Tea for Parrots

[KimberlyAnn]

I've read about this so much lately, and have seen bird tea for sale. But does anyone give their bird tea? No caffeine of course! For anyone who might be wanting to try this, that's important! Look for "Naturally decaffeinated and organic too...also, NOT ALL TEA IS BIRD SAFE AND I DON'T HAVE A LIST so make sure it's bird safe before you give to your bird!

Why do you give your bird tea?

Emmi gets tea by default because she eats flowers that I rehydrate and drinks up some of the juice that's left over, but I wonder about giving her some actual tea leaves in this mix and wanted some honest opinions and not advertising hype. Has anyone done any research on this?

[Michael]

Honestly I have no idea if a specific no-caffeine bird-safe tea could be ok. But why??? Why screw around with weird stuff like that when there is a good chance it could be bad for the bird and almost no chance it will be good (or necessary when they can get nutrition from other sources). Birds get sick or die from some things they are fed. I tend to stick to known foods and play it safe. Just not worth the risk to me.

[KimberlyAnn]

It's not screwing around with weird stuff, it's asking a question. I've seen it in the stores and someone must have used it or know what it's about. I'd like to do some research on it. If we don't look into these things and show interest in the research that's been done (Prompting more research if interest is visibly shown), we might as well stay in the dark ages when it comes to feeding our parrots, right?

[Dbeguy]

But why??? Why screw around with weird stuff like that when there is a good chance it could be bad for the bird and almost no chance it will be good (or necessary when they can get nutrition from other sources).

I think there is a deeper topic here. I came to realize that pet owners sometimes feed thing for their own happiness rather than their pets. Beggin strips for dogs and a specialty icecream for cats are just two examples. I remember being weirded out by a cooking show about how to cook especially for your dogs.

On the other hand even Pajarita has noted that she's found that eating with your "flock" helps with behavior even if it is raw green beans for breakfast!
So this isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as the tea is safe

[Pajarita]

Correct. It's a bonding behavior. I have a cup of Earl Grey every afternoon at around 2:00 pm when I sit at the computer and this is also part of Zoey's (9 year old female Senegal) one-on-one time and she always wants to drink from my cup (which, of course, I would not allow) so I make her a small cup of tea especially for her (I also have three sugar cookies and she gets a piece of multi-grain toast). It's either linden or chamomile and, sometimes, I would flavor it with a star anise. She loves it when I tip the cup over and she can drink from it while I drink from mine and it's perfectly safe for her to drink as both these herbs (as well as the star anise) are very mild nervines and excellent for digestion. Besides, for some particular reason (most likely because it reminds them of been hand-fed when babies), all parrots adore warm drinks so where's the harm in indulging them?

[cml]

Doing the same as the parrots is great for bonding in my opinion as well, but I wouldnt do it with eating as I do not want them to think that eating from my plate, or drinking from my glass/cup is okay. I do pretend to eat (or eat) new stuff I am feeding them though, as a means of showing that it's something good.

[Michael]

It's not screwing around with weird stuff, it's asking a question.

I didn't say there's anything wrong with asking questions, I just said feeding non-bird food has more likelihood of doing harm than good. Someone a while back was commenting on feeding fish to the bird and everyone was trying to explain how fish concentrate heavy metals and put the bird at risk for mercury poisoning. Yet the parrot isn't an eagle, it has no need for fish in its diet. That is an example of screwing around with the bird's food for giggles and not for the bird's benefit.

Parrots don't drink tea in the wild. They may consume some kinds of herbs/leaves but little is known about it and most likely you couldn't get those kinds anyway.

I agree with CML. Rather than letting them eat stuff that's bad/unnecessary for them from our plates, we should eat more of their stuff to encourage them to eat what they're supposed to be getting! They look to us for guidance and model our diet/behavior. At least in their presence we gotta teach them how to live a healthy lifestyle as a bird.

http://trainedparrot.com/new_foods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgD_TF51uEE

And yes, I have eaten bird pellets. An audience member at one of my talks challenged the notion that eating foods we want to introduce our parrots to because she wouldn't eat pellets. So I ate a Roudybush pellet in front of everyone to show how it's not that big of a deal. Although I manage to convert the birds without having to resort to that.

[Graeme]

I have to agree with Michael, why do we need to be feeding our pets, foods that are not naturally part of their diet?

[KimberlyAnn]

It's perfectly safe for her to drink as both these herbs (as well as the star anise) are very mild nervines and excellent for digestion.

Could you go into this more Pajarita? I would love to know the health benefits. If you have any links I would love to see them.

Michael, eating leaves and flowers are a part of a conure's diet in the wild. If a tea plant is bird safe, full of nutrients, and is made of a fiber that my bird can digest...I'm going to look into it and not lightly.

Emmi has been pellet free for months now and my vet thinks it's great. In fact I use the ingredients from a few different pellets and they do use herbs and flowers. I also feed her lots of fresh berries and other tropical fruits, some seeds, and clean meal worms under the direction of my vet. With the help of my vet and her contacts with avian nutritionists, it's been a great experience. No, we don't know exactly what they eat in the wild, but we do have a general idea...for now.

I think it's important to search these things out and show we are interested so there will be more studies done. If we don't keep an open mind to the possibility of creating a better diet for our birds, we will be stuck with pellets and I think we can do better then that.

That being said, I don't think I'm open to ever feeding Emmi fish as I know she would not eat that in the wild. There are possibilities and just plain stupidity. But tea leaves are a possibility because they are vegetation...something she would eat in the wild. Maybe not in her part of the world, but most of the stuff in pellets would not be her normal diet either. If it has the right nutrients, it's worth an investigation. There are a lot of better ingredients to put in pellets that they won't use because of cost. Since I make my own food for her, I'm not worried about cost.

I'm just going to put this out there too...

I've noticed something my vet actually talked to me about. Birds naturally know what they need. Emmi has her favorite foods in her mix that she goes for first, but that's constantly changing. Sometimes she goes for the fruit or greens first, then she will have times where she goes for her bit of seeds (not much, she only has a select few) then other days she goes for her herbs or flowers first. This is so different then when she was on pellets and would go for anything first except the pellets. Like my vet said, she will know naturally what she needs, just like any animal or even human (if we truly listened to our bodies like animals do)

[Michael]

I have to agree with Michael, why do we need to be feeding our pets, foods that are not naturally part of their diet?

Eh, can't go quite that far cause nothing we feed them is naturally part of their diet. Corn, soy, heck sun flower seeds or almonds aren't natural for them. It's just that many of the things deemed parrot-food are at least known to be reasonable substitutes. Every species and even every flock within a species will have extensive variations in diet. Since there is no way we can provide their natural diet, we need to look for the closest possible substitute. But also bear in mind that our birds don't live the natural lifestyle... so that plays a big role as well. Wild birds may need more energy and fat while captive perch potato birds can often do with less.

It's basically so complicated that nobody really knows. At least the pellets are well researched and scientifically proven to yield good health results. Can a fresh diet potentially be healthier? Undeniably. But it is only anyone's guess what that diet is and how to get the parrot to consume it in the right proportion!