Homemade Parrot food

[KimberlyAnn]

Artichoke hearts? Ohno! I eat artichokes for dinner all summer as they are my absolute favorite! I'm not sure I want to share the heart! Haha! Currants are also a new one to me, I bet she would like that. I feed Spirulina because my vet had told me about how tropical birds had been seen eating the algae around the waterfalls they bathe in around Mexico and further down into South America. My aunt buys the freshwater Spirulina that I think is grown in Oregon, but there can be a lot of sodium in it still. I use a teaspoon in my batch. It's enough to turn everything green, but it's spread out over two months and packed with vitamins in very small amounts. It is the only sea/water weed I use for Emmi, but I do eat seaweed myself. And wow is it ever amazingly alarming when you drop a small bag of Spirulina powder on the kitchen floor. A little truly goes a long way!

We just had brunch and so Emmi got a special dish too so she will let us eat. Mango, left over rice from last night, soaked coconut, and cinnamon. Her tail was constantly in the air for ten minutes and she keeps going back to lick the dish. What a happy bird!

[Iggy's here]

So much awesome advice here!! I have just been contemplating how amazing the internet is. I live in a small Australian town. Twenty years ago if I had a parrot I would basically be on my own, I doubt the local bookshops would even have a book on parrots (and there was no Amazon then).

I might have made a nice honey, seaweed, corn mash and managed to slowly kill my parrot!

Today I can put up a question and in 24 hours have advice and suggestions from all over the globe. Experience, wisdom and expertise can be accessed, shared, explored, and expanded upon like never before.

Very cool!!

I am very thankful to everyone sharing here. And to Michael for starting the forum .

[KimberlyAnn]

I know! The internet is my best friend or my worst enemy, I haven't decided yet. I get great information, but it makes me spend money. Lol

[Pajarita]

No, no, when it comes to bird husbandry, there is no down side to the internet. When we did not have it, we had a mentor who would teach us and monitor our first efforts, answer questions, etc and we used to network physically (meaning we hanged out at the birdstore, birdclub or show and asked questions and compared notes among ourselves). It wasn't easy and it took a lot of time!

[Iggy's here]

Hi KimberlyAnn, I have a quick question for you. You mentioned earlier that you freeze portions of food in ice-cube trays and give a quarter in the AM and PM. However my baby Quaker (small parrot) is eating about 1 and 1/2 - 2 whole cubes a day. Is this too much...at this stage he doesn't eat too much else other than some millet spray treats during training. What are you thoughts...or others in the know.

Thanks

[KimberlyAnn]

Hi Iggy

The frozen food is just a portion of the food she gets. She also gets fresh food and dry food. I have a small bird and I only give her what I know she will finish in less then an hour, of her frozen food. Most the time she finishes in less then 20 mins, it just depends on distractions. This is because frozen food should not be left out for long because of bacteria growth. It spoils quicker. Plus, when I fed her more she didnt seem to finish it so a quarter of an ice cube size is good for her. Nothing left to waste. If she's still hungry, she can choose to eat fresh rosemary, berries, and whatever else I've given her for fresh foods. Then there is her bit of seeds and dried herbs and flowers too. I free feed and don't limit her, but I know how much she eats and give her enough that there will be only a little left so I don't waste too much food.

So I don't know how much your bird might need. I've never had an animal (besides dogs and fish) who I could not free feed so I don't know about limiting animals. Emmi is not overweight and does not finish her food ever so I don't feel a need to limit her. I have read that you should not limit a baby bird's food though so I'm guessing you are ok.

[Iggy's here]

Thanks Kimberlyann ,

Thank you. I really appreciate your sharing. I also don't feel inclined to limit food. Iggy does not show interest in the fresh food I give her. But she is very happily eating the frozen mix, even without seeds mixed in (definitely an improvement over the seed and frozen corn diet she was weaned on). I still give her fresh food everyday, but so far other than an initial inquisitive taste she ignores them.

I'll just keep giving her small servings throughout the day when she seems hungry, and offering her a variety of fresh foods. Quakers are prone to fatty liver, but good quality food will hopefully make that less of a worry.

Thanks, c

[Jakrob4]

May I ask why you are feeding three different types of seaweed (algae)? They are, obviously, not part of any natural parrot diet and they are also quite high in sodium.

My basic recipe has oats, wheat, barley, kamut, medium brown rice, wild rice, lentils, small white beans, flax and sesame seed (there are added raw to the cooked grains) and cooked vegetables as follows: chopped broccoli, corn, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, cauliflower and beets. Sometimes I add white hominy or artichoke hearts or blue kale or palm hearts or whatever else catches my fancy. To this basic recipe (which is not put through a food processor or a blender so it's actually quite textured and stuff is in different sizes -like sweet potatoes are in big chunks, for example), I add the stuff for the flavor of the day - for example, the 'apple pie' flavor has naturally dried apple chips, raisins, currants, grated lemon peel, honey and cinnamon. Everything is organic with the possible exception (not all the time) of the broccoli, cauliflower and the white beans (none of these needs to be organic).

