Feeding your Flock

Feeding your Flock
Be Kind, but not too kind

I will preface this article with the notation that this is what I feed my cockatiels. Rarely, can you take what you feed one species and mirror it with another species. Birds from different continents require different foods. Birds in the Amazon (Macaws, Amazons, parrotlets), thrive on a diet rich in fruits in vegetables. My parrotlets LOVE figs. Yet, birds in Australia, don't get access to as many fruits as South America, so they rarely require fruits of any kind.

An exhibitor had once told me that my birds were not chesty in the shows and I need to feed my birds more. I was a little embarassed thinking that my birds were not being cared for as much as everyone else's. Yet, my birds seemed very healthy and I was very happy with their productivity. Rarely do I have an adult bird die in my aviary. Disease is a preventative issue for me, and I have never seen fatty liver syndrome in my birds. I do have a few birds that we call "easy keepers". This means they gain weight and keep it on faster than others.

I started researching how others keep their birds and have come up with several theories and rules

1. Cockatiels in small cages have decreased metabolism from lack of exercise.
2. Cockatiels in small cages are bored if not given enough toys and play items
3. When metabolism decreases, cockatiels will gain weight from anything they eat that has calories and fat.
4. Fat will envelope the livers and cockatiels will be prone to fatty liver disease.
5. If birds birds are given a rich diet, they will not be able to metabolize the necessary vitamins/minerals/etc and they will either excrete it OR they will absorb it into their organs where they accumulate over time.
6. General unthriftyness occurs despite attempts to feed well balanced diets

Therefore I house my birds in large 6' to 8' flights. 5' flights are the minimum. 4' flights are not enough to have ample flight time and I have seen this to be the thresh hold. My main flight is 8' long by 6' wide. Then, my supplemental flights are 6' long. I have seen pictures of beautiful 4' long aviaries that folks have spent a fortune on, and they JUST DON'T work! Yet, a friend of mine just bought a 5' aviary, and her birds are doing GREAT and have just lost a lot of needed weight.

The next subject I will cover in Part 2 is: Feeding your Flock: Killing them with kindness

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