GLOOP and BIRDIE BREAD / SENEGAL Diet

[Macayla]

My 3-4 month old Senegal parrot's current diet:

"Parrot cereal" twice a day - breakfast and supper (I'm not sure what it's called but we got it from the pet shop and were instructed to give it to her twice a day until she decides she doesn't want it anymore - it has all the vitamins she needs and you just mix it with water from the kettle).

She then has a bowl with pellets for the day (the pellets are specially made by one of the best avian vet's in my country / the best in my city).

I also give her veggies every day - in the morning before I leave for work I'll leave her with some fresh raw veggies for the day and a while after she's had her supper I'll give her a veggie or 2 to snack on (generally a carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, peas etc.)

Every few days I give her fruit - so far I have only given her apple as I was told that giving a bird fruit is like giving a child sweets, it's high in sugar so shouldn't be given everyday (I am unsure if this is entirely true, so please comment your thoughts on this as I'd love to try new fruits to see what she likes).

I also give her seeds every 2nd day - we first had her on a seed diet and then changed her to a pelleted diet as I was told that pellets are a lot healthier and seeds are high in oil. So I don't give her a lot of seeds (she's crazy about sunflower seeds but I assume all birds are). I do, however, give her 2 peanuts in the shell a day, she loves them and I was told not to give more than 2 a day.

My question is: what is the simplest and healthiest recipe for Gloop and Birdie Bread? (& how often do I give it to her?) I have Googled this a million times and there are so many different recipes that I don't know which one will be the best for my parrot. Also, I am not the best cook. In fact, I am quite a hazard in the kitchen so it needs to be "idiot-proof" (don't worry, I have a boyfriend who is a master in the kitchen so he will help me).

ALSO, if it's possible, could you please guide me on my parrot's basic diet that I feed her everyday and tell me what I should change/add/remove etc. THANK YOU!

[Wolf]

I am going to leave the gloop recipe and birdie bread recipe to Pajarita as she has them down pat and I am still working on mine.
I do , however have a few comments, use them or not. I don't use pellets, but I will admit that my reasons are all personal and have nothing to do with scientific fact, so I will not go into them. But the reason why pellets are claimed to be healthier than seeds is that the seeds are all ground up so that the bird has to eat all of them and can't pick and choose it's favorites to eat first. Pellets are nothing more than ground up seeds with added artificial vitamins and minerals added and some filler that is used to stick it all together like glue. It is meant to replace the seeds in a birds diet. Being that it is what it is it should be fed only in the evening for dinner and the uneaten portion removed after the bird goes to sleep.
Thoughts on fruits; I feed a variety of fruits and I give one fruit each day along with fresh veggies for all day snacking. Yes fruits are high in sugar, but these are the simple sugars that the body uses for fuel. It doesn't matter if you are a bird, an elephant, or even a human foods break down into the same things in the body. These basically are vitamins and minerals which have a vast variety of things to do in the body, sugars which the body uses for fuel, proteins which the body uses to repair or build tissues and fiber which is primarily used to clean the body of wastes. Now please understand that this is overly simplistic and not exactly accurate but it does give the very basics and you can build on it with your own research. The Sugars that the body uses are all simple sugars, it is not sugar that is the problem as much as it is the kind of sugar that creates problems the body has a difficult time with the complex sugars. While it can break down complex sugar to extract the simple ones that it needs the processes that it uses to accomplish this leave a lot of toxins in the body that must be flushed out of the system and some of these toxins are highly resistant to the flushing and just hang around building up and causing problems.
So, I feed a wide variety of fruits and only in small quantities.
Gloop is a very good food for birds but you end up tinkering with it some so as to provide a variety of tastes and textures. It can be fed every day and the bird can usually eat as much of it as it wants to eat. Also a baby bird can be weaned directly on to gloop.
I am working on my birdie bread recipe, so presently my birds diet consists of Gloop in the morning with enough to last them all day. I add to gloop at the time that I serve it fresh raw veggies and a fruit these are chopped up small and help to change both taste and texture of the gloop. They get a high quality seed mix for dinner and the nut of the day.

