Why I Feed My Parrots Twice a Day

Along through the years that I have been practicing aviculture, I have known many breeders and pet keepers who chose to feed their birds only one time per day. That is, the food and water bowls are filled up in the morning and left until evening or the next morning when they are pulled out, washed up (hopefully!) and then re-filled for the birds.

I know for some birdkeepers who work a regular job, or are on a tight schedule of some kind, this course of action saves much time and effort. It often appears that the birds exist fine on such a dietary routine. But I always wonder if they thrive, or if they have just adapted to it.

I prefer to feed my psittacines twice each day. For over 20 years, this has been the habit at ‘The Perfect Parrot’ for many reasons. First of all, from observations of birds in the wild, we know that they frequently become active foraging for edibles early morning and again late afternoon before dusk. So attending to our cage birds at those times, mimics the activity we see in nature. It coordinates with avian evolutionary predispositions towards daily physical activity, digestion, sleep.

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