How to Make Your Own Lovebird Mixture

Lovebirds have a reputation for being fussy eaters. It's hard to ensure that yours get a balanced diet if they insist on eating just one type of seed. Overcome your hard-to-please lovebirds' propensity to be persnickety about the food you provide by making your own lovebird mixture. They may or may not appreciate the personalized attention you give their meals, but you can take comfort in providing equal parts nutritious ingredients and TLC.

  1. Basic Seed Mixture

    • A premium commercial lovebird mix can contain 10 or more types of seed, including white, red and Japanese millet, hulled oats, canary seed, soft wheat, safflower, hemp and buckwheat. You'll find most of those seeds at the local feed store, although you may have to order some. You don't have to go overboard on variety, especially if your lovebirds won't eat some of those seeds. Add in treats like granola or trail mix to make your homemade mix particularly appetizing. You can include raw sunflower seeds in the shell, soy nuts and almonds in the shell -- but make sure they're not salted, and add them sparingly. Your little ones will love them, but they're high in fat content.

    Soak Seeds

    • Soak seed mixtures are ones that swell and may even start to sprout after being soaked in water. Although your lovebirds won't have any problems breaking into the shell of seeds that haven't been soaked, saturating them in water not only softens the outer part of the seeds but can make them easier to digest. Additionally, as seeds begin the process of sprouting, their nutritional value improves. Thistle, soft wheat, buckwheat, safflower and white, red and finch millets are all seeds that you can put into a soak-seed mix for your lovebirds. Feed it to them dry or soak some of the mix in warm water for at least two hours and up to 24 hours before rinsing it and feeding it to your lovebirds.

    Dried Supplemental Ingredients

    • Lovebirds eat fruits and vegetation in the wild, so adding some dried fruits and veggies to your pair's basic seed mix will enhance the variety you offer them and increase the nutrition they get. Supplement your basic seed mix with dried items like banana chips, cranberries, tomatoes, peppers and carrots.

    A Fresh Food Mixture

    • Maybe your lovebirds are so picky because they appreciate fresh food. If that's the case -- and you have the time and inclination to prepare each meal fresh -- your little feathered friends will enjoy a fresh-food mixture of nutritious fruits and vegetables like corn, carrots, broccoli and green beans. Favorite fruits are blueberries, peaches and apples. Take care to remove the seeds and pits from the apples and peaches, as those can be toxic to your birds. Also be certain to remove any uneaten food from your birds' dish after a couple of hours so they don't eat it after it starts to spoil.