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DIET UPDATE 8/13/2004 My last update was in 2001. Many things have changed since then so I'd like to share some new ideas with you. Change is an unavoidable and fortunate result of my 23 years of experiences as the keeper of many pair of birds plus a variable number of babes. Good nutrition always will be the cornerstone of your coming breeding season or insurance for your beloved pets, a fact I never get tired of repeating. I'm going to outline the new and improved "Birdlady's Basic Diet" I make food once a week but since this food can spoil I recommend freezing the diet in 'three day' packages for pet owners: Ingredients: Soak mix: small hookbill, sunflower seeds, Roudybush crumbles, popcorn, lentils, red winter wheat, barley, Canadian peas, Australian peas, zucchini, summer squash, collard greens, kale, parsley, cilantro, celery, jalapeno peppers, broccoli, w/w pasta, frozen peas and root vegetables...carrots, beets, yams, etc. You will need to soak the Soak mix prior to cooking, (I use a 5 gallon bucket that I have drilled a few holes in), and a large enough pot with a tight fitting lid in which to cook the soaked mix plus root vegetables. Into the soaking container pour the grains. Rinse the grains and legumes thoroughly, pouring off the water again and again until it runs clear; then soak over night. In the morning, drain the mix and place it in a roomy pot. Place the well-scrubbed root vegetables into the pot and push large beets or fat carrots into the beans. You want to fill the cooking pot with clean, hot water from your tap but only that amount which will allow you to cook to doneness with a minimum of burning. Since the mix has had enough time to soak you will only need to add water to within an inch of the top of the grains, maybe less, so experiment. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and cook on high for 60 minutes. (If you smell something burning, you will know to add slightly more water next time.) 60 minutes of cook time should enable the mix to reach a roiling boil and remain so for 20 min. of time. Sustained boiling time is important because that level of heat will kill many of the bacteria that have managed to survive your vigorous rinsing and scrubbing. Adjust the cooking for your individual stove. Excess water may be poured off but try not to have much left over, your goal is to make it as dry as possible. (My dogs LOVE this bean water to moisten their dry dog food). You can improve on the "Soak Mix" with the addition of assorted beans, (the more variety the better). I complete my cooked mix and proportion it thusly: 6
parts cooked mix I like to use a salad shooter to grate the root vegetables. Next I add the spiral shaped w/w pasta, then I add the crumbles and small hookbill and mix into a colorful mass. This creates a vehicle for the smaller seeds and crumbles as well as an object of interest for the parrot. (The cooked roots are part of the vegetable allotment.) Now it's time to add the six parts cooked mix which has been thoroughly drained and mix well. Next add the sprouts, sunflower seeds; mix again, now is the time to add any supplements. Finely, add the chopped vegetables; mix together until everything is well distributed. At my place, eight quarts are fed each day, the first three days they are fed fresh and the last four they are frozen. If you're not feeding a feathered army, I recommend freezing the cooked mix in usable portions. If you're feeding three medium sized parrots that would be ½ cup per bird, per day. (If you're really good you will make the food dry enough that you can get away with freezing in gallon bags which will readily break up into measurable amounts.) Add the fresh food as you serve it, daily. It is very important that each bird in your care be fed food, each day, that is raw/unprocessed. This 'live' food contains amino acids and enzymes that processed food is lacking in. (You would do well to apply this advise to yourself also.) As the bulk of this mix will probably be frozen I recommend adding something raw to each days bowl. A slice of apple or orange, some fresh broccoli, just a small piece of anything that has not been processed will fill this need. Now you have a balanced diet that is only 20% seed, 70% vegetable, (remember the sprouts and cooked beans), 10% pellets and approximately 19% protein. This will serve your birds well. I recommend having a separate bowl of pellets for birds in the house but I don't do this with the outside birds. The mountain weather gets quite inclement at times and pellet bowls are quick to grow blue mold if they aren't well protected. Protein values can be adjusted by choosing pellets with higher or lower percentages. (Some