[Macayla]

Thank you, Wolf. I am constantly doing research to better my knowledge about the maintenance for my parrot, I guess I am just a little overwhelmed with everything that I am reading that it's making my head spin. I wish there was a bird school where we could go learn about the correct ways to take care of our parrots. I think I will book an appointment with an avian vet so I can pick his brain about everything I'd like to know.

[Wolf]

As great as that would be and even better would be a mandatory animal relations class all through school. Anyway there are no experts in this area keeping and raising birds especially parrots is still very much in its infancy and we all have a very long way to go.
I think that perhaps a better way to go is to do some reading about your species of parrot or other species, read also about nutrition or any other topic that you wish to learn about parrots and then come hear start a new thread and begin a discussion about what you learned, think you learned, or have more questions about.
Make us stretch our minds too. If we don't know some of us will go looking for answers.

[Pajarita]

Let's see... the parrot cereal must be weaning formula which is fine to give for now but I would start weaning her from it as it's very high in protein.

Peanuts: I would not give her 2 peanuts a day unless by this you mean two individual peanuts outside the shell and not two peanuts in the shell (which would be 4 or more individual peanuts). Peanuts are fine and, as a matter of fact, I read that wild senegals are eating peanuts crops but peanuts are not really nuts, they are legumes and, as such, they lack some of the good stuff that tree nuts have so I would still give her one every now and then as a special treat but I would, instead, use other nuts more often -like almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, etc (mine love Brazil nuts but the only ones that can crack the shell are the cockatoos so I buy them already shelled and roast them -to kill any aspergillus they might have),

Fruits: I've heard the 'high sugar' thing many, many times. As a matter of fact, I once had a long argument with Dr. Harrison (the one that makes the pellets) about this because I consider it bunk. If you observe parrots in the wild, you would see that they eat lots and lots of fruits if given half a chance (we literally had to fight the quakers for the figs and peaches). It's exactly as Wolf explained, there are sugars and then there are sugars. Fructose is the sugar found in fruits and vegetables, glucose is also found in them but separately from fructose and then there is sucrose which is a molecule of sucrose and a molecule of glucose joined together (table sugar is sucrose). The thing about fructose is that although it's true that it turns into fat, the amount a parrot can eat when it eats fruit is not high because fresh fruit has a HUGE amount of water in it as well as fiber and birds process it differently than humans because they have a much higher metabolism than we do. My birds get a piece of a different kind of fruit every day (apples, bananas, oranges, peaches, pears, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, mango, papaya, figs, ruby red grapefruit, pomegranate, etc) as well as a different vegetable (tomato, red/yellow/orange/green pepper, yellow/green zucchini, carrot, corn on the cob, winter/acorn/spaghetti/butternut squash, pumpkin, calabaza, yellow/orange/white sweet potato, regular potato, etc) and a leafy green or cruciform (Boston/butter/redleaf/greenleaf/romaine lettuce, chicory, escarole, bok choy, red/green Swiss chard, nappa, fennel, carrot greens, dandelion greens, regular/dinosaur/red kale, lamb's ear, celery, etc -I don't give them spinach or collard greens).

Pellets: I don't believe that pellets are the best dietary option for parrots although they are the easiest but, if you chose to feed them instead of seeds, they cannot be free-fed, they should be used for dinner only. Senegals do require a diet a bit higher in protein than other psittacine species but no parrots should be free-fed the high protein food because they are programmed by nature to gorge on it.

Gloop and birdie bread: I already replied to your pm with the gloop recipe, as to the birdie bread, I use a bread machine because I find it the easiest way of producing a bread that is actually bread and not a muffin - the difference been the bread uses yeast (which provides nutrition as well a chemical reaction for gluten) while the muffin or quick bread uses baking powder (which doesn't add anything but fluffiness to the finished product and cannot have aluminum in it so you need to buy a special one). I don't really have a recipe for the birdie bread but it's about 4 cups of flours (roughly 2 cups of whole wheat, 1 cup of coarse corn meal, 1 cup of steelcut oats -aka as Irish oatmeal- but you can use the regular oatmeal, too, as long as it's the old fashioned kind), one envelope of dry yeast, a couple of tablespoons of honey, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, warm water (or juice like orange, apple, grape, etc -I've been using pomegranate lately- or the ones they call nectar because it's like pureed fruit), grated carrots, pureed pumpkin (I buy the cans) or mashed sweet potatoes and the 'goodies' -I always add grated or flaked unsweetened coconut but, also naturally dried fruits without sulfites (raisins, figs, dates, cranberries, blueberries, cherries, apple, peaches, etc) or veggies like fresh corn, grated zucchini, sundried tomatoes, hot peppers like jalapenos, habaneros, etc. It depends on whether you are going to make it fruity or spicy (I usually make it fruity) but I always add some nuts to it (almonds, walnuts, filberts, etc) because the birds love them so.

