How many times have you seen novices in the bird industry feeding “wild bird mix” to their aviary birds in order to save money. The poor birds on this mix get a diet composed mostly of bitter black sunnies and shrivelled oats! We all know that aviary birds can’t eat hard corn kernels, won’t eat hard sorghum, don’t like wheat and would rather die than eat barley – so all that is left are the black sunnies and the oats (if they are lucky). So the birds dutifully go through the mix and toss out everything they can’t eat – leaving a terrible mess and them nutritionally deficient.

If you do the numbers on the amount actually eaten versus that supplied and then add in all the supplements you need to give to keep the birds alive - this mix becomes the most expensive thing on the market!

Vetafarm have been producing pelleted diets in Australia since 1991. In the past few years the popularity of complete diets has increased as work from overseas, particularly the US, has shown the health benefits of providing a total diet rather than guessing. In Australia, many aviculturalists still prefer to feed their standard seed and home made mixes rather than a complete diet. This is understandable as it is a quantum leap in faith and all sorts of arguments are put up to justify continuing  to feed seeds. Lets look at some of these arguments:

“My Birds Only Eat Seed” – sure, but which birds evolved on a diet of Sunflower seeds, Millets or Oats. In fact none – they all evolved eating a range of wild type seeds that are totally different to the modified seeds we grow in agricultural areas. Yes they like them and yes they have been eating them for many years (and breeding quite well) but don’t kid your self that they are a “natural” diet.

“I’ve Fed Birds For Years” – true, and you probably have been quite successful. Did you know that the most common problem seen by bird veterinarians world wide, is malnutrition due to seed diets! Malnutrition does not necessarily mean that the birds are thin, they may in fact be fat, but their nutrition is not right. If seed diets are all that successful how come we see so many birds with nutrition related diseases?

“I Give a Lot of Extras and Supplements” – they will certainly help. Fruit, vegetables and prepared supplements are absolutely necessary when feeding a seed diet. Not only do they help supply vitamins and minerals they act to stimulate the bird. The problem is that we still don’t know what nutrition the birds are getting from the fruits, veges and supplements unless we weigh each piece, work out exactly how much each bird eats and then look up the nutritional analysis.

If you then sit down and add up the cost of purchasing the supplies and work out how long it takes you to feed them, all of a sudden they are not a cheap fix.

“But Pellets are so Expensive” – are they? If you look realistically at the cost of the seed you buy, the seed that is not eaten, the seed that is wasted and the costs associated with supplements then pelleted diets are not so bad.

Certainly buying in small quantities makes it difficult to justify, but with the Vetafarm, Bulk Buy Deals, you can get your  pellet costs down enormously. If you and a mate do a shared deal you get the pellets at the right price and you don’t have to store them for long periods.

“Which pellets do I use?” – we have been developing a range of complete bird feeds to cater for all aviculturalists. The Bulk Buy Deals allow you to mix and match feeds to the requirements of the birds you have in your aviary. Contact Vetafarm if you need advice on the best pellets to feed.

“I have heard that birds won’t take the pellets?” – like most rumours this is a combination of truth and fallacy. Pellets are a new feed to birds; birds do not like new things - they must be taught to eat them. Conversion to pellets depends on the species and how the pellets are presented. Some birds will go straight to the dish others require a little encouragement. Contact Vetafarm for a more detailed description of how to convert birds to pellets safely.

The Bulk Buy Deals on complete diets from Vetafarm allow everyone to greatly improve the nutrition supplied to their birds and see the results on the perch.