You could say the same thing about the ingredients that you put in your mix, don't think I've ever seen a macaw digging up sweet potato from the garden or taking on a bee hive for honey.
We use them because they contain needed nutrients in adequate amounts. They are great sources of calcium, iodine and many other nutrients.
It's a common misconception that what parrots eat in the wild is their best possible diet. Majority of the time they just eat what is available and live quite short lives in comparison to their captive counterparts. Many studies show that majority of wild parrots are extremely deficient in many nutrients, though they still live long enough to reproduce (a bit like half of the worlds human population).

[Pajarita]

Many studies show that wild birds live short lives because of malnutrition? Could you please post links to two or three of them? Because I've never seen any and I do research every single day.

And, yes, you are correct that parrots do not eat sweet potato in the wild but you can't really be serious about comparing sweet potatoes (the KING of all vegetables in terms of nutrition with absolutely zero negative points) and seaweed which is so very high in sodium and iodine (and an element which over-supplementing is now been studied for possible link to certain types of cancer as well as hyperthyroidism - see here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/49554 ... nd-iodine/). Let me explain my point. Parrots eat plant materials like fruits, buds, leaves, nuts, etc. Now, the highest iodine content in plant material occurs in strawberries which have 15 micrograms (1 gram = 1,000,000 micrograms) per cup of fruit but parrots don't eat an entire cup and they certainly don't eat strawberries everyday but they would eat the pellets every day and clorella, spirulina and any other seaweed have a lot of iodine, which doesn't seem to be a necessity for a parrot (some of them in the hundreds of thousands of micrograms - see this: http://www.naturalways.com/chlorella-nu ... alysis.htm). Plus, seaweed increases uric acid levels -another problem with parrots.

I understand that you incorporated the seaweed in order to boost nutritional values naturally but you might want to consider another natural source for those minerals.

[billy-1]

Oh FUN! This is a small list of what I give Emmi from memory as I'm so very comfortable under my blanket hehe. Some of it gets mashed together because of powders, some of it gets fed whole. I much prefer to feed it whole because she picks and chooses what she needs and is not a picky eater. Her favorites change a lot.

Wet mixed food is only left out an hour. Dry seed and herbs and fresh fruit are left out for about 6 hours a day. Gosh, this is going to get complicated, sorry. Lol

Also *DISCLAIMER* I don't know what your parrot eats :/ This is for a Conure who eats a ton of fruit. My vet has helped me make this specificly for mid canopy conures like a Green Cheek. Also some things I learned from The Best Bird Food web site and here. I would reseach where your parrot is from and call universities, zoos, anyone who would know your type of parrot well. Also look at GOOD pellet ingredients for ideas with herbs and stuff.

* Means mixed in/blended wet food
+ Means fed fresh
@ Means always fed cooked
# Means fed dry

Mango*+
Papaya*+
Kiwi*+
(Any other fruit in season)*+
Blackberries*+
Blueberries*+#
Raspberries*+
Lemons (With peel, no seeds)
Yams*@+
Wheat grass*+
Broccoli heads+@
Oregano*+#
Rosemary*+#
Alfalfa powder*
Bell Peppers+
Sugar snap peas+
Cayenne Peper Powder* (NEVER COOK OR WARM! It can become irritating when cooked)
Cooked Quinoa (Red and regular)*@
Brown rice*@
Whole roses*#
Chamomile flowers*#
Hibiscus flowers*#
Spirulina*
Hemp hearts*

Small amounts of...(Like, I really mean small)
Whole Chia seed# (She hulls them herself...AMAZING! They are so small LOL)
Whole Flax seed (Mix of white and brown)#
Whole Safflower seed#
Coral calcium powder*
Meal worms*#
Sesame seeds*#
Coconut# (No sugar)

So I just can't ever make a complete list because I change things constantly and it depends on what's in season. I'm forgetting a lot. The mix/blended food is fed every day and so is the dry food. Then she gets fresh whole something.

Don't be overwhelmed. I make a big batch and freeze. I go to work with fruit that has a small chunk cut out of it. I make salads with stuff she can eat. We basically share food or I buy just one of something that's hers. If it's in the fridge cut, my huband or step son eats it quickly. Lol

It's really not expensive. A big batch costs me around $30 and lasts for two months. I use ice cube trays and cut those into 4ths when they are almost frozen. So 4 feedings in each ice cube. She gets one in the morning and one at night. The small dry food is not enough to cover the bottom of her all day food dish. The fresh food is a small amount too.

But it's much simpler to do then to explain. It's a routine now and I've had a long bad day! Lol

hi i did not no you can give fresh lemon , and spirulina i get that from the health shop like green colouring with out the stain on ur hand how do you give that just sprinkle and how oftern do you give it them i have a african grey ?