few pellets (like 6-8 per pair) sometimes for play value but they not much interested. I do included pellets in the diet for babies I am weaning as I feel, like Kathie feels, it is in the best interest of any future homes that the bird will eat pellets and any safe table food. It is easy to teach a baby to eat a wide variety of food items, while not so easy to convince an older bird that you are not about to poison him by changing his food. It is my view that pellets are a lazy way to give a bird a more complete diet can never in any way be compared to a good varied fresh diet.