A Bird's Diet: Evaluating Your Pellet

It's been a long series, but this article brings us to the end of "A Bird's Diet." Next week, I'll take a look at the natural diet, which is one that I think all bird owners should espouse, but until then, let's get back to pellets.

Many bird owners feed pellets because they're told to. Veterinarians, breeders, pet owners, and experts alike tell us we need to feed our birds pellets. They're healthy, easy to provide nutrition, and all birds need pellets. Suffice to say, most of what they tell you is true -- most of the time.

While it is true that we still do not know the complete nutritional needs of our parrots, pellets do come to be a close approximation. However, that's all they will ever be -- a close guess to what our birds truly need.

However, pellets can be evaluated. Like seeds, they can go bad if they sit for a while, and stale pellets have a smell to them. If the container of pellets doesn't smell fresh, then it shouldn't be fed to your birds, not even mixed in things. Like vitamins, pellets can lose their potency if they sit.

Colored or natural, you may wonder, looking at all the varieties of pellets. It really doesn't matter, I think, unless you have some aversion to the dyes used. Certain brands of colored pellets seem to make the birds eat only one color, which can result in droppings that match the favored color pellets. Since evauluating a bird's droppings is a good way to determine its health, this could be detrimental. It may also be more than you wish to handle, for example, when a parrotlet of mine favored only the red pellets and his droppings turned red. I spent about ten minutes worried that my little bundle of feathers would die before I realized what had happened.

For the most part, pellets should be evaluated based on their freshness and their suitability for the job. This means the color, size, and shape all should be to the bird's liking, and should be appropriate for the bird.

I think pellets should be looked at as a supplement to an already, healthy, varied diet, not the sole food in that diet. I enjoy mixing pellets in cook and serve foods, bird bread, and other treats that I give my birds.

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