#diet ask

[flock-talk]

hi, if you dont mind, could you say about how much each of your birds eat per day (including chop)? my new lil GCC is still in the adjustment and diet conversion phase so im giving him as much as he wants of whatever hes willing to eat, but im not rly sure how much i should be expecting him to consume as a healthy amount (i will be asking my vet about it too, but just curious for your experience). thank you!

-Pennaraptor

Parrots in general eat around 10-15% of their body weight per day for all calorie consumption. 25-50% of that amount is veggies, 75-50% is pellets (50:50 is more accurate for most parrots, budgies and cockatiels/ parrots who’s diets naturally consist of higher seed quantities are closer to the 25:75 ratio)

So if you have an ideal weight for your bird being 75g, they would eat 7.5g-11.25g for their entire caloric intake for the day (both pellets and veggies combined)

If they burn fewer calories/ are lower energy they’ll be closer to eating only 10% of their body weight to sustain the energy needs for the day (7.5g) so their pellet dose could be anywhere from 3.75g (50%) to 5.63g (75%) and veggies would be the remainder.

If they’re higher energy or have higher metabolic rates they’ll eat closer to 15% of their body weight 11.25g). The pellet dose would be 5.63g (50%) to 8.44g (75%) the remainder being veggies.

Once you have things weighed out (every pellet brand is going to weigh differently, a scoop will leave air between the pellets creating uneven doses) you can sort out what size spoon delivers an accurate dose for your pellet brand. /usually/ most small conures eat a couple tsp per day of pellets and a tbsp of veggies (knowing that a bunch will get tossed around) but definitely do weigh the scoop first.

(That was what the issue was for my birds. I weighed out their doses, determined it to be 2tsps, then bought a new tsp assuming they’d be the same measurement but turns out the new tsp was larger than the old tsp so the were being overfed 🤦‍♀️)

[onlyvegetarianrecipes]

Hey there! I'm interested in going on a (sorta) vegetarian diet. Although I've completely stopped eating fish, I will have to eat some red meat b/c of my anemia. However, I want to eat minimal meat as I'm really against hunting for sport and all that. It's also worth mentioning I live in the deep South, and the best local restaurants in my area are a barbecue and a steak house. Do you have any suggestions for going on a sorta vegetarian diet? Any help would be much appreciated!

Hey Anon! 

The first thing I’m going to say is I am not a medical practitioner, and in terms of diet, do what is healthy for you. I am also biased as someone who has been vegetarian for a while, but I do understand that diets are something that you have to like and want. Vegetarian or vegan is not for everyone, but wanting to reduce your consumption is a good thing in itself, whether it leads to veganism/vegetarianism or lower meat consumption in general.

If you want to reduce your meat consumption, for the ethical reasons you mentioned or for environmental or economic reasons, red meat is usually the better place to start. Cow is not environmentally friendly in terms of space required, feed required, the time required, waste created and water required. Its one of the highest co2 contributors of red meats, and Beef can also be quite pricy.

To start your journey into a more vegetarian diet, you may want to look into Flexitarianism/Semi-Vegetarianism. To start this, you could try opting for white meats, or local meats rather than red meats or energy-intensive meats(such as crustaceans (I don’t know if your fish includes seafood), chicken, turkey, or duck). Specifically for your BBQ places, try ordering vegetarian sides (such as coleslaw or potatoes) with your meal rather than a side that includes meat. For general homemade meals, you can also go for replacing these meals with veggie meals (such as integrating all veggie days or limiting your meat consumption to specific meals in the week). 

Do what is healthy for you since you know your body and your medical needs as you mentioned.

