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Post by flossy on Feb 9, 2011 14:52:24 GMT 10
Hi All I was in Petbarn recently and saw a seed "mix" for Cockatiels that was a Safflower predominant mixture. It was actually called Safflower Diet or something... Is this seed something that should be fed solely for a reason? I don't know much about the fat contents etc, but would appreciate advice and opinions. I know my birds pick the safflower out first - especially my Alex and Jenday....so it's obviously tasty....lol. Could you lovely peeps give me the low down on it. Thanks heaps  |
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Post by avinet on Feb 9, 2011 20:28:42 GMT 10
Hi All I was in Petbarn recently and saw a seed "mix" for Cockatiels that was a Safflower predominant mixture. It was actually called Safflower Diet or something... Could you lovely peeps give me the low down on it. Thanks heaps Safflower is a high fat diet - on a par with sunflower and so should only form a small proportion of any seed mix. That means no more than 5% of the mix should be safflower. It has a rather bitter taste and some birds don't like it, however parrots have only poor sensitivity to bitterness so most will eat it. I am rather disturbed to hear of a safflower rich seed mix being sold - one of the big potential problems with captive birds is fat, and they don't get the exercise to burn it off so it is always important to keep their fat intake low. With Galahs it is especially important given their tendency to fatty tumours, but Major's can also have some issues with lipoma tumours. If you are feeding a seed based diet (and I always recommend a pellet diet by choice) then stick to a low fat diet, with only small amounts of safflower and sunflower. cheers, Mike |
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Post by flossy on Feb 10, 2011 6:21:31 GMT 10
Thanks Mike
I did think it was strange. Next time I'm at that store, I will take a pic on my phone of the bag. It was definately Safflower Mix for Cockatiels......
I feed a basic peachface mix, which has minimal sunflower and safflower in it, plus pellets and fruit and vegies every day, so my birds should be good....I hope!!
My Quakers only get Budgie seed....with pellets and fruit and veg.
My Eckies get a small bowl of seed once per week, plus pellets all the time, fresh fruit and vegies plus they all get soaked seed daily....
Think I am doing the right thing....if not, please let me know....!!
Thanks again
Ann-Maree
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Post by greyeagle1 on Oct 30, 2011 3:21:39 GMT 10
Hi All I was in Petbarn recently and saw a seed "mix" for Cockatiels that was a Safflower predominant mixture. It was actually called Safflower Diet or something... Could you lovely peeps give me the low down on it. Thanks heaps Safflower is a high fat diet - on a par with sunflower and so should only form a small proportion of any seed mix. That means no more than 5% of the mix should be safflower. It has a rather bitter taste and some birds don't like it, however parrots have only poor sensitivity to bitterness so most will eat it. I am rather disturbed to hear of a safflower rich seed mix being sold - one of the big potential problems with captive birds is fat, and they don't get the exercise to burn it off so it is always important to keep their fat intake low. With Galahs it is especially important given their tendency to fatty tumours, but Major's can also have some issues with lipoma tumours. If you are feeding a seed based diet (and I always recommend a pellet diet by choice) then stick to a low fat diet, with only small amounts of safflower and sunflower. cheers, Mike Just wondering about this: Do tiels do better on a seed mix that has a higher ratio of seeds than pellets? Do their diets in the wild consist mostly of seeds in Australia? |
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Post by avinet on Oct 30, 2011 17:00:47 GMT 10
Just wondering about this: Do tiels do better on a seed mix that has a higher ratio of seeds than pellets? Do their diets in the wild consist mostly of seeds in Australia? They do better on pellets. My house flock of cockatiels used to be on a seed/vegies diet, but when they started to get to around 8 or 10 I started to see signs of malnutrition developing - and so switched them over to a pellet/vegie diet. Their health improved and they are still going strong 10 years later. My preferred brands for cockatiels are Roudybush mini, Pretty Bird for cockatiels and Kaytees small pellets. Cockatiels in the wild do eat a lot of seed, but it is Australian native seeds which are a lot different form the seed grown commercially for bird food, and they also whenever possible eat that seed when it is still green and not dry. Fresh green seed is far more nutritious than dry seed and a cockatiel will only eat dry seed in the wild when nothing else is available. And that seed is also supplemented with fresh shoots, flowers, buds and native fruits and berries giving them a mix of foods we cannot hope to emulate in a domestic environment. To see my usual vegie and sprouted seed mix I give my birds have a look at my article at scas.org.au/html/pet_parrot_care.html cheers, Mike |
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Post by greyeagle1 on Oct 31, 2011 7:26:47 GMT 10
I have read somewhere that you can test the freshness of dry seed by putting it in a glass of water and seeing if it sprouts in a few days and to throw out if they don't because they've lost most of their nutritional value.
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