looks like my sun conure will be straving

[conureowner1]

Hi everyone looks like my sun conure will straving now, This is the reason why i want it to eat seed not pellets. I cannot get the vetafarm south amercian pellets unless i order it in from the grain store or order it online. I ordered 1 2kg bag and 350gram bag online. Before i order it i asked them if they had it in stock they said yes. Now i got a email from them saying that there out of stock and will have more in mid october. Well i've only got 2-3 days worth of pellets left. I have no money to get anymore online. The only pellets we can get in my stupid town is passwell. I don't get paid till the 15th of october so it looks like he straves or eats seed, plus fruit and veggies.
Thia is why feeding pellets is such a pain for me, can't get it locally unless ordered in which they said is a pain for them just for 1 person. Order it online and you get messed around with and have to wait for it.

[avinet]

Firstly your Sun Conure is too smart to starve - he will eat fruit and veggies, as well as seed if he is hungry. However he is clever enough to know that pellets are better than seed given a choice.

And secondly I suggest you look at buying your pellets directly from Vetafarm - go to their web site at www.vetafarm.com.au/ and create an account - the link is in the top right hand corner of the screen. They have a variety of payment methods, including PayPal which is very secure. Be sure to order in good time before you will run out of pellets.

Finally if all else fails PM me and I can mail pellets down to you but that will take several days from SE Queensland to country Victoria,

cheers,

Mike



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[conureowner1]

I understnad pellets are good but its a inconvience for me. I do not have pay pal and will not get pay pal. Also i can't really afford to buy pellets it costs more then seed, I don't see wild parrots eatting pellets. My conures are pefectly healthy my vet said there one of the healthiest green cheek conures he has seen. He asked me what i feed and i told him, His seen 2 other conures which were on pellet diets and he said they were nothing compaered to my guys.
My green cheek conures don't poo nearly as much as my sun conure,they also don't drink as much. Also my sun conures poo really stinks and sloopy cause of all the water intake. As soon as he eats a mouthful of pellets he has to poo. My MoJo didn't poo that much when she was a baby.
Having 4 birds would cost an arm and leg to feed pellets too, Like i said its a pain for me having to order them online and then wait or having them say there out of stock. I'm on the pension here so don't have much money to throw around. 10 kgs of bird seed is only $20 compared to $92.90 for 10kgs of pellets. God for $92.90 i could probably get 45kgs of seed. Yes a only seed diet might be bad but so is a pellet only diet. My sun conure doesn't have much fat along the keel bone actually you can feel the sides of the keel bone. Now feel my green cheek conures you can feel the keel bone but they have plenty of meat on the sides. Even when MoJo was a baby eg 7 weeks old she had more meat then what my sun conure has now. All i'm saying its obvisious the pellet diet isn't working if he doesn't have much meat on him. I was saying to my mum today if my sun got sick he wouldn't last a week.
I'm diffenetly going to try and convert him to a seed fresh fruit and veggie diet it works wanders for my other birds. Someone told me not to offer him anything but seed and see how he goes. I will only feed the pellets if i absolutely need too, I would rather all my birds eat seed or pellets. MoJo is now starting to get the taste of pellets she climped up my suns cage and started to eat his food. MaYa on the other hand is scared of them, Aqua his a seed junking. People have also said its best if you keep pellets on offer at all times is this true? I probably could budget a bit more to squeeze in pellets but if i can convert my sun to seed i will be happy.

[vankarhi]

I can't get good fresh baby parrot formula so I got my husband to "google" some roudybush distributors and we came across Mikes (avinets) pet shop as being on the list. I know buy my baby bird formula from him. I just have to remember to let him know at least 2 weeks in advance that I need more sent to me ;D

I myself don't use pellets for similar reasons to you. I have no real opinions either way about pellets but I feel they are not a natural diet for birds. I have read some positive and negatives about pellets so I guess it really is just a matter of personal choice. I have to say I had considered pellets for Erik when he was toe tapping and wing flipping badly about 5 months or more ago but he didn't like the pellets and they were vetafarm (I won them actually in an online comp). I seem to have Eriks problems under control now anyway.

Do not panic about not having pellets. As Mike said you bird/s will not starve because when they become hungry they will eat other things. Just make sure there is plenty in the cage for them/him to pick from.

[raven]

Have you thought to try sprouted seed? It is close to seed yet has more nutrients and less fat so is better for them, especially if you put a couple of drops of wheatgerm oil in once a day. If you are interested just google sprouts on the net and heaps of info will come up, some even have little video talks on how to. Green harvest in Qld is a good place to buy human grade seed for sprouting if you want them.My corella lives on sprouts as the mainstay of her diet.

[conureowner1]

Thanks everying i've been told to strave him only offer seed all day till about 4pm then give a little bit of veggies. If straving him don't work i might have to hand feed him formula and re wean him, He still does the feeding respon.

Raven i wouldn't be game to try sprout seeds, Maybe soaked seed as you just have to soak in water for 24 hours then raise and feed. My sun conure knows how to crack and eat seed my family thinks he won't eat the seed cause pellets are there.

[Robyn]

No you don't have to starve him at all, just put his small parrot seed, fruit & veg dish & just walk away & leave him to it. If he was weaned onto his fresh foods don't worry he will get plenty to eat even if he doesn't touch the seed. Really most of my birds will eat their fresh food over any seed in fact most of the time the seed is still there at the end of the week so the feral's get it.

Robyn.

