"Whole Grains"

[MOWMAI]

I've seen around the forum a few times that owners include "whole grains" in their parrots' diets. My parrots have been fed pellets and a "large parrot" seed mix for years with fresh fruits when they were around. Some people are against pellets altogether so in an attempt to be more conscious of my parrots' diets I wanted to know if there's more specificity with the term "whole grains." I hear oats are good, but is that all I could give them if I wanted to branch away from pellet use? I've also been told to limit nut intake as nuts are high in fats. Opinions and advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

[Harpmaker]

Whole grains include oats, brown rice, popcorn (no additives, especially not oil or salt), flax seeds, chia seeds, quinoa, whole wheat, millet and other things that I can't remember. They can be soaked, baked into "birdy bread", boiled, etc. All are good in moderation. Millet and corn in particular have a reputation for making birds fat-probably because most birds LOVE them. As with people, too much of anything can be bad.

Nuts have "healthy" fats, so are fine in moderation. Peanuts are prone to containing a nasty fungus, so other nuts are better. American peanut growers are working to eliminate the fungus.

I personally use fruits and veggies for the morning meal, nuts and fruits for treats, and pellets for the evening meal.

Anyone want to add the stuff I forgot?

[Pajarita]

I use whole grains for my gloop (what I feed instead of pellets) and it includes some but not all of the following (I sometimes use one of the 'rare' rices -red and black- and take turns or not add the small grains -quinoa and millet):

- Wheat kernels (hard red winter for the spring and summer and soft white spring for the winter)
- Hulled barley (not pearled or dehulled)
- Basmati Brown rice (because it's lower in arsenic)
- Wild rice (which is not rice at all)
- Himalayan Red rice and/or Black Japonica rice
- Oat groats
- Kamut
- Spelt
- Quinoa and/or Millet

I also add flax, sesame and chia seeds to it as well as pulses and veggies. I don't use dry corn at all.