My little sun conure started throwing his seeds out of his dish

by Larry
(Leaf River Illinois)

Connie my little conure is a rescue bird I have had for over a year. Unsure of sex or age.starting several weeks ago while Im gone to work he/she throws all the seeds out of her stainless steel bowl. She now does this every day. She remains very gentle and friendly. I have not changed any routines. I still spend several hours a day with her in the evening as part of my normal routine. I was gone a month ago for several days and had my normal bird sitter come in. This behavior did not start for a week and a half until I returned from my trip. Could this be a nesting thing or some seasonal behavior.

thanks

Larry

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My little sun conure started throwing his seeds out of his dish

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Jul 02, 2010

Throwing Food
by: Anonymous

My Sun Conure is doing this also and my routine hasn't changed. It started when I got his new bag of food in the mail. I buy the ultimate blend and add pelleted Harrison's to it. I can tell you right now he is not going to eat a pellet but I keep trying. Anyways food has always been fine has lots of different things in so he doesn't get the same every day. At first it started when I gave him some cheerios, so I put them in a seperate bowl. I stopped giving them thinking this was it. It stopped a few days and now he is doing it again. We give him apples and whatever else we are eating that he can have such as scrambled eggs stuff like that. I don't know why he would be bored with his food. I wonder if it's a mating aggression or frustration thing.

Nov 13, 2009

throwing his seeds out of his dish
by: Linda

Hello and thanks for writing! Birds sometimes do this when they are bored during the day, and he may also be bored with his food.

We recommend you change your bird over to a high quality pelleted diet like Harrisons, and Tracie carries it out here. They also make a great Birdy Bread Mix and you'll need to buy the Sunshine Factor organic Red Palm Oil to go in it. Other ingredients are 2 eggs and water. The bread can help in the change-over plus it can be used for up to 30% of the diet, and most birds love it. All the organic products have to be refrigerated and warmed to room temp before feeding.

Here is a link to an article explaining how to make the change easily and without lots of stress:

Switching Birds to Pellets article.

The reason for changing from all seeds is that an all seed diet is not enough to support a bird's nutritional needs, and more trips to the vet, behavior problems and poor skin and feather condition are the results. We've been feeding Harrisons' products to our 2 Amazons for many years, and the little extra cost for the food is balanced out by less trips to the Avian vet with sick, under the weather birds. Their skin is soft and supple and their feathers are healthy and have vibrant colors, so the change is a good thing.

After food comes something to occupy your bird while you are at work. Buy bird toys that have lots of wood that can be chewed which provides hours of entertainment. They also have some of the shreddable toys available which added to wooden toys for chewing also give him another outlet for frustration. The Acrylic toys are not usually played with as birds are natural chewers, so find safe toys for his size and get those for him. Never buy toys made for smaller birds as they have dangerous small parts bird can be hurt with and on.

Keep us posted on the progress you make with the change from seeds to pellets and post a pix of your little bird when you can. Linda

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