Feed birds produce daily; frozen is OK

Q: My uncle passed away recently and I inherited his 15-year-old sun conure parrot. After I adopted him, I took him to a vet as I knew nothing about parrots. The vet told meMax was too fat. My uncle fed him only sunflower seeds and peanuts. I was told to give him a diet of pellets and fruits and vegetables. The pelletswork fine but the fruits and vegetable part is hard for me. I work two jobs and just do not have the time to buy and cut up fresh produce. I can do apples and carrots because they keep easy, but do you have any other suggestions for me? — Mary, Uniondale, N.Y.

A: I amin the same situation as you. We are so busy these days and our fridge rarely has more than a soft apple and a couple of potatoes that are starting to sprout.

However, I truly believe that some kind of produce is very important to give pet birds on a daily basis. The nutritional aspect is one thing, but many birds get bored on a diet of just pellets.

Ahealthy, well-adjusted bird should look forward to anything new offered to it in speculation that it may be something good to eat. What I do is get a frozen bag of mixed vegetables — most of these combos contain lima beans, string beans, corn, peas and other such veggies all cut up into small bits. Then I let them thaw and mix them with a can of fruit cocktail packed with juice. I usually do three parts veggies to one part fruit cocktail. I keep thiscomboin aTupperware container inthe fridge and put a few spoonfuls in each bird cage every morning.

The combo is very colorful and it attracts the bird's attention. Although itmay not be as nutritious as perfectly fresh produce, it is still much better than a mealy apple and sprouted potato. Just be sure you give the bird only what it can eat in one day as any uneaten food left onthe bottom of the cage can spoil very quickly and attract fruit flies.