Nicola,
Seeds are bad for people owned birds, not wild birds. Wild birds eat seeds as *part* of their diets, along with other things. And the seeds they find in the wild are not necessarily unhealthy. The seeds made for captive (pet) birds are horrible---they have NO nutritional value AT ALL and really just adds fat. Such high fat diets can literally be deadly to birds when it's all they get, especially to female birds. High fat diets tend to make birds hormonal and then they tend to produce a lot of eggs and that (lots of eggs) will kill them. Also the ingredients tend to be breeding grounds for things that cause bacterial infections. (Actually, in all fairness, some avian vets want birds to have some "seed" but they want us to buy "human grade" seed, like from Whole Foods. And, if the bird doesn't have a weight problem they can occasionally have seeds as treats but still better to be human grade.)) The thing is, birds that have been brought up on seeds don't want to switch to pellets any more than i want to give up french fries, etc., and so switching them can be difficult. Some breeds in particular just won't eat and can actually starve themselves. My rescue group talks a lot about getting birds to switch and believe it or not when we do it we have to "count poops" to make sure they really are eating. (There are other things we do to be successful, not just that.) I actually came within minutes once of having a little bird die and i didn't even realize it was because she wasn't eating. With all the feathers they have it can be hard to see that they are thin. (So, weighing them is another way to make sure they are really eating.) I guess that's more than you ever really wanted to know about birds and seed, huh!!! LOL
pat
