Question about Lovebird seed?

[Alexander]

My lovebird has really started to turn around, when I first brought it home, it looked like it just landed on the moon, too afraid to touch anything in its cage. Now its climbing over everything, singing to itself as it does little sumersaults around perches and on corners.

But, today it started to dig through its seed; I purchased a cockatiel mix (no sunflower) from a local store, but the lovebird only eats the large, shelled seeds, and flicks the rest out of the way as he digs deeper into its dish. Should I let is keep eating the stuff it wants, and leave whats left in the cage for him to finish? or just throw out the seed it doesn't want and try and get more of what it digs for?

[shylevon]

All birds have their favorite seeds in a dish. None of my eight will touch canola, so there is always a ton of it left in the dish every day.

Younger birds tend to like hulled seeds, but as they age, they go for the rest also. Change the seed every day, and toss the uneaten stuff for the outside birds. You may have quite a bit of waste in the beginning, but that should settle down. If there is a copious amount of wasted seeds, you may be giving too large a portion for your birdies requirements, so your birdie is never required to taste the less favorite seeds, as there is an abundance of his favorites.

Foraging through the dish for favorites is good exercise for your birdie, so don't just buy a mix with only his favorites. He will venture forth and try them all in good time.

[butterfly1061]

My Olivia digs in her dish daily. I tell her "If you keep digging you won't have any seed left to eat, silly girl". She's the messiest eater I have.

I agree with Shy, that a mixture is much better than handing over the favorites. Mine switch around from time to time with what they like to eat the best. I also give them a large variety so they don't get bored either. I only give them sunflower seeds as a treat (they're high in fat) and the mixes I use don't have sunflower. I buy a lot of different individual seeds like, safflower, buckwheat, hemp, thistle, cantalope, cucumber, etc...