breeders advise lowering protein for 60 or 90 days during the off-season.) If you add a vitamin, be sure to add it in a powdered form to the food NOT the water. With the 2 parts of Roudybush that this diet suggests you must reduce the amount of any supplement because of the vitamins already present in the manufactured food. Minerals are important too but don't get carried away. If you are truly offering a quality diet, you should need fewer supplements. Use your common sense. Don't use calcium supplements with D3 if you house your birds outside. They don't need it because their body will synthesize it's own D3 from body oils and sunlight. Conversely, inside birds may need D3, as grow lights may not be sufficient to queue this reaction. For your information, the supplementation that I use is cayenne pepper for beta-carotene and a healthy respiratory system, limestone flour that is 40% di-calcium phosphate by weight, sea kelp and a lot of granulated garlic. I also recommend Howard Voren's "Super Food" which can be purchased from him by calling: (561) 793-5528. The amounts used must be adjusted as the volume changes. Don't over feed your birds. If you want them to eat the balanced diet you prepare for them you must be realistic about how much food you serve. One PAIR of Amazons will eat one, scant cup of BLB diet daily + pellets. If you feed them more than that they will pick through eating their favorite items, avoiding the rest. What percentage of what do you think they're getting??? I don't know either. Be sure your birds EAT what you feed them. If you have only one bird, or so few that cooking is unnecessary, I recommend sharing human food and limiting the seed that is fed. An only bird should have at least two meals with the keeper daily. Breakfast should be a mini portion of people fare. Anything from oatmeal to omelet is fine but avoid such foods as ham, bacon and sausage as these contains too much fat and salt. Don't feed parrots donuts and other gooey goo. Sugar will spoil the appetite, build fat and overload the birds tiny system. Instead, give your bird a healthy half slice of whole wheat bread, a chunk of apple and a tiny piece of cheese or some scrambled egg to start the day. Dinner is the same: chop bone, chicken thigh bone, any kind of potato, Chile and beans, beef stew, fruits, vegetables, pasta, pizza, fish, etc. Whatever you're eating can be shared with your pet birds except chocolate, avocado or alcohol. In a one or two bird household where healthy table food is regularly fed, fresh water and a bowl of pellets will easily round out your birds' nutritional needs. You may remember that I was once an advocate of sprouting. In 1990 I ran afoul of some bacterial problems so I stopped that practice. Recently I did some investigating to determine where I went wrong. Other breeders whom I admire are sprouting and their production is fantastic! WHAT TO DO ??? Some of the blame goes to the size of container that I was sprouting in. Remember, we're not talking five or ten birds, so I did my soaking and sprouting in 5 gallon containers that were filled half full of seeds and grains. What I created was a large, self-contained incubator for the millions of pathogens existing in the thousands of seeds that I stirred and rinsed daily. I didn't even rinse my hands after handling the sprouts because I considered this a "clean" food item; Boy, was I wrong! Another problem was the quality of seed and grain that I was using. You can use human grade seeds that are fresh and sold in bulk, specifically for sprouting. These are expensive but not prohibitively so if you only have a few birds. I buy most of what I sprout at the Templeton Mill and have been satisfied with the cleanliness of the grains and pigeon mix. NEVER sprout so much seed in one container that the depth of the seeds is deeper than 3", too much heat builds up. Howard Voren came to the rescue during my Florida sojourn with the missing pieces of this informational puzzle. It seems that the main culprit was the fact that I didn't rinse my materials thoroughly before I left them to soak. Howard says, "Scrub the dirt out of them. They're tough before they start to swell. You can't hurt the seeds, grains and legumes at this stage but the filth that doesn't get purged can hurt your flock!" Ergo, I rinse WELL and I roil the seeds beneath the full pressure of water from my well-purged hose*. I pour the water off and rinse again until the rinse water is clear. Howard's guideline is, "Would you drink this water yourself?" If I feel that additional precautions must be taken I add GSE, (Grapefruit Seed Extract), to the final soak water. This product can be obtained at any good health food store. I soak for 8 to 12 hours and