Bird Thought - My bird won't eat a variety of foods! Really?

Ok, so you say you give your bird all sorts of good table foods and your bird just won't eat anything other than bird seed.  Really?  This is actually something I didn't think about until I was speaking with someone yesterday.  The lady told me the same thing - Can't get the lovebird to eat anything other than bird seed.  Then she described what the lovebird does with the apples, oranges, broccoli, other foods she gives the bird.  She said the bird just destroys all the food and throws it on the ground.

**BING, BING, BING** A dim light bulb flickered in my little pea brain.  Her bird most likely is eating all those good foods; she's just not familiar with how a bird eats.

Think about it.  Give your dog a treat - woof, it's gone, not even a crumb left.  Give your bunny a piece of carrot - nom, nom, nom carrot all gone.  Now go watch some birds in an orchard.  They destroy and waste a ton of fruit all over the ground while they're feeding.

When feeding your bird, think about it this way - If you had a personal fridge and pantry supplier that replenished you every single day with unlimited pizza, a bag of chip, soda, beer, apples, bananas, broccoli, quinoa, salad; what would you eat?  I love pizza.  I'd eat the pizza, chips and soda.  I might take a bite of apple.  I'd probably never get around to the quinoa-ever.  Next day I get the same items, I'll probably do the same thing.

Now, if my personal food shopper started giving me daily a slice of pizza, maybe chips maybe not, fruit smoothies, salad and quinoa; I'd still be hungry after my pizza slice.  I'd have the fruit smoothie and eat the salad and quinoa even though those might not be my favorite things.  Next day I get a pizza slice, banana, whole grain pasta salad, and water.    I'd probably eat everything again.

Hopefully you understand my analogy - Don't starve your bird, but don't keep that seed bowl filled 24/7!  Portion any seed you feed and keep giving them the variety they need.  If they're destroying the good foods and making a mess, that's a good thing.  The true "seed junkies" I've seen don't even touch the other food items.

Read also: Thoughts on Diet and Diet