[Danielle]

After talking to my tiel's breeder and being told there's no specific brand she recommends, I've been mainly going by what other Australians have mentioned.

Bird Munchies seems to be the most popular choice, and since it's available at my local supermarket I dare say I'll go with it.

I'm curious about pellets, though.

I'd like to hear from any Aussies who feed their tiels pellets; which brand do you use? I've been told the premium maintenance pellets by AAN are decent, but I'd just like to hear first-hand what other people use.

 

[Bea]

I've never heard of Bird Munchies. If you can get it Trill seed is really good, usually available at supermarkets too. I haven't heard of AAN pellets either, but i have used both Vetafarm and Harrisons. Pellets aren't something i usually feed my birds though.

 

[Avalon_Princess]

I feed troipmix at the moment which Echo loves, and he willingly eats the pellets which are tropican pellets. He also eats passwells crumbles. His seed is just whatever generic brand happens to be on the shelves at the time, as it's only a small part of his diet.

 

[Danielle]

I'm intending on feeding a mix of pellets, seeds (half-cockatiel, half-parrot), sprouted seeds and vegetables.

I'm mainly going with Bird Munchies because my supermarket is tiny and only stocks Bird Munchies brand cockatiel mix. My choice in parrot seeds is between generic brand and Bird Munchies. Bird Munchies is approved by and developed with the ANCS, so that might be why I keep hearing about it.

If I list the nutritional information for the pellet mix could you let me know if it's acceptable? It's pretty expensive, but I can't find any bird pellets at all in local supermarkets or pet shops so buying online just seems easier. It's not like I'll be going through it at a great rate.

These are the nutritional properties:

Ingredients:
Corn/Maize wheat, sorghum, rice/pollard, peanut/meal, soybean/meal and other seasonal grains. Omega 3 essential fatty acid, digestive enzymes, vitamin and mineral pre-mix.

Protein: 15%
Energy: 2920k/cal
Salt: 0.30%
Fibre: 3.5%
Fat: 3.8%

Harlow's just started exploring solids, so I still have plenty of time to get myself organised before he's ready to come home.

Also:
What cereals (if any) do you feed your tiels? I've heard several people mention feeding things like cooked pasta and dry crumbled cheerios. I know pasta's fine, but are cheerios okay?

Sorry for all the questions, it can just be a bit tricky finding out information online that's relevant to Australians. I'm really not trying to be fussy about the diet, I just want a decent base diet of seeds and pellets, along with a variety of cereals and vegetables. I definitely believe in simple, natural, nutritious food.

 

[sweetrsue]

I used to mix my pellets in with my seeds but I wasted a lot of pellets that way. I offer a separate dish of pellets and Zupreem Fruit Maintainance is well received.

 

[bigmikey36]

yeah tell me about it....i wasted a whole lot of pellets too by doing just the same thing. I saw chico starting to eat the pellets a bit so i figured i could speed up the process, bad waste of money because now he won't eat any of it very willingly so i had to go out and get more seed. I've tried him on fruits and veggies and cereal. Cheerios is all he'll eat besides seed oh except when he's trying to steal potato chips when i'm having my lunch

 

[Bea]

Rather than mixing tiel seed and parrot seed, use tiel seed and budgie or finch seed. That's what i feed my guys. The budgie/finch seed has a greater variety of small seeds which is what tiel mixes are usually lacking.

 

[Taffy]

I buy Bird Munchies for my birds a lot, it's a pretty good mix as well in my opinion. Whistler brand is also great but it's more expensive but it appears to be a very good quality feed. They have different mixtures as well.

 

[Danielle]

Thanks for everyone's opinions, I'll check some of these things out.