DIET

[liz]

I keep messing up other peoples threads with my questions. I thought if we started one just on DIET we could just refer new members here and old members still trying to find their way.

I was cleaning the pantry and found a big stash of my daughter's expensive pine nuts. They are about to expire. Can my babies eat pine nuts?

I buy Arnold Whole Grain Health Nut bread. Ingredient: whole wheat flour, unbleached enriched wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, thiamin, vitamin B1, riboflavin (vitamin B2 & folic acid, water, sugar, rye, wheat gluten, yeast, sunflower seeds, ground corn, almonds, walnuts, molasses,
soy bean oil, whole white wheat, brown rice, oats, barley, flaxseed, millet, calcium sulfate, dates, grain vinegar, citric acid, soy lecithin, hazelnuts, whey, soy flour and nonfat milk.
No artificial colors or flavors, 0 trans fat and no high fructose corn syrup. When I eat it about every third day, Rambo and Myrtle get a forth of a slice each and the cockatiels share the other half (but they don't eat it all). Is this okay?

This morning they got rice, carrots, celery, broccoli, grapes and white beans (for the first time).
I will wait about an hour and add whole grains, cereal, almonds and walnuts. It is so funny to watch Rambo hold a cereal flake while he eats it.

[Wolf]

Yes your birds can eat pine nuts as long as they are unsalted and not covered with preservatives. I do not give myself, my dogs, cats or my birds anything containing soy in any form as it is not good for them in anyway. Please read the article in this link, you will be amazed.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/he ... -pets.aspx

[liz]

SH.T

Thank you so much for adding the link. I had to stop feeding Waggin Train chicken jerky as treats when one of my little dogs came down with liver damage. It is made in China. The Vet told me that no food from China should be fed to anything. It is irradiated. Now I have to get my glasses on and start ready my pet food labels. I only use the best available without color or flavors added but if it has soy I won't use it anymore. I really hope it doesn't. I have been paying more for made in USA treats. The only thing left would be to grind up raw chicken and mix it with vegetable and grain then bake it. I don't spend that much time making my food. Of course I am the last one in the house that I take care of. Sometimes it is 2 pm before I get breakfast.

[Pajarita]

Don't feed birds ANY human cereal! As far as I know, they are all fortified with iron which damages birds livers. As to the soy lecithin and oil, yes, I don't normally feed any of my animals anything made with soy but a small piece of bread that has a small amount of oil or lecithin in it every now and then is not going to hurt them. It's when you feed them stuff made with soybean meal all the time that it's real bad.

[DanaandPod]

I have a Jardine's parrot. He was rehomed several times prior to me...(his last and forever home) From trial and error...this is what he now eats. He is very very picky... but, I welcome comments about his diet:
For trick training, I give him half of one sun flower seed (without shell and salt). For going into his cage and me leaving, I give him peanuts from a jar unsalted or a pasta noodle . He also gets almonds in a shell. He likes to chew them apart and get the nut. His favorite fruit treat hands down is Mango. He will also eat grapes, apple and bananas. For veggies...the absolute only thing he likes are peas! He will occasionally eat beans too.
For his food, I order Dr. D's pellets. they are natural without preservatives and fortified for a parrot. Also, he gets fruit flavored Zupreem pellet that I put in a foraging toy...which he loves! And, literally...this is all that goes in him... besides water of course....

[Wolf]

This is not a very good diet in my opinion. I am not a fan of pellets at all and the Zupreem fruit blend is probably the all time worst pellet that you could give to a bird as in addition to the dyes it is loaded with sugars and other artificial substances. I know that you want to do the best that you can for this bird, especially after replying to your other post. You have apparently done some of your homework concerning parrots as you already know that they need to eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and that being alone is hard on them.
I have four birds ranging from a little parrotlet who weighs about 1 ounce and a Senegal. a CAG and my largest is an Amazon. They all eat the same foods for breakfast and for all day picking and then they each get their own seed mix for dinner.
for breakfast I feed them a mixture of cooked white beans, lentils and cooked whole grains to which I add mixed vegetables from the frozen foods section of my grocery store( thawed ) and then I also provide some fresh veggies and a little fruit for all day. In fact all of this remains in their cages until dinner time. The seed mix I remove sometime after they go to sleep.
You could use pellets in place of a seed mix, but free feeding pellets or even seeds is not good for them and will eventually lead to fatty liver disease and possible kidney failure. Pellets are not much more than a very dry ground up seed mix with a bunch of artificial ingredients added to them. The fact that they are so dry means that they must draw moisture from the birds surrounding tissues in order to be digested.
Also from your other post, I forgot to address it there, training session are fine but should not last for more than 15 minutes each.

[Pajarita]

Dr. D's pellets are made with soy so you might want to reconsider feeding the bird this brand. I don't like any pellets for parrots (or any other bird, for that matter). I feed fresh food (gloop and raw produce for breakfast and a measured portion of a low protein seed mix for dinner). My gloop is different than Wolf's, it has a larger variety of veggies and has more grains that pulses.

[liz]

In the 80s I had two budgies and thought I was doing good giving them the best seen and handouts during the day. It is a miracle that they even lived.

For the last 14 years I have been surrounded by my feathered babies. I thought I had learned it all. Surprise...I really don't know anything. I thought soybean was really healthy. No. Then I was giving them whole grain cereal. No...it is iron fortified.

I have always served fruit and vegetables but now I have to modify the rest of their diet.

Pushing 65 and still learning.

[Pajarita]

And it's a great thing and a testament to your higher intellect that you are not so set in your ways that you are no longer willing to learn, Liz - Kudos to you!!!

[liz]

Breakfast today was served in three plates. The same food for amazons and cockatiels just different cut size.

Warm plate: mixed veggies, pasta and cauliflower,

Cold plate: apple, pear, banana and faro left over from yesterdays warm plate.

Dry plate: oatmeal, almonds, walnuts and pine nuts whole for amazons and all crushed for cockatiels.

No peanuts or people cereal and no seeds.