Hi I went to the shop to buy my sons rosella some food and could not remember what he had he is a crimson rosella so i asked the lady who sold him Rio and she said parrot food so I told her that he shovels most of it out of the cage and wastes a lot of it so she said try parakeet food which I am now he also has rice biscuits peanuts red chillies and apples it seems to be the only fruit he does not throw on the cage bottom the lady told me to buy broccoli and blanch it and give it to him but have not tried this yet he is not shovelling the parakeet food out but is only eating cirtain seeds sorry to ask you these questions but the only. birds i have ever had we're budgies and canaries this is all new to me would it be better to buy parrot mix and parakeet mix and mix them together so he gets what he likes out of both foods I hope you can help as with son working I seem to have taken him over and I need to know how to keep him healthy thank you in advance

Viv xx

With all that wastage of food I would be worried that this bird is not obtaining adequate nutrition from the parrot mix that you are giving him. Has he always behaved like this with the seeds or is it only since you began looking after him for your son? Which seeds is the bird preferring to eat? As a long term solution it might be better to get this bird onto a quality pellet diet for parrots, that way he cannot choose to be selective with the food and is getting nutritionally balanced food. Offer him fresh greens like bok choi (chinese vegetable), cellery sticks, broccoli, peas. How much stimulation is he getting? Is he in a cage or an aviary? Throwing his food around could reflect boredom and frustration. Do you or your son spend much time with him?

Hi and thank you for your response he gets lots of talking to and flying about time I cannot be in the room with him when flying as I am afraid of him I did try to stay with him but he dive bombs me and flies at my head my son was given a bag of parrot food and 2 bags of treats chillies and rice biscuits when he bought Rio and his cage apparently the shop fed Rio parrot food but as I said he just shovels out what he doesn't want and that is why they told me to try parakeet food I was just wondering if I mixed them he would get the food he liked from both mixes. I don't think the shop sells pellet food and as I am new to this I don't know where I would get this from. Oh sorry Rio is in a cage we were wondering whether to get him a friend but the shop said he may take a dislike to the newcomer

Viv xx

I'm not sure where you would get good quality parrot pellets from in the UK (I am in Australia). An avian vet may stock them (that's the case here) and I am sure you can buy them online. Not everyone likes to use pellets and some birds don't like them, so I'm only suggesting it because of the lack of food intake, as I was saying there may be an underlying reason for this behaviour. Rosellas are usually kept in aviaries so you must make sure that Rio has plenty to do in his cage - fresh branches and leaves to nibble on, different sized perches (which is essential for healthy feet), bathing opportunities, toys, etc. Rosellas spend much of their day foraging for food in the wild and socialising with other birds so it is essential that they get this stimulation.

What's the difference between the parakeet feed and the parrot feed that the shop sells? In my experience parrot feed contains some of the larger seeds and dried corn (it's better to give fresh corn anyway) and less smaller seeds than the parakeet mix. If Rio is only eating the black and white stripey seeds (sunflower seeds) I would be concerned because they can cause fatty liver if they are eaten in large quantities. You should definitely try the fresh greens, peas, corn, broccoli, apple as you said he likes this, even shredded carrot, you could offer cooked potato, a bit of boiled egg, millet sprays. Hang the broccoli in the cage in large pieces so he can bite it and tear into it.

Parrots are a big responsibility and from what you've said it seems unfair that your son has purchased Rio and then left him for you to take care of. Have you had a word with your son about the matter?

A couple of links for you:

Parrot society UK has lots of information:
Parrots, parrot conservation, breeding, Parrot Society UK

Birdvet Sydney website. Click on the "Birdcare" link in the left hand column, there are lots of factsheets on bird health, disease and bird care that are really useful.
Bird & Exotics Vet

Hi thank you very much for the info, I have been scouring the Internet for information this morning again and it seems I may be on the right track with the parakeet food. We did buy Rio some sunflower seeds but he did not really take to them he is not shovelling now and seems to be enjoying the food he is on now. I blame the pet shop as they are the ones who were feeding him the parrot food in the first place and when I told them he was shovelling it out they said he does that to get rid of what he doesnt like, he loves a white seed that is in there it is larger than the small brown seed that looks like budgie seed that is the one he will walk up and down his cage chewing he does not seem to like peanuts he breaks them and drops them I am going to try him on a grape today as it said on one of the sites I looked on they like grapes he has plenty of toys Rio really does not want for anything I really just needed advice on the best food for him
I tend to spoil all my pets a little . I did not know rosellas could have millet I thought that was for budgies only thank you for that your advice has been invaluable as I really did not know what to feed him. My son brought Rio with him when he split from his partner and he works shifts on the docks which is why I have taken on some of the responsibility of Rio you cannot feed him at night 2 days and in the morning another 2 days so to keep Rio in a routine I feed him when my son cannot, his ex was supposed to be keeping Rio untill my son got a flat but when he went to pick his daughter up his ex's friends little boy was opening the cage door with the front door open so you can imagine my son said a few choice words and Rio came to live here.

Well I'm glad to hear you're taking good care of him, good luck with him! Parrots do love to be spoiled! You'll have to upload some pictures of Rio, I would love to see him, I think the crimson rosellas are the most beautiful of all the rosellas.

I will post some pics as soon as I can I am on my iPad at the moment and don't know how to put my pics on there I did put a couple of pics of him in the cat section as when he first come here I was having lots of problems with my cats climbing up his cage but they have got bored with him now thank goodness as I really got quite stressed at one point but all is great now

Viv xx