Pellets

Abstract

M ost parrot breeders feed a predominantly seed diet. A breeder in Western Australia has switched to pellets with excellent results.

More babies, bigger babies, brighter coloured birds. All these factors, according to Western Australian parrot breeder Diana Andersen, are due to the fact that she has changed her birds' diet to one that is consistently the same and provides exactly what the birds need in precisely the correct proportions.

We all know that birds discard heaps of seed mixes and that it's virtually impossible to ensure that birds eat exactly what we want them to, so how does she do it?

"Simple," Diana said, "I feed them a pellet diet that contains everything they need - a maintenance diet for most of the year and special breeding pellets when they are producing young."

She said both diets contain all the necessary ingredients as well as calcium, with the breeding diet especially formulated so that it has additional ingredients for young birds as well as containing the "trigger" ingredients to encourage breeding in the first place.

"In the wild the birds don't get a dish with a seed mixture," she said, "instead they eat what they consider to be necessary, based on what is available."

She said many birds in captivity eat their favourite foods in big quantities and when their owners see them eating heaps of those foods they supply more because they feel that the food must be good for the bird.

"But that is not necessarily the case," Diana said, "and sunflower seed is the perfect example of that scenario."

She provides her birds with fruit, vegetables and seeding grasses as treats

because she believes an all-pellet diet would be too boring.

"And the same can be said of an all-seed diet," she said.

Diana said pellets provide a balanced diet, whereas with seed the birds pick and choose what they want to eat and there is no guarantee that all the seeds are in top condition.

"We've all seen situations where seed mixes are dusty and where some seeds in a mix are obviously beyond their usable date," she said, "and many breeders are now switching to pellets because they want to be sure that their birds' diets are balanced and they can be sure that the birds will get the same mix of ingredients all the time."

zoos and poultry breeders around the world have been using pellets for many years, not just for birds, but for many animals

as well.

According to Diana it's not only large breeders who are switching to pellets.

"People with one or two pairs are appreciating the benefits," she said, "and I know of a lady with a couple of pet birds who has changed her birds onto pellets."

Asked how people could be sure that pellets always contained the appropriate mix of ingredients, Diana said manufacturers stand to lose too much if they do the wrong thing.

"It's relatively new to use pellets," she said, "and there is no way any manufacturer would risk getting a bad name by producing substandard products."

 

Diana said zoos and poultry breeders around the world have been using pellets for many years, not just for birds, but for many animals as well.

"I am not aware of any problems," she said, "because the manufacturers have too much to lose if they do the wrong thing, whereas people who make up seed mixes can substitute more of one seed if they run short of another seed or just leave a seed out completely if it can't be obtained."

Asked about the economics of pellets versus seed, Diana admitted that, kilo for kilo, pellets were more expensive.

"But you must remember that half of the weight in a kilo of seed is husk and that a good percentage of seed in a mix is discarded by the birds," she said, "which means that in some cases probably 75 per cent of the purchased seed is wasted.

"With pellets a little dust is left behind, but there's nowhere near the amount of wastage that there is with seed."

Diana said pellets also cause less grief when it comes to rodents because seed is no longer sprayed all around the place to attract the little monsters.

When I visited Diana's aviaries I noticed that her birds were unusually bright, particularly her princess parrots, whose aquamarine wing flashes were almost a fluorescent colour.

She breeds galahs, princess, and 28s in suspended cages around three quarters of a metre wide, a metre and a half high and two-and-a-half metres long and all the birds were in peak condition and unusually brightly coloured.

Diana showed me a nest of 28s with seven youngsters and told me that last year she ended up with 36 young galahs on the perch from 50 fertile eggs.

"I converted seven pairs of galahs to pellets last year," she said, "with the result that six pairs double clutched and one pair triple clutched."

 

 

 

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