IndianRingNeck.com

Hello!

It is my first time being a bird owner but we do have a canary as well but I have just recently got a gorgeous nearly 3 month old Indian ringneck. I have read a lot about pallets and in terms of his diet he currently has a table spoon of frozen peas and corn (I have used microwave to defrost them) every morning and night. I have also been trying to introduce different types of veges to him for example rock melon which he loved and kept coming back for.

So far his is diet consists of Frozen peas, corn, budgie seed mix (which he will be on till he is a bit older and i will upgrade to cokateil mix) a mixture of fruits such as banana, rock melon and that is it. He has been here for just over a day and is really settling in nicely although he definitely testing me and I am trying not to react when he bites me! I don't want him to miss out on essential vitamins just because he is on a seed/fresh fruit and vege diet. He doesn't like aphalpha sprouts chucked them to the bottom of his cage....

I am trying to make sure that he has everything he needs but even though I have done lots of research it never seems enough and then i get worried that I might have feed him something wrong.

Any tips and opinions would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance (heres to being a great bird owner well... trying)

Hi,

Congrats on your new bird. I highly recommend you make changes to the diet! Peas and corn are nice for treats, as are seeds, but nutritionally that diet is not balanced.
Pellets are a good base for the diet, with a range of low energy vegetables and a small amount of fruit.

Check out this table http://www.scas.org.au/html/fresh_food_nutrients.html

Both my birds took to pellets very quickly, but some will take longer. If your bird takes treats from your hand you can hand him a couple pellets to get him to try them.

Getting a bird to consume healthy vegetables can be a challenge. Different methods of offering them can make a huge difference to the bird accepting them. Hanging leafy greens around the cage, wrapping favoured items in leafy vegetables, chopping a mixture up and blending it all together, feeding vegetables first thing in the morning etc.
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Pellets are a necessity! Fresh veggies and fruits should be fed in addition to those pellets. I have found that some of the healthy vegetables my IRN will throw out. To solve this I put several different things in my food processer and then she has a beautiful veggie mush. Lol. She can't pick anything out and she usually eats it up just fine! I also change it up so that she has a variety of things. Be careful with fruits though as they have high water and sugar content... Vegetables are much more beneficial. I try to keep these things at only about 20% of her diet and the other 80% is pellets. I use Zupreem naturals mixed with the Zupreem fruit mix. When I got Solo (my IRN) her owner had fed her cockatiel feed for 4 years!!! Not good! I was very surprised when she smoothly transitioned to pellets, no problems at all! Good luck with your new addition, they make wonderful companions