She bit me !

[Wolf]

Sorry that I have been unable to get back to the nutritional information that I started. I have been babysitting the neighbor's 9 year old boy and had a reaction to my meds which I am just beginning to recover from.
There is nothing wrong with any of the grains that you are using but what I did notice was that many of them are closely related to each other and are therefor giving the same nutrients. While this may not be a problem, I think that we should be trying to use a wider variety of grains that are not so related to each other. I know that this can be hard to find as it depends on what we can find at the time, but noticing that we were giving so many related grains is one of the things that started me looking into the nutritional values of them.
I need to lay back down for a while, I will try to continue later, on the nutritional values that I started at that time.

[liz]

So sorry you are not feeling well. Stop pushing yourself so hard. My birds are not in danger.

[Wolf]

Wild Rice
Wild rice is high in fiber, protein, magnesium, manganese and phosphorous, it contains 83% carbohydrates, 14% proteins and 3% fats and is mildly inflammatory.http://www.nutritionvalue.org/Wild_rice ... value.html

Bulgar Wheat

Nutrition facts



Bulgur, cookedBulgur, dryBulgur, dry



Amount Per 100 grams1 cup (140 g)1 cup (140 g)


Calories479



%Daily Value*

Total Fat1.9 g 3%
Saturated fat0.3 g 2%
Polyunsaturated fat0.8 g
Monounsaturated fat0.2 g
Cholesterol0 mg 0%
Sodium23.8 mg 1%
Potassium574 mg 16%
Total Carbohydrate106.2 g 35%
Dietary fiber25.6 g 102%
Sugar0.6 g
Protein17.2 g



Vitamin A 0%
Calcium 5%
Vitamin D 0%
Vitamin B-12 0%


Vitamin C 0%
Iron 19%
Vitamin B-6 25%
Magnesium 57%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Bulgar wheat is full of fiber, manganese, tryptophan and magnesium. Manganese is used by the body to help form bones, connective tissues and sex hormones.

Quinoa

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cer ... ta/10352/2

Quinoa is similar to buckwheat and is a good source of protein, fiber, iron and magnesium.

Flax
flax seeds are high in fiber, antioxidants and omega=3 fatty acids. They also contain a small amount of cyanide which is destroyed by heat, especially when they are toasted whole. The best way to release the nutrient content of flax seed is to grind the toasted seeds and then to use a small amount.
Nutrition facts



Flaxseed



Amount Per 1 tsp, ground (2.5 g)1 tsp, whole (3.4 g)1 tbsp, ground (7 g)1 tbsp, whole (10.3 g)100 grams1 cup, whole (168 g)1 cup, whole (168 g)


Calories897



%Daily Value*

Total Fat70.8 g 109%
Saturated fat6.2 g 31%
Polyunsaturated fat48.3 g
Monounsaturated fat12.6 g
Cholesterol0 mg 0%
Sodium50.4 mg 2%
Potassium1,366 mg 39%
Total Carbohydrate48.5 g 16%
Dietary fiber45.9 g 184%
Sugar2.6 g
Protein30.7 g



Vitamin A 0%
Calcium 43%
Vitamin D 0%
Vitamin B-12 0%


Vitamin C 2%
Iron 53%
Vitamin B-6 40%
Magnesium 165%

Steel cut oats
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cus ... antity=3.0

[Wolf]

