FEATURE


happily. The organic variety have a name for being the best and most natural but aren’t a popular choice in our household, I often tell the story of Lou our Umbrella Cockatoo hiding his organic pellets in his foraging toys, I was delighted as they had all disappeared from his pot and thought that he’d eaten them, only to find them squashed into every toy he could find spaces in. They obviously entertained him but kind of defeated the object of the exercise. We use one of the popular brands with four or five different colours in various shapes and sizes, all of the coloured pellets are readily eaten but the plain coloured ones are often left at the bottom of the pot. A word of warning though as in the past we have tried a brand with more vibrantly


coloured pellets and our Greenwing Macaw became very aggressive, he’s grumpy at the best of times but his behaviour changed noticeably until we changed him back to the usual brand. I believe that the colourings in this particular brand affected his behaviour, a little like small children can be affected by colourings and additives in certain sweets, I thought there could be nothing worse than a hyperactive toddler bouncing around the house but


BIRD SCENE 29


a hyperactive, extremely grumpy Greenwing wins hands down and should be avoided at all costs! Please also think carefully about the seed you choose to feed to your birds. The quality of the seed is of utmost importance. Some brands are predominantly sunflower which is very high in fat and doesn’t have a lot of goodness, aim to buy a brand which has a variety of different seeds preferably one which is suitable to the breed of your bird. We have used a particular brand for around twenty years; it is extremely clean, most of the seeds and nuts have been shelled so less waste and all of the mix is of human quality. When you open the bag it smells good and is a good colour with very little dust or dirt, the ingredients look


fresh


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