new owner seeking advice on food for rosey bourkes

[meam35]

hi there

i am a new member to this site and completely inexperienced about what to feed 2 bourke parrots other than the cockatiel seed and millet the pet shop advised. havng just read that only feeding this can lead to malnutrition i am concerned.

i believe that if you take on a pet then you do your best by it so i would be gratefull for all and any advice.

the pet shop told us to supply them with grit but im sure i read somewhere tonight that bourkes shouldnt get grit at all. is this right? if so, what do they use instead?

thanks in advance.

am x

[huntress]

No grit. Grit is not needed for hookbills and CAN cause impaction. Tiel seed mix is fine for bourkes and millet is good too. You can offer a canary or budgie size pellet mixed in but they may not take to it. I feed mine a good tiel mix with dried vegis and cocnut from the bulk food store. In the summer I feed fresh green clean grass seed tops, dandilions, and dark leafy vegis all year. They also get egg food or a hard boiled egg pulverized shell and all. A bit of fruits, sweet corn and other fresh vegis that you can share with them will help to balance out the diet. Bourkes do best in a large flight cage - one that you can remove the floor grate. Use newspaper or other flat paper for bedding and not any kind of fluffy stuff. Put the food in flat pans on the floor. They are birds that in the wild like to forage on the ground for grasses and seeds so doing this for them is most natural and mine seem very happy. I even put fresh hay down for them (can be found in small amount in the rabbit department) (I go out to the barn,lol) They LOVE the grass seed tops and carrot tops! They will sleep allot during the day and become active in the evening into the darkness some (large eyes, night bird). They like to fly around the cage late evenings and sing while they fly.

When I fresh clean the cage with new paper They like it when I sprinkle a little seeds on the floor and cover with a light layer of grasses or hay. They forage around in it like little chickens!

[meam35]

hi there

thanks for your help. im terrified about doing something wrong so any advice no matter how trivial is always welcome.

thanks again

am x