Best seeds for IRN,s?

[Iloveringnecks]

Hi all,

I try to feed my IRN with everything he needs. I give him fruits, vegetables, sometime shredded cooked chicken for the protein,( on saturdays, once a week, and he loves cucumber and salad,)
Every day he has seeds as well. I wonder what seed is the best? They said here in Sweden ( in general petstores, but there is not much petstores that has ringnecks though )that they can eat cockatiel-seeds. It is sunflower seeds in it and he eats perhaps too much of just "them".
I hears that it is not that great if they eat to much of sunflower seeds.

Is it like we say about us humans, not too much "junkfood", and what is "junkfood" for IRN,s?

Any tip about the best?

Jenny in Stockholm

[Kiki22]

It is important they do not eat lettuce or avocado and as for the seed, as I have said in another post: by only changing the seed every couple of days it encourages the bird to eat all most/all of it instead of just picking out their fave (and not as healthy!) bits.

[Melika]

Lettuce is fine. Some people say it could give them diarrhea BUT lettuce is also very high in water. So what if what we view as 'runny poo' is really just water? I know Hane's poo is naturally more runny after he eats veggies in general. I notice no change with lettuce. Like any food though, in moderation.

Sunflower seed is OKAY again in moderation. It's when a bird is only eating sunflower seeds that it becomes unhealthy. I do limit sunflower seeds to treats, but Hane does get a few every day as a hand-fed treat when he behaving. For seed in the cage, I get a cockatiel mix that has safflower seeds instead of sunflower. IF I do accidentally get a sunflower mix, I just feed less seed (and more veggies) and leave the seed until he eats all the different kinds before refreshing- Like Kiki above suggested.

[Iloveringnecks]

Hi Melika and Kiki22!

Thank you for all the great tip!

I am still confused when it comes to lettuce, he likes it very much but I dont give that very often. Is it better to give other vegetables? I heard that dandelion greens is ok?
I also noticed that he really likes cooked carrots ( Not raw, then he put the carrot in the water bowl and I guessed that he wanted it to be more "soft" in the water, so when I then tested the boiled carrot,wow surprise..he really liked it! I also tried broccoli, that is great too;)

Ps. I noticed that there is one fav amoung fruits...pomegranate! Oh my goodness what a hit!
Hahaha the cage end up a little "messy" or my sweat Loomi is pink on his belly but that will shortly be gone again;)

[Melika]

Hi Melika and Kiki22!

Thank you for all the great tip!

I am still confused when it comes to lettuce, he likes it very much but I dont give that very often. Is it better to give other vegetables? I heard that dandelion greens is ok?
I also noticed that he really likes cooked carrots ( Not raw, then he put the carrot in the water bowl and I guessed that he wanted it to be more "soft" in the water, so when I then tested the boiled carrot,wow surprise..he really liked it! I also tried broccoli, that is great too;)

Ps. I noticed that there is one fav amoung fruits...pomegranate! Oh my goodness what a hit!
Hahaha the cage end up a little "messy" or my sweat Loomi is pink on his belly but that will shortly be gone again;)

http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... f=3&t=8078 For what you can and cannot feed.

Hane also loves cooked carrot. He only eats it raw if it is diced or shredded.

Pomegranate has a short season, so a great way to have pom all year is to pull out all the 'seeds' and keep them in a baggie in the freezer. Great snack on a hot summer day! (for humans too)