I serve them gloop 6 times a week and, on the 7th, I give them birdie bread -more or less, sometimes I give them gloop for 10 days or so, it doesn't have to be strict, it's just to provide variety and to please them. They LOVE LOVE LOVE birdie bread! When I go into the birdroom in the morning and I tell them: "You know what I got for you today? PAN!" (my birds know this word in Spanish and not English) they all get excited and move close to the edge of the platform or branch and you can see the happy expectation in their faces... even Pedro (the nastiest bird I currently have) is a perfect little gentleman taking a piece from my hand

[Macayla]

Okay. I think I was confused and therefore didn't explain the "parrot cereal"correctly - it was hand rearing soft food:

Monati Hand-rearing and Soft Bird Food are manufactured according to strict regulations as stipulated by a leading South African veterinarian. This product contains essential growth stimulants, vitamins, minerals and therapeutic remedies to provide your birds with all the essential nutrients they require on a daily basis, particularly during their breeding season. It is recommended that no additional supplements be added to this product.

Monati Soft Bird Food contains these essential nutrients and Vitamins per Kilogram.

Protein 190g Vitamin B12 0.02mg Biotin (H) 0.25mg
Lysine 11g Pyroxidine (B6) 11mg Zinc 90mg
Fat 68g Vitamin C 200mg Folic Acid (M) 2mg
Fibre 50g Calcium 12g Cobalt 0.45mg
Moisture 110g Magnesium 0.2g Pantothenic Acid 25mg
Vitamin A 15000IU Potassium 8.5g Niacin 180mg
vitamin D 1400IU Sodium 1.5g Iodine 0.6mg
Vitamin E 200mg Chloride 2.25g Choline 1000mg
Vitamin K 3mg Iron 80mg Selenium 0.2mg
Thiamine(B1) 5mg Copper 7mg
Riboflavin(B2) 15mg Manganese 130mg


I have since, gotten her off that as I read that birds up to 6 weeks or something should only be on that, can't remember the exact age. Again, the pet shop we got her from was pathetic with their information.

I now have her eating a soft food for adult birds:

Description
A balanced diet for parrots and parakeets.
Soft Food is a balanced wet food that can be fed to all parrot species form lovebirds to macaws. A balanced ratio of roasted grains and dried vegetables are grinded and then mixed with all the essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, spirulina, anti-oxidants and probiotics. Soft Food is ideal for an aviary with a variety birds, birds with babies in the nest and birds that lack normal functionality of their beaks or feet.

Directions for use
Soft Food can be used as the only source of food and must be mixed with water to a crumbling consistency. Feed fresh mix daily. Do not leave in the cage for longer the 24 hours. Store in a cool, dry place.

Composition
Crude protein 180g/kg Crude fibre 50g/kg Crude fat 90g/kg Calcium 12g/kg Phosphorous 7.5g/kg
All necessary vitamins, amino acids, minerals.


I the also put some cereal in the cage for the day:

Description
Start your bird’s day the right way with Parrot Cereal. Parrot Cereal is a fantastic balanced diet that can be fed to all parrot species from lovebirds to macaws! Its soft texture is great for young and old birds alike and it is a fantastic food for weaning youngsters off their porridge. The Parrot Cereal consists of a balanced ratio of roasted soybeans, maize and peas. Pellets are added to provide all the essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids, spirulina and anti-oxidants.

