Start from what your bird actually eats on an ordinary day, not from the size of the bag. A sudden swap to a different pellet, even one that looks similar, can leave a cautious bird picking around the new pieces or refusing the bowl, and a two-week absence is the wrong moment to discover that. The safe supply is the food currently in use at home, in the size the bird already knows, with enough extra that a delayed return, a spilled container, or a heavier appetite never becomes an emergency shopping trip for somebody else.
Work the Quantity Out in Grams
Weigh one normal day of pellets on a kitchen scale, including the amount you usually offer rather than only what disappears, because birds scatter and crumble some of it. Multiply that daily figure by fourteen days, then add several extra days at the same daily rate as your buffer. One worked example: if the weighed daily amount is 40 grams, the fourteen days need 40 multiplied by 14, which is 560 grams, and four buffer days add 40 multiplied by 4, which is 160 grams, giving 720 grams in total. Run your own bird's numbers the same way and write the result down, because a small bird eating 15 grams a day and a large parrot eating far more cannot share one bag-size rule. Round up, never down, and keep the pellets sealed, dry, and portioned or clearly marked so the sitter can see at a glance how much remains.
Record the Exact Food in Writing
Alongside the measured supply, leave a written food record that names the exact pellets the bird already eats, the same product and the same pellet size, noting that they were taken from the bag currently in use at home. That note matters if a backup carer ever has to replace a spilled container: pellet size is not a detail, since a size the bird is not used to can change how readily the bird eats. Add the usual measured amounts of any seed mix or treats the bird receives, kept in their normal limited proportions, plus fresh foods by item and quantity. The written terms should also cover pay, dates, and responsibilities if the sitter is paid, so food, money, and expectations are all settled before you leave rather than argued from a distance.
Set the No-Substitute Rule Before You Go
Portioning makes the arithmetic visible in daily life. Split the weighed total into two clearly marked containers, one for the first week and one for the second, with the buffer portion sealed separately and labeled as the extra days, so any problem shows up while there is still time to phone you and act. Stick a dated label on each container showing what is inside and the daily amount to serve, and photograph the original bag's label before you decant anything, keeping that photo with the written instructions. Store everything somewhere dry, cool, and reachable at the sitter's height, not on a high shelf or beside cleaning products, and show the sitter the storage place in person during the handover.
State plainly in those written instructions that no substitute food is to be bought without phoning you first, and leave a phone number you will actually answer. If the supply somehow runs short or gets spoiled, the sitter calls, you confirm the exact product and pellet size, and only then does anyone buy more of that same food. Show the sitter where the sealed backup portion sits, separate from the daily container, so the extra days are not used up casually in week one. Before departure, set up Care Pass inside KinsLe so one named person can view the pellet record and your vet's number only for the length of the trip.