I hope that helped and was what you were looking for :)

[softboywriting]

People are always going to have a tummy. It’s not possible for women to get rid of all of without the help of surgery. It’s not bad fat tho... females tend to have more in their stomach because they have more important organs to protect than men. Like they need to protect their ovaries and uterus and if/when they get pregnant there’s a pouch to protect the fetus and then the baby. So people with those reproductive organs: your tummy there is normal, it protects you, and she’s important

Yep! I know I'm never gonna have a flat stomach and that's okay 🤣

[flock-talk]

For a small bird that really seems to prefer larger pieces of veggies, how do you suggest giving him chop? I don’t want to feed him too much but he turns his beak up at anything he can’t grab with his feet, and usually he likes stuff about half an inch long at least. I don’t want to over feed him but uh…. I’d rather he ate some veggies.

That ultimately comes down to what you’re able to provide and what your end goal is!

If you’re fine chopping some large veggie pieces each day and the bird happily eats a variety of larger pieces then there’s really no issue there. It’s pretty hard to get a bird to over eat vegetables so unless that’s been declared an issue by your vet I wouldn’t worry too much about giving them what seems like an excessive amount.

If you’re looking for a quick prep solution so you’re not hand chopping veggies every day you can use a food processor and just pulse a mix of veggies a couple of times so it breaks it up in to foot sized chunks. Food processors are great for that cause it’ll retain large pieces if you just pulse it a couple times.

Could also chop up or use a food processor to break up single veggies to your desired size and store each veggie separately so you can just grab a piece of each when you serve it. That way you know they have a variety offered and they aren’t getting too much of any one particular veggie if that’s a concern.

If you’re worried about pickiness and them exclusively eating certain veggies you could make a fine chop and put it in a mould of sorts to make foot sized veggies. This could means chopping things up and blending it with sweet potato to make little birdy French fries or potato balls. Could also be a bird bread recipe or maybe blending veggies with dehydrated sticky fruit to hold everything in a foot sized shape. If your bird likes cold things you could put your blended veggies in to a mould in the freezer as well. Those may give them the nutritional variety while also maintaining that foot size they like.

If you want to encourage them to eat smaller pieces I would try offering them in as many ways as possible. In a bowl, in a forager (maybe there’s one they can hold in their foot?), by natural sunlight, heated up, etc. oo use a leaf to make a little birdy wrap that they could hold in their foot? Could stuff some fine veggie chop in between the branches of a broccoli piece?

Add some valuable foods in to your finer chop mix to encourage them to taste it! Seeds they like could be mixed in to the fine chop, oats are a great addition since they’ll soak up the veggie juices so even if they just try the oats they’ll still be getting some veggie flavour + nutrients.

I do believe I have a #recipe tag on the blog that might offer some more ideas for you!

[softboywriting]

Boobs always go first omg but it’s not necessarily a bad thing 😂 but yeah you never get rid of the part you ACTUALLY want to, like my muffing top is still there loud and proud while my boobs literally pffff like a balloon lmao

Lmao yeppp my lil tummy fat is there chilling like I ain't goin nowhere sister.

[softboywriting]

Honestly the cheapest shit you buy ends up being used more than everything else and then also surprisingly long lasting

Right! I have black skinny jeans I've had for 3 years now I bought for 10$ on clearance somewhere. They even fit me still with my weight loss and w my constant wear and chub rub.

[softboywriting]

idk if you already answered but how are you loosing the weight cause i’ve been trying for a while and just can’t seem to get it to shift

It's literally all about tracking you calorie intake and doing excersize. I'm no saying like you gotta run and hit the gym every day. I sure don't. I go on an hour walk around three days a week now and I do some light weight lifting and squats at home three days a week.

Tracking calories is easy with apps like MyFitnessPal which is what I use. They'll give you a calorie goal based on how much you want to lose/how much you wanna lose per week. Losing fat in the body is about being active and remaining in a calorie deficit so your body will burn the fat along side/in place of food. This does not mean you'll starve. You will not. You will however learn how to eat better food and you'll be more conscious of your eating habits.

[softboywriting]

I’ve heard tummy is better to get rid of with like diet changes ? Idk how accurate it is

Honestly your body is going to lose fat where ever it loses it. You can't specifically target one area. You CAN do work outs to tone up certain areas though.