Red-billed Leiothrix

Diet: Red-billed Leiothrix

Red-billed Leiothrix eat mostly fruits and insects, but have been known to nibble on seeds

• Basic Diet:

  • Protein Options:

    • Live crushed mealworms, crickets or grasshoppers

    • Dried crushed mealworms,. crickets or grasshoppers

    • Mashed hard boiled or scrambled egg (chicken or duck)

  • Fruit Options (you can purchase the fruit in the form of organic baby food)

    • Banana

    • Mango

    • Cherries

    • Strawberry

    • Papaya

    • Apple

    • Guava

    • Strawberry Guava

    • Lilikoi (Passion Fruit)

    • Blueberry

  • Supplemental Options

    • Egg Food Bird Supplement (Vitakraft or Quiko)

    • Abba Green

    • Mazuri Better Bug Gut Loading Diet

    • Dried crickets or mealworms (crushed)

  • Formula Options (using sparingly as they are mainly fruit and insect eaters):

    • Kaytee Exact Baby bird Formula

    • Harrisons Formula

    • Hagen Tropican Baby Bird Food

• How to Feed:

  • Crop feeding: Mix puree fruit and baby bird formula

    • Mix mashed fruit and baby bird formula

      • 20% fruit, 20% supplemental protein options, 60% baby bird formula with water or unflavored Pedialyte

    • Offer as much food until they stop gaping. and the crop appears full. Start to feed once the crop empties

  • Other Feeding Options:

    • Mix 30% mashed fruit 20 % supplemental mix or crushed protein and 50% bird formula. Add water or unflavored Pedialyte (if sickly) to create a chunky but moist consistency.

    • Give the mix on the end of a coffee stirrer or skewer. The baby should eat as much as it can off of it. Give time for the baby to swallow the food entirely before offering more.

    • Feed every 1-2 hours from sunrise to 2 hours after sunset

• How much and how often to feed:

  • Crop Feeding

    • Hatchlings and young nestlings eat about . 5-1ml of formula every 30 minutes

    • Nestling will eat about 1 - 2ml of formula every 45 minutes to 1 hour

    • Fledglings: 1.5-2 ml of formula and pureed fruit every 1.5- 2 hours

    • Feed from sunrise to sunset. If a bird is not doing well, continue feeding 2 hours after sunset.

  • Other feeding methods

    • Hatchlings and young nestlings: feed as much as they can until they stop gaping every 30 minutes

    • Nestling: feed as much as they can until they stop gaping every 45 minutes

    • Fledglings: feed as much as they can until they stop gaping every 1-1.5 hours

    • Feed from sunrise to sunset. If a bird is not doing well, continue feeding 2 hours after sunset.

• How to Ween:

  • Nestlings will start to explore and naturally peck around the cage at different things.

    1. 1. Scatter small flies or other live protein sources around the cage to encourage exploration in food.

    2. 2. Put soft (papaya or mango) fruit inside the cage, change the fruit every 6 -8 hours.

       1. Fruit Options

          • Banana

          • Papaya

          • Strawberries

          • Blueberries

          • Apples

          • Mango

    3. 3. Start to give half of a overripe papaya in the cage to encourage eating on its own.

  • Continue hand feeding every 2 hours throughout the weaning process

  • Gradually decrease the amount of formula given daily as they start to peck at the other food items around the cage.

  • It is important not to rush the weaning process. Some birds take longer than others to wean.

• Helpful Tips:

  • Fledglings can be offered an insectivore diet (Mazuri Better Bug Gut Loading Diet) to add to their diet and as they wean off of formula.

  • Rotate the fruits and type of protein to provide a variety of nutrients.

  • The adult diet should be equal parts fruit and protein

  • Food should be given mostly mashed together to create a moist watery but substantial consistency until the bird eats on it’s own entirely.