then rinse again until the water is pristine. I pour the soaked materials into three, shallow, tubs. I use Rubbermaid dish tubs have small holes drilled in them. These small holes allow the water to flow out slower than it is added and temporarily suspends the seeds in solution. I rinse three times daily or more refrigerate when desired growth is reached, and use up within a day or two. Depending on the ambient temperature, sprouts are mature in two or three days. Don't wait for the tops to turn green. The nutritional value is diminished, the flavor has changed and the cellulose that comprises the root is indigestible to all but termites. * If you do this outside, as I do, be sure to use a garden hose that is labeled, 'drinking water safe'. Many hoses on the market today are made from recycled material of dubious origin. It probably wouldn't have much affect on someone who took an occasional drink but that is not the case with your precious flock. When a hose is used daily to facilitate the service of cages or provides soak water for sprouting the chance of carcinogenic contamination is great. Spend a few extra dollars and replace those old hoses with new and improved ones that are safe to drink from. Where you sprout is as important as how you sprout. I sprout outside and use the water from a well-purged hose. When I had my original bacterial problem I chanced upon Dale Thompson and told him of my situation. He suggested that one of the contaminating factors was in my drain and that the act of dispensing water from my tap was creating an invisible fountain of pathogens that were infecting everything that they came in contact with: Hence, I no longer sprout over the sink! If sprouting sounds like too much trouble: Think again! The act of sprouting turns a fatty seed into a vegetable and greatly enhances its digestibility. Sprouting also creates enzymes and amino acids, which are a desirable component of a birds diet. After talking to Howard Voren about procedure, I have started sprouting seeds again. His emphasis on rinsing the grain/seed/legumes scrupulously has really done the trick and, for the more cautious, there is always GSE. FINALLY, my sprouts are culturing clean! (A 1st!) If you follow his advice and rinse until the soak water looks clear enough to drink you will avoid problems and improve your bird's nutrition. If you are sprouting out of doors more sprouting time is necessary in the winter months because of the lower ambient temperatures, (household temperatures are more constant and much warmer). If you decide to sprout, be careful and learn from my mistakes. Don't use store bought sprouts because they are too long, mostly cellulose, and you can never know about the care and handling they received before you bought them. I feed a mixed diet; part sprouts, part cooked mix, part seed and part vegetable to excite my birds and enrich their life. People ask me to tell them specifically what I sprout; 4 parts of lentils, 3 parts winter wheat, 3 parts barley, 3 parts Canadian peas, 3 parts Australian peas, 1 part millet with flax seed added and 1 part popcorn. (In this particular case the part is a pint container.) My combination of ingredients are just one of many. Health food stores have wonderful assortments of grains for your sprouting pleasure as well as sprouting lids to fit wide-mouth jars. It is my understanding that hookbills do not need grit...especially if their diet is cooked food, sprouted seeds, grain, fresh foods and pellets. Grit, freely offered, can be a problem if the bird decides to stuff itself. My veterinarian posted an African Gray Congo for me and noted that the birds gut was full of grit. She was surprised to learn that I do not feed grit and this particular bird had been on wire for a minimum of eight years. I can't tell you where the grit came from but there it was. If you don't feel right about eliminating all grit from the diet then take the amount that will pinch between your index finger and thumb and feed this over soft food every 90 days or so. (This advice does NOT apply to softbills who require grit to grind and process their seeds) I no longer buy a seed mix with peanuts or any kind of pellet in it. The Small Hookbill that I buy from Templeton Mill has an assortment of very nutritious seeds that the Large Hookbill mixes do not contain. Small hookbill cost less and is better for your bird. I buy human grade peanuts, walnuts, almonds and mixed nuts separately and feed them according to the needs of the individual pairs. Congos, Jardine's and Timnehs can have three nuts each day, per bird...unless they fail to eat their regular diet. Piocephalus get one, small peanut per bird per day. Macaw pairs are given an assortment of nuts each day