[avinet]

[quote author=conureowner1 board=diet thread=8503 post=70485 time=1255071077

Also i can't really afford to buy pellets it costs more then seed, I don't see wild parrots eatting pellets.


Also my sun conures poo really stinks and sloopy cause of all the water intake. As soon as he eats a mouthful of pellets he has to poo. My MoJo didn't poo that much when she was a baby.

I'm on the pension here so don't have much money to throw around. 10 kgs of bird seed is only $20 compared to $92.90 for 10kgs of pellets.

Wild parrots don't eat pellets ( well actually the ones that come to my feeding table do!) but then again a wild conure doesn't eat sunflower, millets or pannicum - they don't grow wild in South America. Their wild diet is said to be fruit, nuts berries buds and blossom. Specifically legume pods, small melastromataceous fruits, red cactus fruits and malpighio berries. Since we can't give them that diet, a balanced pellet with plenty of fruit and vegies is the best we can do.

Cost is a bit misleading - consider how much waste there is with seed - out of 10kg probably 3 kg is husk that they don't eat, and half of what is left gets wasted either by being chucked on the bottom of the cage or thrown out with the husks. 10 kg of seed may only equate to 3 or 4 kg of actual food, and poor quality food at that. With pellets all the food can be eaten and all is nutritious. Some complain that a lot gets wasted when the bird breaks the pellets apart, but that is because owners feed pellets that are too large. If a small pellet such as Passwell Crumbles or Roudybush Mini sized pellets are fed then wastage is minimal.

When I switched my Greys from Roudybush small to mini pellets my usage was almost halved. I think the South American mix from Vetafarm is too large for conures - it should be about half the size for economical feeding. But that is typical of Vetafarm - they should know a smaller pellet would be less wasteful for conures but they will sell more by making the pellet larger with more waste.

Finally I am a bit concerned by the smelly poos - I recently hand raised some Suns, weaned onto pellets, and there was never any smell with their poo at any stage. How old is your Conure? Since he seems to eat well he shouldn't be thin - has he been wormed at all?

cheers,

Mike

[asharee]

thats what i was thinking he might have worms D:

[conureowner1]

No i don't think his been wormed i forgot to ask the breeder. Probably wouldn't harm to worm him and my other birds. I supose that is correct a bird can't eat the husk, I know my MoJo and my sun will eat the pellets. MoJo has now got the taste for pellets she use to hate them. MaYa and Aqua i'm not too sure about. My parents also don't want me spending too much money on food for them either.

[kebz]

No offence to you, but why would you get another bird when you cant afford to feed it? What happens if it needs to go to the vet - how will you pay for the bills.

Why not feed them on a fresh food diet rather than seed?

[vankarhi]

I think I might have said in a previous post to just leave lots of variety.....including seeds/pellets and fresh fruit/veges and cooked mixes......what ever your other birds eat. All my birds get fresh stuff every day........I think my birds eat better than me sometimes. lol It costs me a fortune to go through the checkouts.......I buy papaya and rockmelon weekly, apples/pears weekly, blue berries when they are on special, strawberries quite often, mangoes only if I can't get them from a tree for free lol, kiwi fruit weekly plus other things like pomegranits from time to time. They get frozen vege mix too as well as sprouts and a bean mix I cook up. They also get boiled eggs (not daily) and rolled oats not cooked......plus many many other things. There are so many things you could be enticing him to eat with.

[conureowner1]

that was uncalled for i care greatly about my birds anyone who meets my birds will tell you that there the best cared for birds. Everyone seems to think the more expensive the food the better it is. My birds are not lacking in anything,they get fresh food and water everyday,paper changed everyday to every second day depending how messy it is. Not everyone can afford $100 a month just for food for there animals,I'm not some rich person who get paids $900 a week. So what next only people who earn $1000 a week should own animals. The way i see it people who have alot of money don't treat there animals well the way they probably think is "who cares if it dies i got plenty of money i can go out and buy another one" where people who don't have alot of money treat there animals like gold make sure that well looked after. I'm not saying i can't afford to feed them i just don't think spending $100 on food is a good investment, eg thats money taken away for toys,vets etc. I don't mind buying pellets but something that is in my price range. I think vetafarm charge way too much for the little ingredients the pellets have in it. Its like saying this manaro worth $150,000 is better then this ford worth $39,500 and you only have a budget of $40,000 what would do get yourself into debt to get the manaro or stick with your budget. Same thing here i'm on a budget if i go over that budget everyone misses out on something. Some people may have the luxury to spend alot of money on there pets while others have to budget and have a set amount that they have to stick with. So don't tell me i shouldn't own birds. My birds are spoilt rotten. How about you pick on those people who only feed seed and seed only. Even a pellet only diet is bad for birds too. Prices for everything is going up if you noticed and alot of people are finding it hard. Some people that feed pro plan for there dogs are now turning to cheaper food cause of the price raise, Some people can still afford to feed it but some can't.

[kebz]

Im Sorry, but when did i say you didnt care for your birds? Please dont put words into other peoples mouths.

Im not saying a bird should be fed on a pellet only diet, and moneys got nothing to do with it.
We spend approx $30 a week buying fresh fruit for our birds. Then we have to buy a bag of pellets every 2 months. They get left over veggies from when we make our dinner and ive also started making my own sprout mix (not from packets of seed). We also give them fresh nuts too.

I dont understand how your sun conure can go through a 2kg of pellets in a month or whatever it was. The bags we buy are 1.36kg and we are giving it to 2 birds and thats last atleast 2 months.

And im not picking on anyone - im trying to make a point.