Hi, sorry for all the silly questions but can someone tell me what i should feed a ringneck (i'm buying one as soon as i get a cage)..
I've read that they can't have a pure seed diet so how much seed should i allow? & what type of seed?
Also read that people feed pellets.. what are these pellets & where would i get them from?
I've read they love lots of fruit & you should also feed vegies to them..
Do they need grit?
I offer my birds seed, pellets, fruit and veg every day.
Fruit & veg like apples, (without seeds), corn, peas, celery, carrots, oranges, pear, grapes, mangoes, passionfruit, peaches, plums, apricots, pumpkin, sweet potato, just to name a few.
Seed mixes can vary but I feed mine a budgie mix with a few sunflowers thrown in or a mix called "Peachface" mix. I don't feed too many sunflowers as alot is not good for them.
Not sure where your located but pellets can be bought online, pet stores, vets, etc.
Nothing can be fed by its own... solely pellets is bad, solely seed is bad, solely fruit and veg is bad. (for the average parrot).
Like humans, they require a solid amount of moderation when it comes to diet. Some people use a mix of all, others do seed + fruit and veg, others do pellets + fruit and veg.
There is no 'better' feed type if you do things the right way, however there are easier options if your birds will allow... pellets mean less work for the human, but higher cost. Seeds = much cheaper, however require watching of their intake so they do not lack other feed.
Generally any good quality small parrot mix is a good starting point for the seed routine.
Almost all of them contain the following:
Maize, Sorghum, Grey Sunflower, Oats, Barley, Wheat and Safflower
If you find your birds are only eating one or two types of seed, you will need to mix your own seed mixes with less of that particular seed, forcing them to be a bit more flexible in their diet.
I personally give all my birds fresh fruit and veg every 3 days, and only enough to last one solid sitting.. on other days its nuts and sprout seed.
Seed is provided for each day, and replaced generally only on the 3rd day unless its been contaminated .
I use particularly large feeding bowls and trays and keep a close eye on things, hence why i can afford to be a little more relaxed with the feed routine.
Key thing is though, once you feel you have your bird worked out, and they appear happy, lively etc, get your birds blood checked by a vet, to make sure everything really is going well.
I have quiet a few birds, and could not afford to test every single one, however I test those birds that seem less lively than others first, and pick a few birds out by random each year for testing.
Also... do NOT feed your birds grit... it is utterly useless to an IRN.
The whole point of grit, is to aid in the rougher outside of some seeds to be worn off easily through the digestive process. Suprisingly, pet shops are more than willing to sell you bags of the stuff for any parrot at all...
Most parrots remove that outer shell that is hard to digest. Birds like pigeons, and other non hookbill parrots require grit, as they eat their seed whole, husk and all.
Just to share my experience about food, when i get my little ones they came just eating sunflower and nothing else than that, since they were a little bit weaks i gave them the sunflower and tried to intruduce them a seed mix but they heated the other seeds anyway i crushed a seed mix (for birds) some seeds that we eat and pennut all of this crushed and they started to to eat all of it without problems now i am in the process of try to give them some fruit and vegetables hmm but they does not want it so with patinece and finding out some trick like i did with the seed mix i will introduce them to a better diet with fruit vegetables and seed!
i use the small parrot mix as well and twice a week i give them mixed vegies the frozen one form the supermarket out of the 14 ringnecks they take 1kg at one serveing fruit they get what ever the wife buys at the fruit shop oranges they love but they dont like banannas but all others they devour it
Thanks heaps everyone for the great replies.
So i'm thinking i'll feed budgie seed & mix in some sunflower seeds.. Then on the third day give only pellets.
Every 3rd day i'll feed fruit & vegs
Will the chew on flowers? (My lorikeets like to chew on wattles)
What type of nuts do you feed?
Sounds like they'll eat anything! haha
That's interesting about the grit, i've always fed it to the cockatiels & budgies
Ah you might run into troubles when it comes to incorporating certain styles of seed then pellet routines...
Some birds really wont touch the stuff if you bounce between the two... and they are stubborn enough to just go 'nah.. no thanks... will eat later when you provide real food' thats how their opinion can work heh...
There are few tricks people here use to incorporate pellets, so hunt down some topics on that, failing that of course, im sure someone can answer that here.
Any nut they enjoy, remember, nothing in excess is good, and only use unsalted varieties... natural / raw / baked non salted are fine.
They will literally nearly eat anything if you start them off on the right foot... generally if you dont start off on a varied diet.. it can be very hard to introduce new foods.
