Diets for Fattys?

Post by **Lauren** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:33 pm

In the last few weeks, Lola seems to outweigh Jibby massively! She feels soo heavy!

I must get her weighed soon, as Ive never ever felt Jibby this heavy before and I thought he was a chubba! Lola looks lean, but is heavy as a rock! She looks happy and healthy, nothing has changed but her weight!

I feel its my fault somehow Ive done something wrong?.. but then her diet consists of: pumpkin, brocolli and egg mash, (which she LOVES) corn and apple and any other fruit I have around.. daily. She barely touches her seed/pellet mix. (Usually gets the Tropimix or 'Premium Cockatiel' mixes).
I feel her diet is good, other than I have been using peanuts (in shell) as a reward. (Its the new most amazing food theyve ever seen, who would of known peanuts come in shells? lol).

Lola will pretty much eat anything, shes not fussy.

She gets enough exercise flying around the house from room to room and this is her diet. Am I doing anything wrong?

Will she was laying eggs she was light as a feather (I know this is normal for a hen at this time) But when it was all over and time to abandon the nestbox, she stacked it all on, she just keeps getting heavier?

Is there any diets out there suitable for birds? What can I do except weigh her?

I feel like a terrible bird mummy!

Fah · Post by **Fah** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:34 pm

Heya, before I suggest anything and before you actually do anything, best answer is to get a good weight result first.

Once you have that weight to work with its easy enough to see how much of a problem it is...

You see, alot of my IRN's stack on the weight a little after breeding season, as they are physically under pressure in this time, and when moulting starts generally after this stressful time, they compensate by basicly doing a mad rush at the food / fat storage so they are once again ready for another stressful time physically.

Let us know the weight to see if its really problematic.

ryelle · Post by **ryelle** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:39 am

I wasn't even sure if birds could put enough weight on to cause concern

It's something i've been wondering about

n9ter · Post by **n9ter** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:20 am

I believe her diet is fine except for the Eggs, don't know how much egg you give your bird, but egg is very high in cholesterol. Should only be given for breeding or post breeding to raise young. That's my opinion though I might be wrong.

Darlene · Post by **Darlene** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:47 am

I have always been careful on giveing peanuts. For two reasons. 1) peanut shells can have bacteria on them that can make your IRN sick. So I just give the shelled peanuts. 2) peanuts are high in calories and can cause weight gain with your birds.
So I try to be careful about the amount or frequency that I give peanuts.
Same with sunflower seeds. But walnuts are better as a nut treat. They are not as high in fat and are actually helpful in controling colesterol. A good protein snack.

ryelle · Post by **ryelle** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:00 pm

Thats interesting info about the walnuts.

I think though, from the amount of exercise the birds get, and the fact that Lola eat tonnes of fruit etc. that the peanut rewards wouldnt be making that much of a difference.
I also gave my fid a hard boiled egg as a treat/toy the other day but he just ripped it to bits and didnt really eat any. They are high in protein though

Post by **Lauren** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:47 am

Thankyou so much for you help chickies. Lola has now lost weight since I cut the egg out of her diet... also majorly cut down on the peanuts.. even though the lil buggas found were i hide them (ontop of the fridge), I left them out of the cage other day for a short trip out, as they usually spend most of theyre time in the bathroom, I thought id be safe for 10 mins, stupid me, came back.. and well.. found lil peanut trails.. all the way back to the bathroom!

They pigged out while mummy was out! :shock:

Within a week though, Lolas weight dramatically dropped. I could feel it immediately. Shes also been eating alot of watery fruits/vegs lately (grapes, strawberries, apple, watermelon, papaya, rockmelon, celery.. aswell as her usual brocolli, pumpkin, corn, and beans) I also tried squash but they turned their beaks up at that. She seems to love to dig her beak in watery stuff and just 'suck' the juices out, then she discards the rest, sometimes I wonder whether she thinks shes a lorrikeet lol!

Oh my I had no idea about the bacteria in peanut shells! (our last seed/pellet mix had peanut in shells in it!)

My birds have never had peanuts in shell, till I bought some few months back, before then theyd push them aside, until I showed them what was inside them! now my gosh, they go crazy over them! so I thought I could use it as a reward treat.
You should of seen them, when I showed them how to crack them open and get the treat! Ive never seen them pin their eyes so much in excitement! :shock:

I think I may change to walnuts now, since they know now that these strange looking shells have nuts in them! Damn I should never have showed them what was inside. lol.

Anyhoo, thankyou for your replies. I will be watching her diet closely, as well as Jibbys.