along with their regular portion. Mini Macaws and smaller Cockatoos are given almonds and peanuts. Larger Cockatoos are given these in addition to walnuts in their daily diet but monitor the weight and stop if your Cockatoo is becoming portly. The full size Macaws are the only birds that can shell a complete assortment of mixed nuts that include filberts, pecans and brazil nuts. (It has to be very frustrating to a bird to be given a nut that they can't crack!) I cut down on the amount of nuts fed if the main diet is not sufficiently eaten. Macaws are the exception to this rule, as they seem to need more fat in their diet. Beware of feeding Amazons nuts outside of breeding season! Amazon Parrots are famous for being overweight and you must monitor the fatty foods that you feed them; Rose Breasted Cockatoos are even worse. My Rosie male developed a fatty tumor on less than a teaspoon of small hook daily. Dale Thompson suggests that these lovely little cockatoos get no seed or nuts in their diet and only 1/2 cup of food each day. Just prior to breeding season and when parrots are feeding young the amount of food being fed must be increased. Birds will not produce eggs if they are doubtful that there will be enough food to feed the chicks. Since my Amazons are my most seasonal breeders, spring heralds the addition of an occasional peanut to their diet; if they have chicks in the nest they get peanuts every day. Pairs that have babies in the nest are fed twice daily with whole wheat bread, corn on the cob and juicy fruits offered as an addition to their regular fare. The regular portion of standard food is doubled or even tripled if necessary, depending on how many chicks are being fed and how large they are. Feeding our birds correctly is a big responsibility and a lot of work. Some birds are more difficult than others to convert to a balanced diet with a small amount of seed. Patience, patience and your reward will be healthy birds with shiny feathers and bright, clear eyes. When converting a new bird to your healthy diet, offer a little extra seed at first but cut that portion smaller each day so that gradually the bird will be forced to sample the "unknown". Be realistic on the amount that you feed or the best planned nutritional program is a bust if the bird has a great volume of food he will pick and choose, ignoring the less favored items and disrupting the balance that you have tried to achieve. One Amazon needs only 1/2 cup of food daily, Greys eat slightly more. My Scarlet pair eat one cup per Macaw, My Green Wings eat one and one half while my Militaries don't even finish one cup between them. All my Macaws get nuts but I visually monitor their weigh carefully. Large Cockatoos get a heaping cup per pair with additional nuts if they clean their bowl. Watch out for birds with a "double breasted" look and feed accordingly. Birds, like people don't always burn calories at the same rate. A good rule of thumb: If you wouldn't eat it, don't feed it to your bird. Likewise, if you wouldn't eat OUT of it, don't expect your bird to; keep those bowls clean! Fresh food and water daily is a necessary component of good aviculture. If you plan to be gone for a weekend, you need a trusted friend or neighbor who will look in on you pet to see to the food and water dishes. If you don't know anyone who can capably care for your pets then you will need to hire someone to perform this service for you. (I can personally recommend Debi Schmitt a CCAS member and very competent.) Old food needs to be removed and replaced with fresh. Clean dishes are an important aspect of good hygiene. Spoiled food or dirty water are two health hazards that can be avoided. Mold can be a killer too. Dirty hands are often the culprits when it comes to spreading bacteria that birds are sensitive to. Touch the bowl of an ill bird, and then picks up the bowl of a healthy bird and you may well have unwittingly become the vector of some nasty disease. Some organisms are "species specific" and will not contaminate people, but a few, such as Psittacosis, can be past on to humans. Conversely, E-coli is a gram-negative bacterium that is pathogenic to birds and is found in the bowels of mammals. The practice of good hygiene is essential. Prevent contamination of foodstuffs and dishes by washing your hands carefully. Keep birds away from animal feces or freshly fertilized flowerbeds. These are some of my thoughts on nutrition. I don't have all the answers and I think there many fine methods of feeding parrots...along with some truly awful ones. If you are going to follow someone's example, be sure you emulate an aviculturist who has a reasonable record of success. That's what I try to do. Good Luck!! Diet for a Healthy Parrot |