Directions for use
Add just enough luke warm water (60°C) to cover the cereal and leave for approximately ten minutes. Fruit and vegetables as well as parrot pellets can also be added for variety and flavour. Mix fresh food daily. Do not leave in cage for longer than 24 hours. Use in combination with Parrot Food Natural, Parrot Food Plumage Enhancer or Parrot Muesli. Make sure that 60% of your bird’s total daily intake consists of a balanced diet.

Feeding guidelines
Bird Type Volume per bird per day
Cockatiel / Lovebird - 1/3 cup | Ringneck / Senegal - 1/2 cup | African Grey / Amazon - 2/3 cup | Macaw / Large Cockatoo - 1 cup

These guidelines must be adapted to the needs of individual birds.

Nutritional Composition
Crude Protein 180g/kg Crude Fibre 45g/kg Crude Fat 70g/kg Calcium 12g/kg Phosphorus 7.5g/kg
All necessary vitamins, amino acids, minerals.

Ingredients
Roasted maize, roasted soybeans, roasted green peas, roasted peanuts, vegetables, sucrose, spirulina, grape seeds, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, vitamin K3 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, calcium pantothenate, calcium carbonate, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, choline chloride, folic acid, biotin, ascorbic acid, toxfin, manganese sulphate, zinc sulphate, copper sulphate, potassium iodide, cobalt carbonate, ferrous sulphate, selenium, yeast extract, iodized salt, DL-Methionine, moldzap, mixture of tocopherols, rosemary extract, citrate, cynara extract, mono dicalcium phospate, montmorillonite clay, diatomaceous earth.


+ some pellets:

Description
Parrot Food Natural is a balanced diet for parrots. It is the most natural balanced bird food available on the market. With modern technology all grains are first roasted, thereafter milled and shaped with a cold process. All additives like vitamins, amino acids, spirulina, anti-oxidants, etc. are not exposed to high temperatures. This modern technology increases digestibility even more than with extruded products. The palatability is improved with the addition of dried vegetables and the natural nutty taste and smell of the roasted grains. The pellets are made to a size the parrots like.
Directions for use Parrot Food Natural can be used as the only source of food or in combination with Parrot Muesli and fresh fruit and vegetables. Make sure that 60% of your bird's total daily intake consists of a balanced diet.

Feeding guidelines
Bird Type Volume per bird per day
Cockatiel / Lovebird - 1/3 cup | Ringneck / Senegal - 1/2 cup | African Grey / Amazon - 2/3 cup | Macaw / Large Cockatoo - 1 cup

These guidelines must be adapted to the needs of individual birds.

Nutritional Composition
Crude Protein 200g/kg Crude Fibre 45g/kg Crude Fat 90g/kg Calcium 12g/kg Phosphorus 7.5g/kg
All necessary vitamins, amino acids, minerals.

Ingredients
Roasted maize, roasted soybeans, roasted green peas, roasted peanuts, vegetables, sucrose, spirulina, grape seeds, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, vitamin K3 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, niacin supplement, calcium pantothenate, calcium carbonate, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, choline chloride, folic acid, biotin, ascorbic acid, toxfin, manganese sulphate, zinc sulphate, copper sulphate, potassium iodide, cobalt carbonate, ferrous sulphate, selenium, yeast extract, iodized salt, DL-Methionine, moldzap, mixture of tocopherols, rosemary extract, citrate, cynara extract, mono dicalcium phospate, montmorillonite clay, diatomaceous earth.

When I get home, I usually give her some fresh veggies or fruit, as said before, I don't give her fruit too often and wasn't really sure what fruit to give her. I still need to do more research on that topic.

THEN, regarding the peanuts/nuts. I was giving her 2 shelled peanuts a day (2 nuts in each shell, sometimes single) - one in the morning and one in the evening. I have stopped though, only giving her one a day, in the mornings before I leave for work. I haven't bought more though, if I find one in her mixed seeds tub then I'll give it to her so she's not getting half as much peanuts as she was. I will try giving her other nuts such as the ones you have mentioned.

