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| How do I convert my bird to a Pelleted diet? - List Explination |
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- Introduce Lake's by mixing with present seed or table food diet, gradually increasing the percentage until totally accepted.
- Offer your bird Lake's as a soft food diet by coating the pellets with something wet (i.e., water, juice, etc.) or sweet (i.e., applesauce, baby food fruits, etc.). Some birds prefer Lake's slightly moistened and crispy, whereas others prefer more water to absorb for a softer diet. Remove leftover moistened food within eight hours.
- You may want to finger feed Lake's to aid in acceptance. Once accepted, cover just the bottom of their bowl with the Lake's diet. An adequate amount eaten by day's end should reveal the bottom of the bowl. Clean paper around the bowl helps to determine if the food has just been DISCARDED.
- When combined with #3 above, most birds have converted within 1-36 hours. These owners offer Lake's and provide cockatiels and larger birds with extra meals (not seeds if possible) every 36 hours (24 hours for smaller birds) until converted. These extra meals should be fed and removed from the cage within one hour. Providing these extra meals at different times of the day does not permit a bird to wait until a set time to be fed, prompting them to search for and accept new foods.
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| How do I convert my bird to a Pelleted diet? - Paragraph Explination |
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Smaller, older birds can be hard to convert to any new diet, but be patient, especially if the bird was not on a rich diet to begin with. Its better to acclimate them to a new diet... at their own speed.
For all birds, we find that adding a small amount of apple juice or something sweet that will moisten the pellet slightly, aids acceptance during conversion. As the birds eat the diet, slowly reduce the added liquid.
We have also found that the more patient people, provide the food in a separate bowl along side their familiar diet, giving the bird a chance to find it on their own. If a new food is mixed into the current diet, and they don't eat it, then its just thrown away each day.
With any bird that will eat apples, "we & many others" take away all familiar food, and we only provide apples and Lake's pellets, which are usually eaten by the second day. One day of just eating apples isn't going to hurt a psittacine, in fact, will help clean out their digestive tract. We have done 100's of fruit fasts on birds, and have known of those who have gone 8-12 days on just fruit, to save a baby/adult bird's life.
Our nutritionist once said, that our diet is rich enough that, a healthy bird should not have to spend much more than 20 minutes a day at the food bowl. To much time at the food bowl, especially in a flock situation, can cause the food to be just ground up by the birds out of boredom. In some birds, it can take 3-6 months or longer, to learn how to eat a new diet without wasting it.
We recommend the Lake's diets be fed within "one year" of the date manufactured. Our expiration dates are printed on the top closer strip (that's usually thrown away) of our 2, 5, and 15 pound bags, and stamped on the tags of our 25 & 50 pound bags.
Ideally, the Lake's diets should be consumed as soon as possible for optimal quality, but this period can be extended if kept cold or frozen. When storing Lake's for over 3 months, we recommend the diet be kept in air-tight containers and frozen where possible, to preserve quality and protect from insect infestation. If insects become a problem especially during summer months, we recommend that storage containers be thoroughly cleaned, and the food frozen for 48 hours to kill insects and their eggs, repeat if necessary. The greatest source of bugs is... old leftover seeds and nuts, or bugs already in the environment. Bugs like good food too!
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| What should I watch for when converting my bird to Lake's Ultimate Avian Diets? |
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In general you know your bird better than anyone else. When converting your bird to Lake's you should watch for any significant changes in the bird's temperament or physical appearance.
When first converted, birds by habit will consume more of the Lake's diet and water than necessary, thus increasing their nutrient intake. In most cases, their body has not yet adapted to digest and utilize this increase of nutrients, resulting in wetter, bulkier, semi-digested, brown-colored droppings. Your bird's droppings should change to a firm, digested, forest green with white urates within three weeks, providing that the birds digestive system contains the necessary microorganisms to aid utilization of the increased nutrients. We recommend the addition of LACTO-Plus to your birds drinking water 2-3 times per week. If the owner detects any excess weight loss or decreased droppings, return the bird to a higher percentage of its previously accustomed diet until you are sure the bird has accepted and consumed enough of the new diet before increasing the percentage again.
Note: A black dropping (dark green bile not diluted by food-smear on white paper to test), or the lack of any fecal matter could indicate a very hungry bird.
We have noticed that many birds, when converted to the Lake's Ultimate Avian Diets will experience an increase in their energy level, because of their better health.
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