BIRDS COME FIRST - FEEDING YOUR PARROTS



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"BIRDS COME FIRST"
PARROT WEBSITE




 

Where do I start? The subject of feeding your companion parrot can either be the easiest or the most complicated subject to address depending on your own personal interest in the health and well-being of your feathered friend. There are many excellent books that have been written on this topic and they all seem to agree on one thing.
"PARROTS SHALL NOT LIVE ON SEED ALONE"!!

It would be overly simplified to say that the diets of our Companion parrots should be as varied as is possible since how we vary the diets and what we should be feeding our parrots will probably be debated for quite some time to come. The debate is usually centered around the percentages of each type of the available foods required for the longest and healthiest lives for your birds. The truth is that despite 25 or so years of avian research by various manufacturers and distributors of bird foods as well as veterinary research into the diets of companion parrots, we simply are not entirely sure of what constitutes "THE BEST" diets for our parrots.



I would like to start by giving you information on:

"WHAT NOT TO FEED YOUR BIRD!"


Some foods are POISONOUS or DANGEROUS to feed to your bird!
These include:

  • High-fat junk food (potato chips, doughnuts, etc.)
  • Avocado (guacamole dip)
  • Chocolate/Cocoa
  • Caffeinated Beverages
  • Alcohol
  • Table salt (NaCl)
  • Apple seeds
  • Fruit pits
  • Onions
    • ***
  • Mushrooms
  • Persimmons
  • Carbonated Beverages
  • GRIT!!!!

JUNK FOOD has a high fat content and can lead to things like FATTY-LIVER disease in your parrot.

AVOCADOS can KILL YOUR BIRD! Quacamole dip is made of AVOCADO! While there are some stories about parrots safely eating avocado, the fruit, especially around the area of the pit is extremely dangerous to your bird!
NO GUACAMOLE DIP!!

CHOCOLATE and COCOA contain THEOBROMIDE which is extremely toxic to birds!

CAFFEINE as found in COFFEE and TEA is not metabolized as well by parrots and as a result can be extremely harmful.

It is NOT FUNNY to give alchohol to a parrot. A parrot's liver
CANNOT METABOLIZE alchohol.

Parrots CANNOT EXCRETE SALT the way humans can and as a result, SALT can be TOXIC to your parrot. An occasional bite from a potato chip will not kill your bird but there are stories of larger birds getting into a bag of chips and dying from the effects of the salt.

APPLE SEEDS contain a small amount of CYANIDE and if broken and ingested in quantity can KILL your bird.

PITS from fruits like PEACHES and NECTARINES produce cyanogenic glycosides. That means they release FREE CYANIDE! As with apple seeds, they can be DEADLY if broken and ingested!

Excessive amounts of COOKED or RAW ONIONS can be toxic to your bird. ONIONS contain a chemical named N-PROPYL DISULFIDE which denatures hemoglobin. This will DESTROY RED BLOOD CELLS. Eating onions can cause ANEMIA, JAUNDICE, and BLOODY URINE.

***Much of the information pertaining to ONIONS and the effect on red blood cells pertains to dogs. There is not conclusive evidence that it will do the same to blood cells in parrots. At this time it is suspected that ONIONS may be unsafe to feed to your parrot. Until more study has been done you should be aware that there MAY be a potential hazard in having your parrot eat onions.***

Many MUSHROOMS have the potential to be TOXIC or DEADLY to your parrot!

PERSIMMONS can be toxic. The only reference to this that I was able to find was in Bird Talk Magazine: Clipsham, R. 1998. "SWEET but DEADLY: How toxic is that persimmon you’re feeding your bird"? Bird Talk 16: 86-89.

I go by the "IT'S BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY PRINCIPLE".

CARBONATED BEVERAGES can be deadly as a parrot has no mechanism for ridding itself of the excess gas from the carbonation.

GRIT!!!

PARROTS DO NOT NEED GRIT IN THEIR DIETS!

Grit is not required to be given to normal, healthy parrots. Grit is ingested by birds like pigeons and doves as they eat seeds whole.

INSOLUBLE GRIT is used to aid in the digestion of unhulled seeds.