I'm not sure what to do about the pellet story, it seems there's an uncertainty of whether it is good for every day or not. I leave pellets in her cage for the day but she hasn't been eating much of it since I bought her a thing that hangs in the cage with seeds (she would live on sunflower seeds if she could). She does still eat all the fresh foods I give her though (cereal, veggies, occasional fruit). I have been debating with myself whether to take the seed thing out her cage every day for however many hours necessary, so that she can eat some pellets as well. There is also a dry fruit pellet mix which I have heard about but not yet purchased.

I'm sorry if I have missed anything or left anything out, this is a lot of information to take in so I need to read through your reply about another 10 times or so

Based on her new diet - can you please give me some pointers as to how good it is for her as well as how I can improve it?

Thank you!

I haven't made the Gloop or birdie bread yet, but I will as soon as I have saved your PM with all the ingredients and directions. Thank you very much for that.

[Macayla]

FYI - the seed thing (basically a bunch of seeds stuck together) isn't only sunflower seeds, it's a mix of different seeds. I was told that this way the seeds are more dry than the usual mix seeds I get in a tub, less oil. Is this true? Which way is healthier?

[Pajarita]

Well, for one thing, all the products you mentioned have soy and I do not feed soy to any of my animals (dogs, cats, birds). Manufacturers use it because it's, by far, the cheapest source of protein you can find but dog and cat food manufacturers have been switching to healthier (and more expensive) recipes which have no soy whatsoever. This was not done out of concern for the animals' health (I am a cynic when it comes to the pet industry) but because of the public's demand for a healthier diet for their pets. Soy is actually very controversial... it is poisonous in its natural form and, even when processed, it has an adverse effect in the reproductive system and thyroid function. They also have vit A in its final form and I also don't feed that, I feed the precursor and allow their bodies to manufacture the vit A as needed (if you feed too much of the final form of it -aka vit A- it ends up as a fatty nodule in their liver). I also don't feed vit D3 and calcium all the time, you are risking their losing the ability to move calcium in and out of their bones as well as having the vit D3 end up in their liver as a fatty nodule (both vit A and vit D3 were never meant by nature to be ingested, they are supposed to be made by the body as needed so, when you feed too much, the body stores them in the liver -they are not water soluble but fat soluble- because it has no mechanism to get rid of the excess).

The seed thing you mentioned sounds like a treat and I don't feed my birds any of them (they all have things like sugar added to them), I use millet or sorghum (mega millet) sprays as treats but I only give them enough to entertain them for a little while and as a very special treat. The only time I put enough for it to last all day long is when I have a bird that needs to be fatten up.

If you find a peanut in a seed mix, 99.99% of the time is raw and I don't feed raw peanuts (or tree nuts), I roast everything to kill whatever aspergillus might be in there.

As to fruits you can give her, I use apples, oranges, pears, peaches, nectarines, grapes, bananas, mangoes, papayas, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries (my birds don't like them), blueberries, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, golden melon (melon d'ouro), quinces, grapefruits (my birds eat only the ruby red ones), kiwis, star fruit, cherries, figs, mameys, chirimoyas and pomegranate seeds. My senegals favorites are apples, grapes and bananas.

[Wolf]

From where Pajarita left off. if you will feed gloop or chop for breakfast with enough veggies in it to last all day for nibbling and a fruit and then feed a high quality seed mix, a parakeet mix or cockatoo mix would be fine then you will not need to feed anything else as a general rule, a little change before and after breeding season.

[Macayla]

Woah, okay. I'm not going to get technical because I'll just end up making a fool out of myself. I will probably need to read that message again (or a few times) to fully understand it.

My concern is, if soy is really that bad, then how is it that EVERY single pet shop (as well as breeding farms) sell these products, and pretty much swear by it? The cereal and pellets are made by Animal Zone, the vet is Dr. de Beer and EVERYONE I know who owns a bird (+ all pet shops and breeding farms) swear by him, including my boyfriend's family who know him as they took all of their birds to him for check ups etc. as well as bought Animal Zone's food. It just puzzles me how they could sell a product for birds if it's not good or healthy for them to ingest..?

Gosh, I feel like I should move to West Africa and study Senegal's so that I can completely alter my parrot's lifestyle to fit the ones in the wild. Haha