What is a Softbill?
By Dick Schroeder of Cuttlebone Plus+

The description "softbill" leads one to believe the bird would have a soft bill. Nothing is farther from the truth, as anyone who has had a toco toucan grab his ear, or a barbet rip flesh from a finger, can attest to! The name refers to the diet of this large group of birds. Soft food.

It will be argued that many seed eaters also consume softfood. This is certainly true, but softbills usually refers to species other than parrots, finches, pheasants, quail, and waterfowl. These are mainly grain-eaters. Softbills can be divided into several groups dietarily, frugivores, the fruit eaters, insectivores, the bug eaters, nectivores, the nectar feeders, and omnivores who eat a combination of things.

To feed a large mixed softbill collection would seem to be a momentous task, but not necessarily so. There are a variety of prepared diets on the market that are excellent. Some of the pelleted foods, insect and egg foods, as well as nectar pre-mixes. It's not too difficult to prepare a diet that has something for everyone, then just provide the specialty items on the side to those who require them. A mix of various chopped fruits, such as apples, pears, melons, papaya, tomatoes, grapes, berries, (I use avocado too, but only for the softbills) and mixed vegies, coupled with a large portion of soaked mynah/softbill pellets will provide a good basic diet. We offer mealworms and crickets, dusted with a calcium/mineral powder, to those that require it, especially when rearing young. We provide a nectar mix in addition to the above for the nectar feeders in our collection, leafbirds, honeycreepers, etc.

Except for the time spent dicing fruit, feeding softbills is really not a whole lot different than feeding parrots. Oh, and lories are not softbills, just special parrots with a special diet!

A word of warning here as well. Softbills are habit forming and you may find yourself selling parrots to make room for this wonderful group of birds!

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