Now that I have provided the nutritional values to you, some through the links and the ones that I could get to post directly, I suppose that I should attempt to summarize the information some what. This is something that I usually just do in my head and then it is only very basically. So let us see what I come up with.
Your list was, without the measurements, Farro, Pearled Barley, Buckwheat Groats, Wild Rice, Bulgar Wheat, Quinoa, Flax seed and Steel Cut Oats.
Almost half of your ingredients are all varieties of wheat and so are very similar in their nutritional values, These are Farro, Bulgar Wheat and Quinoa. Although buckwheat is not a wheat but a fruit seed it is very similar to Quinoa.
All of the grains listed are good sources of protein and fiber. All except for wild rice are good sources of iron. All except for barley are good sources of magnesium. Farro, buckwheat, and wild rice are good sources of carbohydrates. Buckwheat, barley, bulgar wheat, and flax are good sources of B vitamins with buckwheat being particularly high in Niacin which is used to make sexual hormones as is manganese which is found in high amounts in buckwheat, wild rice, bulgar wheat, flax seed and oats. Both Flax seeds and oats contain more than 100% RDA of manganese which is also used to produce sexual hormones. Wild rice and oats are good sources of phosperous. Barley is a good source of selenium. Bulgar wheat is a good source of tryptophan. Flax seed is high in antioxidents and calcium and especially good for Omega 3 fatty acids.
That is a pretty good breakdown, I think, for these grains. I was particularly interested in not only the amount of protein, which I realise is not a complete protein in the grains, but was surprised to find the amount of manganese in some of them and its role in the production of sexual hormones. Also bear in mind that all of the nutritional information is for humans and not for birds, but you are not the only person that I know of whose birds seem to get hormonal out of season despite their caregivers doing their best to keep the protein levels low and to adhere to a solar light schedule. Perhaps we need to look a little deeper into some of the minerals in their diet.
Any way that is the best that I know to do with this at the moment as I am still working on understanding the roles of these nutrients in the diets of our birds.
I hope this can be useful to you in choosing your grains.

[seagoatdeb]

Now that I have provided the nutritional values to you, some through the links and the ones that I could get to post directly, I suppose that I should attempt to summarize the information some what. This is something that I usually just do in my head and then it is only very basically. So let us see what I come up with.
Your list was, without the measurements, Farro, Pearled Barley, Buckwheat Groats, Wild Rice, Bulgar Wheat, Quinoa, Flax seed and Steel Cut Oats.
Almost half of your ingredients are all varieties of wheat and so are very similar in their nutritional values, These are Farro, Bulgar Wheat and Quinoa. Although buckwheat is not a wheat but a fruit seed it is very similar to Quinoa.
All of the grains listed are good sources of protein and fiber. All except for wild rice are good sources of iron. All except for barley are good sources of magnesium. Farro, buckwheat, and wild rice are good sources of carbohydrates. Buckwheat, barley, bulgar wheat, and flax are good sources of B vitamins with buckwheat being particularly high in Niacin which is used to make sexual hormones as is manganese which is found in high amounts in buckwheat, wild rice, bulgar wheat, flax seed and oats. Both Flax seeds and oats contain more than 100% RDA of manganese which is also used to produce sexual hormones. Wild rice and oats are good sources of phosperous. Barley is a good source of selenium. Bulgar wheat is a good source of tryptophan. Flax seed is high in antioxidents and calcium and especially good for Omega 3 fatty acids.
That is a pretty good breakdown, I think, for these grains. I was particularly interested in not only the amount of protein, which I realise is not a complete protein in the grains, but was surprised to find the amount of manganese in some of them and its role in the production of sexual hormones. Also bear in mind that all of the nutritional information is for humans and not for birds, but you are not the only person that I know of whose birds seem to get hormonal out of season despite their caregivers doing their best to keep the protein levels low and to adhere to a solar light schedule. Perhaps we need to look a little deeper into some of the minerals in their diet.
Any way that is the best that I know to do with this at the moment as I am still working on understanding the roles of these nutrients in the diets of our birds.
I hope this can be useful to you in choosing your grains.

Very nice job of research and I am very appreciative of the info. I did notice that you said Quinoa was wheat. Quinoa is not wheat. Quinoa is related to beets, chard and spinach and lambs quarters. As a member of the Amaranthaceae family, it is related to and resembles amaranth and the leaves look a lot like lambs quarters. I grow it and the leaves are edible and safe to feed to parrots and humans too. I am going to try to grow amaranth next year, much easier process to get the seeds, you dont need to do all the rinsing that you do with quinoa.

[Wolf]

You are correct and that was a mistake on my part, thanks for catching it.

[Pajarita]

I don't use amaranth - I don't like the nitrate and tannin content in it. I know they deem it's safe for people but I am not sure it is for parrots (no scientific studies) and it's not a grain that is used by the industry (no empirical evidence) so I stay away from it.