Dietary Requirements of Commonly Kept Psittacines and Converting Seed Junkies * Non-Nutritional "Foods" (VETARC)
Products: Bird Foods / Nutritional Items
Sprouting seed is the simplest way to provide your birds with fresh greens.
African Greys: As amazons taking particular care to keep the diet balanced, avoiding fats. In particular avoid exclusively sunflower seed diets. They need a good calcium source, cuttlebone as routine but supplements are very important.
Amazons eg. Blue fronted: Large seeds, nuts in moderation, small pine nuts for 'interest'. Mixed pulses, fruit & vegetables. Enjoy soft fruit.
Australian Parakeets eg. Budgerigar, Cockatiel: Small seeds, eg. hemp, canary , millet, some larger seeds for larger species. Fruit, especially apples, pears, orange, grapes*. Groats, wheat, lettuce, carrot, chickweed. Sprouted pulses.
- It is recommended not to feed more than one grape to a LARGE parrot a day. Less for smaller birds. Some birds have developed renal failure because of grapes.
Cockatoos: Large seeds (roseate cockatoos are prone to obesity so
with these it is often better to use small seeds). Fruit, greens,
soaked pulses. Provide wood to 'strip'.
Conures eg. Sun Conures, Green-cheeked
& Maroon-bellied Conures: Mixed seeds; enjoy
fruit; like to bathe in large water bowls.
Eclectus: As amazons, but with much more fruit.
Kakariki: Sunflower seed, larger parrot mix (sunflower, safflower, pumpkin
seeds etc). Look out for selective feeding.
Lovebirds: Large seeds, small
nuts, berries, apple and carrot. Soft fruits and green foods are popular. Sprouting seed is the simplest way to provide your birds with fresh greens.
Ring necked Parrots eg. Moustached Parakeets,
Slaty-headed Parakeets, Alexandrines: Large seeds,
small nuts, berries, apple, carrot. Soft fruits and green foods are popular. Please refer to "sprouting".
Macaws eg. Scarlet, Blue and Gold: Large
seeds, nuts in moderation, small pine nuts for 'interest'. Enjoy
soft fruit.
Pionus eg. Blue headed, Dusky: As amazons, but with more fruit
Brush tongued Parrots: These
have a long extensible tongue which is covered in papillae to collect
pollen. They often crush flowers and lick nectar. Provide nectar,
pollen, soft food, seeds, berries. Commercial lory diets.
Non-nutritional 'food' items are very important.
Cockatoos like to strip wood - any fruit branches are suitable provided that they have not been sprayed with garden chemicals. It is sensible to give them a good scrub with an antibacterial cleanser to avoid introduction of infection from wild birds. Hide dog chews can be drilled and hung from chains etc. There are now excellent quality complete foods, however there is a strong drift away from this idea, suggesting that they are better used as seed substitutes, thus allowing the use of fresh foods and vitamin mineral supplements which certainly seem to improve breeding results. Certainly this encourages more normal behavior patterns.
Converting 'Seed Junkies'
"Seed Junkies' are birds which have become fixated on a particular food item, normally sunflower seed. It is important to realize that often these are seen as 'sick birds'. The diet should be considered after treating any secondary problems, such as vitamin A deficiency manifesting with aspergillosis, or run-down birds developing psittacosis.
Birds are generally very social creatures, so if you want your pet to eat healthy foods - it helps when you eat healthy foods in front of him and allow your bird to eat with you (from your plate). Watching other birds eat healthy also helps.
Sprouted Seeds & Veggie Bites:
If your pet is not easily accepting veggies and fruits, you may want to try sprouts. They are usually readily accepted by even the pickiest of birds; and they offer a very inexpensive and convenient way of providing healthy, fresh greens to your pet.
- Try: Simply Sprouts - a great organic mix that is readily accepted by most birds.
- Another great option: Veggie Bites -- birds love them -- even seed junkies!
The basic routine used for converting your "seed junkie" is:
Estimate the amount of seed actually eaten in a day and present
half of it; monitor the bird's condition whilst trying the following:
'weed' the mixture, changing the balance of seeds away from sunflower
seed.
Use a top quality mix. The hulled seed/fruit blends available are
ideal. Importantly, they are fresh and palatable and can be top
dressed with vitamins using a little peanut oil or orange juice.
Use non-threatening forms of food. Shredded carrot is less suspicious
to a bird than a whole one! Try introducing new items in amongst
the seed. Sprout seeds and pulses - they taste much better. Introduce
a soft-food, baby cereal, fruit pulp, or proprietary egg-food type
mixes. Again, this will give a vehicle for vitamins.
Consider interval feeding. Instead of leaving food in the cage all
day try introducing meal times; 30 - 60 minutes access three times
a day.
Move the cage; place new food items such as corn on the cob close
to favorite toys.
'Monkey see, Monkey do' Birds will often take and investigate tidbits
which they see the owner eating. Being able to see other birds eating
a better diet may also help.
Change the photoperiod. The natural photoperiod for many birds is
12 hours light, 12 hours dark. In captivity this is extended in
the home by early risers and late night television. Covering the
cage from 9pm till 9am can change a birds behavior and sometimes
help with establishing new feeding patterns.
Consider hospitalization, or boarding out. A new regime may be more
acceptable under new management where everything else is new. Remember
- owners have starved birds to death trying to change their diet!
If you would like to add to or correct any of the above information, or would like to share with web visitors your own experiences, please e-mail the webmaster.
Photo contributions are welcome!
