Millet spray -- for all parrot species?

[caprifolia]

A pet store employee told me I should get some millet spray for my pionus and that it's good for birds' digestion. I hadn't heard about medium-sized parrots eating from millet sprays before, but I decided to give it a try. I bought some, but so far he takes no interest when I offer them to him.

So, this may be a dumb question, but is millet spray appropriate for any/all bird species? I've only ever seen the smallest parrots, like budgies and cockatiels, eating it. Is it something I should be encouraging him to eat, or something to take out of the picture?

[Eric&Rebecca]

Millet is fine for an occassional treat and good for breeding, sick, young and new birds. Its lower fat than the averageeeds but nevertheless still a seed. I feed it as a treat to mjy cockatiels, my new parrotlet has more but that's because she's still settling in and she's very young so I don't mind her having some more of that.

I'm not sure about the digestion element but there's no reason why you can't feed it to larger birds. If anything it will be a foraging or playful treat for them.

[Pajarita]

LOL - No, it doesn't 'help' digestion but it's good as an occasional treat or for birds that are sick, too skinny, etc because it is lower in fat and higher in carbs as well as been very attractive to them so even when they are not very hungry because they are not feeling well, they would eat millet but it's not good for birds that are overweight.

And yes, all species like millet sprays. I get different sizes at my supplier (they sell them by the pound), small for the tiny finches and canaries, medium for almost everybody else and mega-millet (which is not millet at all but sorghum) for the cockatoos. What size did you get? For a pionus, I would get a medium size.

[caprifolia]

Thanks to you both for your replies. I got the small-sized millet -- the only option at Petsmart. Next time I'm at the bird store, I'll peek at the next size up. Meanwhile, I'll try tying a spray into his cage to see if he begins to realize that it is food. I would like to expand his repertoire of treats to beyond just nuts (worried I may be feeding him too many of these), banana chips, and avi-cakes.

[Pajarita]

Unless the banana chips are sugar-free (and these are not easy to find), you can't feed them to a parrot. Nutriberries are not really good for them because they are made of oil seeds, sugar and other stuff they should not eat at all or just the tiniest bit of. You need to find healthy treats for them - things like 'French fries' but made in the over with a light spraying of olive oil, same thing for sweet potatoes (and they LOVE these!) which are so very healthy for them; bird cookies made with whole grain flours, oat groats and pumpkin or sweet potato puree, birdy bread (where you can 'hide' all kinds of veggies), etc.

[caprifolia]

These banana chips are sugar-free and oil-free; I made sure of it. I found them at Whole Foods. They had a few other dried fruits that also had no additives. He really likes these banana chips.
The ladies at the bird shop said likewise about nutriberries and also mentioned that they are very filling, so they pointed me toward Avi-cakes instead. Avi-cakes can be broken up into tiny bits, which is nice, but I don't know how much of one of those he needs to eat before it becomes unhealthy. They are made of seeds and pellets bound together by a slightly sweet adhesive, I believe made out of molasses. He is a big fan.
He definitely loves mashed sweet potato -- and making a mess out of it! I'm planning on making him some sweet potato and kale chips sometime. These would be awesome to have around as treats. I also want to try birdy bread... so far, he hasn't eaten any of the green veggies I've offered to him. Thanks for throwing these ideas out there.