PARROTS HULL THEIR SEEDS and as a result, they do not need grit! Insoluble grits like the fine sandstones and silicates (sand) that is sold cannot be digested and will remain in the birds body until it is expelled.
It is possible for INSOLUBLE GRIT to cause a fatal impaction of the bird's crop or intestines.
The CROP is a sac-like enlargement of a section of a bird's esophagus, with thick muscular walls. The crop stores and softens food so it can be digested.
An IMPACTED CROP is one that is blocked by foreign material such as GRIT, HAIR, PLASTIC FIBER (POLYESTER) etc.
If a parrot has an Impacted Crop, It can not take in the nourishment it needs and it will eventually die unless it receives veterinary attention!
If a parrot's intestines become blocked with grit, the bird will not be able to pass digesting or digested food out of it's system. If this occurs, the death of the bird is a likely outcome.

SOLUBLE GRIT composed of organic materials such as oyster shell or cuttlebone is digested by acids in the birds digestive system and almost never accumulates in the digestive tract. This type of grit does ALMOST NOTHING to aid in digestion but it can be a source of calcium. Calcium, however should come from other sources in the diet such as unsalted almonds. Even Cuttlebone sold as a form of soluble grit and assumed to be safe can be harvested from Cuttlefish that were taken from polluted waters and that cuttlebone if ingested by your bird could be a source of heavy metal poisoning.
HEAVY METAL POISOINING is an accumulation of heavy metals in the system of a bird. Things like MERCURY, LEAD,and ZINC getting into your bird's system from food and other sources is dangerous. It has very negative effect on the nervous system and if left untreated will kill your bird.

If you were told that your parrot needs grit, FORGET ABOUT IT!!

IF A BIRD HAS A HEALTHY DIET, EVEN SOLUBLE GRIT IS NOT NEEDED!

Grit Reference: Avian Medicine: Principles and Application by Branson Ritchie DVM PhD, Greg J. Harrison DVM and Linda R. Harrison BS, 1994 Wingers Publishing.



I would now like to give you some information on:

"WHAT YOU SHOULD FEED YOUR PARROT!"

And...MORE OF WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT!!

Some foods are EXCELLENT and VERY NUTRITIOUS and would make GREAT ADDITIONS to your parrot's diet!

ORGANICALLY GROWN VEGETABLES and FRUITS!!

  • Carrots
  • Yams
  • Cooked Sweet Potato
  • Kale
  • Broccoli
  • Asparagus
  • Sugar Snap Peas
  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Brussel Sprouts
  • Cooked Squash (Acorn, Butternut, Pumpkin)
  • Corn
  • Snow Peas
  • Radishes
  • Zucchini

Most parrots will truly enjoy these foods! Just be sure that they are ORGANIC, thoroughly RINSED and CUT to appropriate sizes! STRAWBERRIES, APPLES and GRAPES are known to contain high amounts of INSECTICIDES and FUNGICIDES so feeding your parrots
ORGANICALLY GROWN PRODUCE is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!.

  • Apples (cored)
  • Pears (cored)
  • Strawberries
  • Red Grapes
  • Canteloupe
  • Kiwi Fruit (peeled)
  • Blueberries
  • Oranges
  • Bananas
  • Raspberries


"WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES THAT YOU FEED YOUR PARROT BE ORGANICALLY GROWN?

A study DONE by the non-profit Environmental Working Group, lists the most TOXIC conventionally grown fruits and vegetables! The report issued as the "Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce", is based on data from studies done by The United States Food and Drug Administration. It found that more than half of the health risks associated with pesticides are concentrated in the following fruits and vegetables!

Of more than forty different types of fruits and vegetables tested, STRAWBERRIES were the most laden with toxic chemicals!! The chemicals are systemic which means that they get into the plant to do their work. No amount of washing will remove this type of pesticide from the fruit or vegetable.

STRAWBERRY growers use large amounts of pesticides. They are particularly sprayed heavily with fungicides. The FDA detected thirty different pesticides on strawberries, second only to apples with thirty-six different types of pesticides.

Based on samples taken over a two year period, strawberries were found to contain captan, benomyl, vinclozolin, iprodione, and endosulfan, pesticides that are not only carcinogenic in humans, but also disrupt the endocrine system as well. Organically grown strawberries are the only type of strawberries that I feed to my parrots. I know I'll take some heat for this but NEVER feed your parrots regular "store bought" strawberries.

BELL PEPPERS are more heavily contaminated with neurotoxic insecticides than all other crops analyzed. That means they have a negative effect on the nervous system. Actually these chemicals disrupt the transmission of nerve impulses from one nerve cell to another. Substitute broccoli, romaine lettuce, green peas, asparagus, brussel sprouts or carrots.

SPINACH is loaded with DDT, permethrin, chlorthalonil and other carcinogenic pesticides. Spinach also disrupts to some degree, the ability of a birds system to absorb calcium. I would stay away from spinach as a source of food for a parrot.

