Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bionet!apple!chuq
From: chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Bird diets
Message-ID: <33457@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 25 Jul 89 17:11:00 GMT
References: <6603@cloud9.Stratus.COM> <1556@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Life is just a Fantasy novel played for keeps
Lines: 59

>I'm a bit confused at this point as you are saying that seed is just as
>nutritional as pellets.

Both seeds and pellets have strengths and weaknesses. What works best
depends on the time/interest of the owner and the peculiarities of the bird.
The reality is that you can build a good, solid nutrional basis for a bird
with either. With both, there should be fresh food supplements as well to
help out. There are no panaceas and no single right way.

A few weaknesses of pellets:

o There isn't the long term, multi-generational track record for pellets
  that seed has. This is changing and pellets are starting to prove
  themselves.

o Not all birds will eat them. Not all birds will eat them reliably. Imagine
  eating oatmeal three times a day for the rest of your life. This is why
  fresh supplements are important for pellet diets. Birds get bored, too.

o Pellets are not as universally available. This is also changing now that
  people like Purina have figured out that birds are a major pet market.

o Pellets are possibly more expensive than seeds. Maybe, maybe not,
  depending on how much seed spoilage you have. If your bird is a messy
  eater and you wade through the seed hulls to get to the cage every
  evening, you may actually find seed more expensive unless you re-use it by
  filtering the chaff....

A few weaknesses of seeds:

o Nutritionally unstable. You don't always know whether what you get is
  fresh. It can go bad on you after you buy it.

o Even if it is fresh, the bird might just ignore your carefully blended
  mix. You can force your kid to eat his lima beans. If you give your bird
  a nutritionally balanced mix of seed and it only eats the chili peppers,
  all you're doing is wasting a lot of seed. With pellet, if they're eating
  it, they're getting a balanced food.
  
o It encourages moth infestations (Laurie and I ended up with *every*
  flour product in the house in plastic and they *still* got into the
  Bisquick after one batch of seed that was infested. Now it all lives
  outside and if it's questionable goes into the freezer).

o seeds are not 100% used and create a mess. Pellets are 100% eaten, so
  you won't find seed hulls in every room in the house (I swear that my
  cockatoo gets out of the cage during the day and carries seeds into every
  room. Just to spite me. I keep buying more powerful vacuum cleaners. She
  keeps getting better at throwing more and more stuff on the carpet.)

It's all a trade-off. Seed is more traditional, pellets are easier and less
likely to go bad on you, but you may not get your bird to eat them. The
important thing is to do what's best for your birds.


Chuq Von Rospach      =|=     Editor,OtherRealms     =|=     Member SFWA/ASFA
         chuq@apple.com   =|=  CI$: 73317,635  =|=  AppleLink: CHUQ
      [This is myself speaking. No company can control my thoughts.]