Soft billed birds like Finches and Canaries swallow their seeds whole. Parrots are able to remove the hulls from the seeds with their beaks. Now that we know about the gizzard, we should note that the soft billed birds could use a little help grinding down these whole seeds. This is why we introduce small amounts of grit they can swallow which will help grind up the seeds while in the gizzard.
I do hope we made some headway in clarifying the options you have to feed your bird. Feel free to contact us with specific nutrition questions.
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approved by Catherine Tobsing President
Birds Unlimited
19 Mar 2017There are so many things wrong with this article.
1. Canaries and Finches are NOT soft billed birds.We already went over this. They are hardbills. Softbills include turacos, toucans, hornbills…
2. Parrots do NOT have to tip their heads back to swallow.
3. ZuPreem, Pretty Bird, Scenic, Hagen, do not make pellets. It’s an extruded diet that’s made entirely different than a “pelleted” diet like Lafebers and Roudybush. Unfortunately the term “pellets” has been used to generically call all processed foods.