Is this normal?

[AmberH]

I have been reading and reading but everyone has such conflicting advice about feeding. I see a lot of people giving cooked pasta and meat how on earth is that a natural diet.

I cant imagine how often a parrot eats eggs in the wild especially hard boiled ones.

I am trying hard to learn and make my own decisions about what is best for my breed but I am confident I will not feed my bird noodles or meat

[pennyandrocky]

have special diet needs but I told my avian vet that I do make my birds a bowl of whatever i'm eating including sometimes giving them a small piece of meat he said my birds diet was fine. eggs with ground shell are recommended for calcium especially for egg laying females like my to prevent soft shells that can break inside or egg binding.

[CSLFiero]

I have been reading and reading but everyone has such conflicting advice about feeding. I see a lot of people giving cooked pasta and meat how on earth is that a natural diet.

I cant imagine how often a parrot eats eggs in the wild especially hard boiled ones.

I am trying hard to learn and make my own decisions about what is best for my breed but I am confident I will not feed my bird noodles or meat

I'm not sure where you're from amber, but unless you're from the Solomon islands, i suspect you'll resort to a substitute natural diet, which is in essences what everyone does.

[AmberH]

I have been reading and reading but everyone has such conflicting advice about feeding. I see a lot of people giving cooked pasta and meat how on earth is that a natural diet.

I cant imagine how often a parrot eats eggs in the wild especially hard boiled ones.

I am trying hard to learn and make my own decisions about what is best for my breed but I am confident I will not feed my bird noodles or meat

I'm not sure where you're from amber, but unless you're from the Solomon islands, i suspect you'll resort to a substitute natural diet, which is in essences what everyone does.

Well, I said a natural diet not a native diet. Natural as in fruits and vegetables, if a bird does eat meat in the wild would it be cooked? I know for a fact they dont eat noodles that is a man-made product.

I do read a lot of people give their birds meat so I am certainly doing more research about it but I am a vegetarian myself so meat is just not going to be part of the meal.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Well in the wild many species will eat small bugs and insects, hence people feeding small amounts of meat or eggs to give protein that is otherwise missing. If you have an Aussie/African originating species and live in the UK its going to be difficult to get hold of beetles :p

I don't find it surprising that there's so many different diets for birds, that's firstly because different birds have totally different dietary needs. Secondly, think about humans, how many different diets do you see around for us, so eventually the way we feed our birds will end up following a similar pattern in terms of different theories on diets.

My cockatiels have a completely different diet to my parrotlet and in my opinion I'm doing the right thing with each of their diets but there will be people that disagree. As long as no bird is on an all seed diet there is pros and cons for all.

To the OP I hope your bird gets better

[Pajarita]

LOL - The vet said the bird is healthy without doing any blood work? WOW, a clairvoyant avian vet!

[CSLFiero]

Well, I said a natural diet not a native diet. Natural as in fruits and vegetables, if a bird does eat meat in the wild would it be cooked? I know for a fact they dont eat noodles that is a man-made product.

I apologize, i don't want to patronize, but I don't really grasp what is innately wrong with human created foods, especially ones as innocuous and wholesome as pasta. Alls things in appropriate moderation, of course. You'll find a myriad of trace pesticides on or even in so many produces, i don't know that anyone can avoid feeding their bird some level of human created substance if you intend to feed them anything at all from the grocery store. For reasons of pure practicality i find most people can't tolerate such new age diets for even their own person. To do it for your pet would require amazing discipline. I do wish you the very best though, as someone as tenacious as what you describe would have parrot-parent levels of patience.

[LadySaphine]

Well in the wild many species will eat small bugs and insects, hence people feeding small amounts of meat or eggs to give protein that is otherwise missing. If you have an Aussie/African originating species and live in the UK its going to be difficult to get hold of beetles :p

I raise mealworms for my wild birds. Get some tweezers and give one to your bird, with the option of beetle or worm. What's great about raising mealworms is that you can control what they eat- normally oats with a potato or something. But you could go to the pet store and buy baby bird food formula and give that to the worms, so let's say in the spring when the wild birds are with their babies they at least have something more than random, possibly pesticide-ridden insects.

I don't give any insect to Peanut, however. Just for the wild birds.

[Pajarita]

Well, I said a natural diet not a native diet. Natural as in fruits and vegetables, if a bird does eat meat in the wild would it be cooked? I know for a fact they dont eat noodles that is a man-made product.

I apologize, i don't want to patronize, but I don't really grasp what is innately wrong with human created foods, especially ones as innocuous and wholesome as pasta. Alls things in appropriate moderation, of course. You'll find a myriad of trace pesticides on or even in so many produces, i don't know that anyone can avoid feeding their bird some level of human created substance if you intend to feed them anything at all from the grocery store. For reasons of pure practicality i find most people can't tolerate such new age diets for even their own person. To do it for your pet would require amazing discipline. I do wish you the very best though, as someone as tenacious as what you describe would have parrot-parent levels of patience.

Well, for one thing regular pasta is neither wholesome nor innocuous for birds. It's flour and water and has no nutritional value whatsoever, the only thing it has is empty carbs, something that pet birds don't need in their diet (consider their unnaturally sedentary lives). There is organic pasta made with whole grains and vegetables which is not bad as a treat or as a special addition to their soft food every now and then.

People food is also not normally wholesome or innocuous. Some people do eat a healthy diet but most people don't. And, when it comes to birds, human food is not good. Too much processing, too many empty carbs, too much fat, too much salt, additives, preservatives, etc.

It's not so very hard to feed a parrot good parrot food. It might not be their wild diet but it can be both wholesome and adequately nutritious. All you have to do is put money, time and work into it. Money for organic products, time for research and planning, and work preparing it.

[Pajarita]

:eclectus: have special diet needs but I told my avian vet that I do make my birds a bowl of whatever i'm eating including sometimes giving them a small piece of meat he said my birds diet was fine. eggs with ground shell are recommended for calcium especially for egg laying females like my to prevent soft shells that can break inside or egg binding.

Avian vets do not study psittacine nutrition so, unless the good doctor has had multiple birds for a long time and has taken the time to do research on its own, their advice on diet is worthless.