Strange eating habits? Or normal?

[Cloud]

Hi
Recently got a 3 month old, fully weaned ringneck. Now I have a number of things I would like to run by anyone who would like to provide good info.
Firstly, My new baby Cloud currently weighs at 50.00g is this a normal weight for his age?
Secondly I have introduced him to pellets which he began eating straight away on first contact with, however he doesn't eat much maybe 5-8 pellets a day, and the rest of the time he will eat primarily seeds (I put in around 4 teaspoon fulls) and a bit of fresh vege and fruit I provide, he especially targets sunflower seeds which I'm starting to get rid of in his diet. However if I totally get rid of the sunflower seeds and have more pellets than seeds in general will he still eat healthily?
I heard a healthy diet consists of aprox. 75% pellet : 25% seed (Not including fruit and vege)
But out of a total mass of what?
Since I don't want to put too much in the cage, that at the end of the day there is lots of waste.
An aprox. value would be appreciated.
Also is it normal at this age for them to eat quite slowly, I mean really really slowly...?
Sorry about the handful of questions but I want to provide the best possible diet for Cloud.

[Melika]

Yes, they will eat slowly. I consider this as a good thing- your bird is relishing his food! Hane still eats his favourite fruits and veggies slowly, savouring them and crooning while he eats.

I say 75% veggies and fruits and 25% seeds and pellets sounds better. I always feed slightly more veggies and fruits than he can eat. When I am home, he usually gets two meals of veggies/fruit to coincide with the times he is most likely to tuck it away- noonish and around six pm for him. Hane always has pellets available when he is in his cage and he eats them when he wants to. He gets a nice little scoop of seeds over his veggie mash (eats the seeds while the mash is thawing). I like to use Nutri-berries as his foraging treat as he spends a lot of time eating each one carefully. Hane isn't one to waste good food lol!

You will get an idea of how much to give as you see how much he eats over time. Right now, while he is young, it is best to give him more than he can eat and a different variety every few days encouraging him to try new foods.

I am working on making more foraging toys so he spends more time looking for food- like a normal wild bird might- to help keep his beak occupied. Some good ideas I read included filling a small paper bag or tissue box (plastic removed) with shredded paper, foot toys, and treats.

Pellets are in no way required as part of a healthy diet. What wild bird eats pellets as a mainstay? A bird can eat just as healthily with veggies, fruits, and seed.

As for weight, the average adult weight according to http://www.avianweb.com/AverageBirdWeights.htm is 115 grams. I cannot be sure about your little one, as he is young and growing, but as long as the weight isn't going down but is increasing, I would say he is fine.

[Cloud]

Thanks for the reply
Yeah he is starting to eat more now and a little faster, especially apples
I am sticking to giving him a few pieces of fruit in the morning, with pellets available all the time... then some vege. in the evening and seed mixed in. Tried sweet potato recently Cloud absolutely loves it and makes sure he leaves no scrap uneaten.
He doesn't eat lots of pellets though only every now and again he eats 3-4 then climbs away from the bowl. However if you offer a pellet to him with your hand he eats it straight away vigorously, kind of weird hopefully he'll show more independence as time progresses as I've only had him for just over a week.
So far I've been weighing him, went from 50g - 55g this week.

[Melika]

Try pear yet? Ours are absolutely crazy over pear.

I love feeding sweet potato, carrots, pumpkin, peppers- basically anything orange and red. Vitamin A is one of the more common deficiencies in pet parrots that aren't eating veggies. Red/orange veggies have beta-carotene which is the precursor to vitamin A (any extra beta-carotene is simply excreted, unlike supplementing with straight vitamin A which can overdose).

Oh, and beans! Soak a cup of bean mix overnight, rinse well, and cook. Drain and serve with brown rice (cooked or raw). The combination forms a complete protein and they just adore the texture of the beans. They like a little cayenne pepper sprinkled on top too!