Golden Conure Diet

BLOG 2.                                 GOLDEN CONURE DIET

The following is what we feed all our breeding pairs of Golden Conures.

• Apple
• Grapes
• Carrot
• Celery
• Cucumber  (Skinned)
• Beans
• Spinach
• Green, Red and Yellow peppers
• Sweet Potato  (cooked)
• Pumpkin  (cooked)
• Butternut  (cooked)
• Sweet corn
• Pellets
• Soaked seed mixture, made from:  wheat, millet, corn, and small amounts of sunflower

HOWEVER – Sunflower seed alone should NOT be given to the Golden Conures as a stable diet, but rather in small doses per serving. Pellets, veggies and fruit should instead be their main stable diet with small amounts of soaked seed mixture mixed in.

I know that the subject of giving ANY sunflower seed to Golden Conures is a very controversial topic by many breeders etc – but I believe that they need high levels of protein in their diet, and reasonable levels of fat. Soaked seed (if you soak it beforehand for up to 12 hours before, and wash before serving) then turns the fat levels in the sunflower, into protein fat. (Which they need)!

In our experience with hand raising Golden Conures, and also speaking with other breeders that live here inside South Africa, we all agree that when hand raising baby Golden Conures – you MUST have them on a formula that has a high fat and protein intake – specified for feeding Hyacinth macaws, Green wing macaws and Buffon Macaws. If you don’t have them on such a formula – the dieing rate of chicks is extremely high. 

Why do I make such comments about a high fat and protein formula?

Well, Golden Conures have been categorised under the Conure family of the ARATINGA tribe, but in more recent years, with further studying been done on them, it seems that they are more likely to be related to the macaw family than to the conure family, and the macaw family needs a lot higher level of protein and fat in their stable diet.

O.K – we have spoken of high levels of protein and fat, but - I  want to say that Golden Conures also need a high level of Vitamin A in their daily diet.

For Vitamin A – we give the following veggies to our Golden Conures daily:

• Green, Red and Yellow peppers
• Celery
• Cucumber – (Skinned)
• Spinach

from 

 - POMPOM -