CHERRIES grown in the United States are three times more contaminated with pesticides than cherries grown elsewhere. Domestic cherries were found to contain twenty-six different pesticides! They have only a slight amount of Vitamin C but are not as nutritious as other, more safe fruits.

PEACHES, besides having poisonous pits are heavily contaminated with cancer causing fungicides and neuro-toxic pesticides. Give your bird watermelon, tangerines, grapefruits, or oranges instead.

CANTALOUPES from Mexico tested positive for two or more pesticides in forty-eight percent of the samples. Do not give your bird imported Cantaloupes from January through April. when Mexican imports are at their peak during those months. Substitute cantaloupes grown in the United States when they are in season. Papaya and watermelon can also be given to your parrot.

CELERY is a major source of exposure to neurotoxic pesticides. Eighty-one percent of samples tested contained chemical residues. There is so little nutrition in celery that feeding it to your birds is it is not worth the risk.

APPLES, as stated before contain thirty-six different pesticides!! According to FDA data that is more than in any other fruit or vegetable! This is truly astonishing!! Offer your bird pears, kiwi fruit, watermelon, bananas or oranges.

GREEN BEANS are a major source of carcinogenic fungicides, neurotoxins, and endocrine disruptors. You should feed your bird only organically grown greens beans. Or forget about them completely as they offer very little nutrition. Green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and asparagus can be offered instead.

GRAPES imported from Chile add many cancer causing and endocrine-disrupting fungicides to our parrots' diets if we feed these things to them. From January through April, ninety percent of the grapes sold in the United States are from Chile. When domestic grapes are in season, feed them to your parrot.

CUCUMBERS contain unacceptable levels of Dieldrin, an extremely carcinogenic pesticide that more than twenty years ago, was banned in the United States. Unfortunately it is persistent in the soil and is taken up by cucumber plants as they grow. One of every fourteen cucumber samples from across the U.S. and Mexico contained this highly toxic compound. Substitute carrots, romaine lettuce, broccoli or radishes.




"SHOULD YOU FEED YOUR PARROT A PELLETED DIET?"

I feel that a good bird food pellet can be an important part of every parrot's diet!!



This is an example of a pelleted mix!



In the past, it seems as though we simply made wild guesses as to what types of foods our parrots should eat in order to stay healthy and live long lives. Most often, parrots were fed whatever seed mix was available. We didn't really know any better. As avian science improved, we began to discover that parrots on the traditional diet of seeds and some fruits, were suffering from various vitamin deficiencies. Fortified pellets were then introduced to help provide some of the missing nutrients that were found to be deficient in our companion parrots. In all honesty, there was a fair amount of guessing on the parts of some manufacturers as to what the pellets should consist of so not all pelleted diets were really as good as they were meant to be.

That has changed considerably in the last ten to fifteen years and there are now some excellent pelleted formulations that, in my opinion, should without question be an important part of every parrot's diet!


"ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PELLETS?"

The simple answer is that, YES there are different types of pellets that are manufactured to feed our avian companions. There is debate as to which ones are better than others but the types are as follows:

COLD PRESSED or COLD PELLETED! This type of pellet is pressed into shape without the use of heat. It is said that the nutrients in these pellets are not destroyed by the heat used in the other processes of manufacture. In theory, that should make these pellets closer to a natural diet than the other forms of pelleted foods.

EXTRUDED PELLETS! This type of pellet is manufactured using heat. Temperatures can be as high as 650 degrees fahrenheit. The high heat used destroys some of the natural nutrition in the foods so these types of pellets are usually fortified, supplemented with synthetic nutrients. It should be said that the heat process used kills potentially harmful micro-organisms that may be found in other types of foods where heat is not a part of the process.

STEAMED PELLETS! This type of manufacture uses lower heat levels. Usually the temperature is above 212 degrees and is often around 230 degrees fahrenheit. Starches are often used as binders in these formulations. The starch has been found to break down into sugar during digestion, reacting with some essential amino acids making those amino acids unavailable to the birds system.

Many birds on a seed mix diet will pick out their favorite seeds and you end up throwing away a good portion of the mix. With a pelleted diet, your parrot can't just pick out it's favorite treats and ignore the rest. In that way, a pelleted diet offers much better nutrition to your parrot!


At first, I languished over whether or not I should offer my recommendations as to various pellets. I then said to myself, "This is my website and I can do what I want"! Here then are my two favorites with respect to pelleted formulations. If I was asked what two pelleted diets were probably the best, I would immediately suggest ROUDYBUSH PELLETS or HARRISON'S BIRD FOODS! In my humble opinion, these two manufacturers have some of the best formulated bird foods on the market today!

