Pellets for Pure Health and Vitality- By Verna Shannan

It is well worth the effort to train a parrot to eat a high quality, extruded pellet diet instead of seed. The difference in the feathering and general wellbeing of the bird is noticeable within a matter of weeks. The challenge, especially with an older bird, is to change them from one to the other and this often requires a lot of time and patience on the part of the owner. The reason that they resist the pellets initially is because they don’t recognise them as food, not because they don’t like the taste or because they want to be difficult.

Using the “Rissole Method” arouses their natural curiosity because the bird recognises the seeds even though they are in something else.

I use and recommend ‘Hagen Tropican Lifetime Granules for Cockatiels,’ for all parrots (except Lorikeets) from Budgies to Macaws, simply because I’ve had such great results from using them. The reason I use the small size is because they are cost effective, you don’t find half the pellet on the other side of the room after the bird has bitten into it, as The Tropican pellets also don’t turn to dust in the packet, which others often do.

Keep in mind too that caged birds do not need anything like the calories that wild birds do. If you feed only as many pellets as your bird will eat in one sitting and only enough to maintain a healthy weight you won’t find the pellets thrown all over the place. This way there is no wastage, no mess to clean up and you will find that it doesn’t cost much at all to keep your bird healthy. You are also far less likely to have a rodent problem.

Any kind of change is stressful to a pet parrot. Stress can be good for a healthy parrot but when a bird has been on a mainly seed diet I believe we need to take things easy. Once the bird is eating pellets you will often find that it can cope better with changes. A healthy body contributes greatly to a healthy mind for parrots as well as for people. First get the diet right and then an exercise program can and should be put into place.

During the changeover put a good quality vitamin supplement into the drinking water every day, Vetafarms Soluvet is an excellent one to use. Once the changeover to an extruded pellet is complete you should never need to add vitamins again.

For the two days prior to starting the rissole method feed the bird nothing but budgie seed and water with vitamins. Don’t give any treats during this time, as we want the bird to be bored and more willing to try something new once we introduce the rissoles. If you have a sunflower seed addict, or a bird that won’t eat budgie seed for any reason, keep on with this regime until the budgie seed is being eaten, before moving onto the rissole method.

If the seed dispenser in the cage is not big enough to hold a small rissole, change to a bowl that is, so when you begin feeding rissoles the bird is already used to eating out of the container you put them in.
The evening before you start the rissole method, remove all food from the cage so the bird is hungry in the morning when you introduce the first rissole.

If the cage has bars on the bottom, lay some paper or cardboard down to stop the rissoles from falling through, if they are tossed aside in disgust, which often happens. We want to give the bird a chance to change its mind when the hunger really sets in.

The Rissole Method

1. Moisten a spoonful of pellets with a little boiling water, leave to sit until soggy then mix to a wet, dough-like consistency. Add an equal amount of budgie seed, mix well and roll into small rissoles the size of marbles, then refrigerate.

2. Remove all food from the cage, the night before introducing the rissoles.

3. On the morning of the first day remove one rissole from the refrigerator and leave it out until it is room temperature or warm it in your hands. Put it into the bowl that used to hold your bird’s seed and put the dish in the same place as it was before. The bird will probably treat the rissole with utter distain, but may pick out the seeds. In the unlikely event that the bird eats the whole rissole immediately, give it another one and so on until it stops eating. Always add another rissole if the bird finishes the one it has had and so on until it eats no more. Feed nothing else. Replace rissoles twice a day and remove at night because wet food can go off quickly, especially in hot weather.

4. After a week or so, when whole rissoles are being eaten, increase the pellets in the mix to 75/25. Feed nothing else.

5. Gradually continue to cut the seeds out of the rissoles until you make the rissoles out of pellets only. Then start to add a few dry pellets to the dish. Slowly reduce the amount of moisture in the mix until you are feeding just dry pellets. Feed nothing else.
If your bird accepts the rissoles readily, speed up the process but don’t reduce the seed until the whole rissole is being eaten. After the bird has eaten nothing but dry pellets for a week, start to feed vegetables and fruit, for variety, in addition to the pellets but not too much corn or sugary fruit. You can also now start using sunflower seeds for treats during training sessions.

The reason I keep emphasising ‘Feed nothing else,’ during the transition is because if you give in and feed the bird something else it will then start to wait for that something else and could starve to death in the process.
A large bird can fast for a couple of days but if a small bird goes more than 24 hours without touching a rissole, try heating it up or making it into a warm mush with hot water and more seed. If you use a microwave for heating the mix be sure to squish through it with your fingers so that you eliminate any hot spots.

Please contact me if you need help or advice with your parrot/parrots and I will send you a list of my fees and services.
Birdbrains@bigpond.com Mobile: 0407 911 474

BRING YOUR BIRD TO: Pet Parrot Preschool

Many bird keepers become emotionally involved with a pet bird.

The bird that features in this little tale, a hand-raised eastern long-billed Corella, was bought as a Christmas present for bird keepers beloved two years back after the lady mentioned that an uncle in her native South Africa had an African grey parrot that lived in the house and was an integral part of the family.
That bird took part in conversations, ate with the family and was a real character. The bird keeper approached a local breeder of eastern long-bills and arranged to buy a youngster in time for Christmas.
At first all was well, but the bird keepers partner tired of the bird and it was left to him to tend to the Corella and keep it amused, fed, etc.
The inevitable happened and he grew attached to the bird, but as his workload grew with a new business venture there was less time for the bird, which vented its displeasure loudly and often in an attempt to get some of the attention it had previously taken for granted.
The Corella was relocated to an aviary with a tame little lorikeet for company in the hope that it would not be as noisy. The bird had other ideas and a downturn in volume and regularity of output did not eventuate. One of the options was to sell the bird, but the soft bird keeper wasn’t able to do that because he couldn’t be sure that the bird would be cared for in the manner to which it had become accustomed. Instead he arranged to send it to the Parrot Rescue Centre on Queensland’s Gold Coast, where the birds are well looked after, taught to fly free and have a really excellent lifestyle.

That was several months ago and he recently went to the sanctuary to visit the bird.
As he exited his car Zarita Garozzo, one of the main people at the operation, pointed 40 feet up into a huge gum tree saying, There she is.
The Bird was obviously happy and soon flew down to Zarita.
The Corella then spent the next hour or so re-acquainting herself with her former owner, nibbling his watch, his glasses and his ears, as if it still happened every day.
The bird lives in a large aviary with several others of her species as well as a few galahs and two Major Mitchell cockatoos. She is taken out of the aviary to fly free every day and has great time in her new home, where the people love her and have welcomed her into their family. And the name of the soft bird keeper is Lloyd Marshall.

Many of us feel that when our bird flies off that we will never see them again. Well have hope because nine out of ten times your parrot will actually eventually come down to someone, if they are use to human interaction. They may fly around for a while, some have even been known to be out for weeks before eventually coming down to someone because they are hungry.
Some of the emergency contacts that can be notified when you have lost or found a parrot:

Species: Eastern Long Billed Corella

Yes, if you pass the essential assessment process.