Bird Care Products
Bird Toys This webpage is designed for general bird care products for the birds that I breed and handle. Pictures can be clicked on to link you to a site that sells the product. I am not selling these products I am just informing you of my opinion about the products and what I personally use or have used. The link provided is for your convience to make it easier for you to locate the specific types of food I am informing you about.
Bird Food
The bird food you use for your bird is very important for the health of your bird friend and in how long they may live. Some people make thier own formulas by purchasing different types of seed they find that specific bird likes and creates the least amount of watse. This can be a combination of seeds, fruits, and pellets. Different types of foods provide different vitamins and minerals that are essential to a healthy and happy bird.
I personally perfer mainly seed. Though you end up with some waste and shells of seeds that get thrown around to me it seems to be the most natural way to do it. Even though pellets leave less waste and less mess I personally would not want to be restricted to eating vitamins instead of a good old steak so I try to give my birds things that they may be more inviting to eat. Now you can buy an already mixed bag specially formulated for your specific bird and add pellets and other stuff to it which I do on occasion also. It is best to give the bird what it likes and what is also healthy for it. There are lots of different companies out there that make specific types of formulas picking one and changing it now and then just to give something different seems to work great for me. Some of the brands include veggies and or fruit also which can also be an added bonus for your bird if it chooses to eat them. A good way to start is find out what your bird was eating before you get them and try to start with that same type of food and then slowly change and add things to thier diet. Just ask and most people will be willing tell you what they were feeding that bird.
If you decide to give fresh fruits and veggies check to make sure they are not toxic to the bird and weather you should cook or give them fresh. Either way fruits and veggies should be removed after 4 hours if not before from the cage to prevent any bacteria issue from developing. A good way to give these things to your bird is while it is out on it's play gym give them a dish of the fruits or veggies then when you put them up or in 4 hours make sure they have been removed and the dish cleaned. At first you may find your bird won't touch the new treat but in time they might just keep trying different nontoxic foods and eventually you will find one they prefer.
Millet spray is a very common seed to give to birds you can get some in the stick form still on it's stalk and hang it from the cage. Most birds I have raised love millet spray and will devour it when they are given it. I tend to use it more as an every now and then item and not every day. If i need to be gone a couple days I will give them a little extra seed and some millet spray to hold them off until I am back.
If you find the seed you are using has a lot of waste then try a different type of seed with less of that seed the birds are not eating. Some of the less expensive seeds will have corn or other fillers added in that the birds don't eat I just avoid those brands and buy a better quality seed.
Keep the seed fresh and in a sealed container or you may get a bug called a grain moth. Grain moths get in bird seed and lay eggs and the larva looks like a maggot when the larva gets out it will find a crack somewhere and turn into a moth creating even more of a problem. If you are having a problem with a certain type of seed you buy but you really like the seed then freeze it before hand to kill off the larva and eggs. Remember to keep cages cleaned or that larva will eat the wasted seed in the bottom of the cage also. If you do get an outbreak they are harmless but annoying hang a few fly strips up and keep your cage clean and in no time at all you will get them under control.
Remember also buy the right type of seed for your bird such as parakeet seed for parakeets and cockatiel seed for cockatiels. These were specially formulated for that type of bird. Some birds like Parrotlets and Lovebirds may be harder to locate a specific type so using Cockatiel seed for those birds seems to work very well. Cockatiel seed has both smaller and larger seeds for the inbetween sized birds you may get some watsed smaller seeds or wasted larger seeds but when you figure out which ones they don't eat then buy seeds that they do eat.
Here are some examples below of different types of seeds.
