 Feeding your bird
For seed eaters such as Budgies, Canaries, Finches, Cockatiels, Lovebirds and Rosellas
What to feed your seed eater
- Bird pellets or crumble should be available at all times
- If your bird is on a seed diet it should not eat only one type of seed
- Selection of fresh vegetables such as spinach, beans, parsley, broccoli, carrots, silverbeet, etc.
- Pasta, rice, toast, eggs, mashed potato (potato only, no added dairy), chicken bones and other meats
- Fruit may also be offered but many birds will not eat it
- Medium sized birds (cockatiels, lovebirds, rosellas) can have no more than 10-15 sunflower seeds per day (less for smaller birds)
- Insects (including grubs and woodboarding larvae)
- Tree leaves and blossoms (banksia, eucalyptus, acacia, grevilleas, mallees, casuarinas, melaleuca, hakea)
- Necta, pollen, wild fruits in season
- Grass roots
- Wild grasses and and their seeds
What not to feed your seed eater (Toxic)
- Chocolate, Coffee, Milk, Cream, Butter
- Anything containing alcohol
- Avocado, Rhubarb, Egg Plant
- Onion, Asparagus
- Milky sapped plants, Nutmeg
Why all seed diets are a problem
Birds don't eat dry seed in the wild
Low amounts of low quality protein
Sunflower and Safflower worse - low protein and high fat
Calcium:phosphate ratio in sunflower seeds is 32:1 - Ideal is 2:1
Sunflowers are "addictive" and birds love them - they then have a tendancy to overeat and become overweight
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