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ROUDYBUSH WEBSITE

CLICK HERE TO VISIT HARRISON'S WEBSITE



"O.K., WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH SEEDS?"

I thought that all parrots should eat seeds!!

In the wild, budgies and cockatiels, for example eat seed as a part of their diet. They are called Granivores, the fancy word for birds that eat seeds. As a result, they can actually live on a seed diet. Still, an all seed diet is not the best choice even for these Granivores. It is very common for cockatiels on a seed diet to pick out only the black oil sunflower seeds in the mix and leave much of the other seeds alone. The Sunflower seeds are high in fat and low in nutrition. Since a bird will pick out it's favorite seeds, we really have very little control over what the bird is really eating.

Seed only diets are also deficient in certain vitamins. Vitamin "A" deficiencies are common in birds on a seed only diet. An illness known as "Fatty Liver Disease" is also more common in birds on a seed only diet. In general, the result of feeding only a seed mix to your bird is a high fat, low nutrient diet. In human terms, It's a "JUNK FOOD" diet.


In the wild, a parrot such as the Blue and Gold Macaw eats things like nuts, roots, berries, fruits and some seeds. Called a Florivore, seeds do not play a major role in this bird's diet. Mixes for larger parrots usually have a lot of Sunflower Seeds and Peanuts. Again, just as the smaller birds like budgies and cockatiels will do, a Blue and Gold Macaw will tend to pick out whatever it's favorite treats are and throw the rest of the food around the room. It seems logical that an all seed diet will not provide the essential nutrients needed for a parrot to live a long and healthy life.

Seeds should be a very minimal part of your birds diet.


"HOW DO I MODIFY MY PARROT'S DIET?"

This is something should be done slowly, methodically and very carefully!! If your bird is not being fed a healthy diet, this may help to prolong the life of your companion parrot!!

Since many birds were raised on a seed only diet, it may be a good idea to work on modifying your bird's diet. You can switch him to a healthier, more pellet based diet.


Please be sure that you change your parrot's diet gradually. DO NOT stop feeding him what he is used to at the beginning of the transition process. In order to begin the process of a diet transition you will need to add some of the preferred food to his diet a little at a time until you can switch him over completely. You run the risk of STARVING YOUR PARROT TO DEATH if you try to feed him the new diet without gradually switching him over to the new, more nutritious foods.

Feeding in the morning is better as a bird is usually more hungry at that point. You can fill his food cup with a mixture of some of his regular diet with some of the new food added. To start with, you should have an estimated mix of about 80% of his old food mixed with about 20% of the preferred food. Place some of the new diet on top of the sunflower seeds and nuts so he has to get through the new food to get to his old favorites. Feed him this way for a week or so then gradually increase the new food in his diet.

You can now give him a 50/50 mix of old and new as long as you see that he is eating at least some of the new food. Keep the mix of foods that way for a month or so. You can then make it a 75/25 mix with the mixture being about 75% of the new diet and 25% of the previous diet. Let the mixture remain that way for awhile then you can get him to switch over completely to the new diet.

Keep an eye on your bird to be sure that he is eating. When changing a diet, you should have a scale so that you can periodically weigh the bird. If the bird loses a few grams, that's normal. If he loses more than 10% of his body weight, you have to readjust the mix and let him put some weight back on. In order to determine what 10% of his weight would be, you have to get a starting weight. I can't stress the importance of monitoring the bird's weight throughout this process.

Keep an eye on what he is eating and what is ending up on the bottom of the cage, on the walls and floors or anyplace else his food is tossed! Monitor his feces to see that he is relieving himself. You should have an idea of what a normal "poop" looks like by now.

The process of changing over a bird to a new diet is not always an easy thing. It may take several months.
BE PATIENT!!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION ... MORE TO COME!

Please feel free to browse through our website. We will always attempt to bring you as much helpful information as we can. If you are owned by a Companion Parrot, then you should understand that all attempts should be made to work with your parrot to provide it with a loving home. Even "BIRDS COME FIRST" should be a last resort when working with your parrot. The best thing for your avian friend is to be able to get the Love and Care it needs from YOU!

Please click on the above buttons to find more information about The "BIRDS COME FIRST" Parrot Website! I will look forward to hearing from you!


Birds Come First
P.O. Box 1008
Olalla, WA 98359
2005 by WILLIAM O'ROURKE