Healthy Raw Diet for Parrots Sprouting

[seagoatdeb]

SPROUTS are simply the freshest most alive food that you can eat.
They are rich in antioxidants, minerals, proteins, enzymes ... all in a
form easily assimilated by bodies ... both human and bird.
Dry seeds, by their nature, contain factors that make then difficult to digest. After
all, a seed doesn't want to be eaten before it can grow! Soaking and sprouting
transforms the seed into the beginnings of a tiny plant and proteins, fats, and
carbohydrates begin to break down into a food that is easier for us and our birds to
digest and absorb. In the process of soaking and rinsing, the factors that make the
seed less digestible are washed away. Each little sprout really is a very fragile life
force uninhibited in its compulsion to grow.
Just a word of caution ... large beans including kidney, white, lima, black, fava,
pinto and anasazi beans are not suitable for sprouting to eat raw. The only legumes
I sprout for my birds are LENTILS of all kinds, MUNG beans, whole DRY PEAS,
FENUGREEK, and CHICK PEAS (sometimes). I combine these legumes with
other seeds to make a complete 'living' protein. Any other bean that you want to
feed your Eclectus/parrot should be first soaked for 12 hours approximately, well
rinsed and cooked thoroughly.
Eclectus in the wild forage for food that is living and fresher than the normal foods
that we keep in our fridges. This food has a life force. My interest in feeding my
Eclectus sprouts as a considerable part of their diet is to 'imitate' some of the
qualities of this foraged food in the wild. The rest of their diet is primarily 'raw'
fruit and veggies. I only supplement the way I do because my Eclectus have to put
up with a northern climate indoors which denies them exposure to natural light,
twelve hours a day, all year round and some of the foods I feed (that are limited by
availability and bear little resemblance to foods they would eat in their native land)
mean that their diets are most likely lacking in essential fatty acids especially
omega 3.
The following seeds are excellent sources of omega 3 and I give them (dry) every
day: CHIA SEED, HEMP HEARTS (these can be fed together or combined or
alternated). FLAX seeds can be fed on an occasional basis, not every day as I have
read that it has estrogenic properties. In other words I don’t want to give my
eclectus any more excuses for hormonal behaviours! By the way, don’t attempt to
sprout chia or flax as you will end up with something resembling ‘snot’!
RECIPE FOR OUT OF THE BLUE SPROUT MIX (no gluten)
Here is the recipe that I base my sprout mix on. What you don't have, leave out. I
have also included alternatives for some items that may be a little more difficult to
find. Ingredients that cannot be found in your local health food store, consider
ordering from Mumm's in Canada or Sprout People in the US. The ingredients are
organic and listed in alphabetical order and are each of equal measure except
where noted:
* BUCKWHEAT (RAW, not toasted)
* BROWN RICE ((short grain, long grain, brown basmati or mixtures … not
white or instant rice)
* FENNEL SEED
* FENUGREEK (a legume - if you can’t get this one substitute lentils)
* GREEN LENTILS
* MUNG BEANS
* GREEN PEAS
* QUINOA (I most often double the amount of quinoa)
* RADISH SEEDS
* RED CLOVER
* BROWN SESAME SEEDS
* SUNFLOWER SEEDS (without shells)
* SUNFLOWER SEEDS (with shells)
Here is a list of additions you might make to the above basic ingredients:
* KAMUT (an ancient wheat and a gluten grain). I sometimes add it for variety for
healthy Eclectus
* OTHER VARIETIES OF LENTILS (additional to the green above or to
substitute)
* BROCCOLI SEEDS OR BRASSICA MIX
If you are reluctant to make your own mix, the following companies sell mixes.
http://www.chinaprairie.com/afd.html. The Micro Grain is a good one.
The Sprout People have the best information on the internet to guide you in
sprouting ... and this company http://www.sproutpeople.net/ also has some
excellent sprout mixes for humans and for birds, as well as individual ingredients
to make your own.
Here is a guide to help you decide What to Sprout - Or Not!
DON’T SPROUT: Amaranth is a very nutritious grain, however the raw hard
grain has been shown to cause liver damage in chickens. While there is no
information linking it to parrots specifically, it's wise to err on the side of caution
and not feed amaranth in its dry form (info from Gabriel Foundation). I personally
don’t sprout amaranth but like to soak it with equal parts MILLET, BUCKWHEAT
and QUINOA overnight, drain, rinse, drain, just cover with filtered water and cook
about 10 minutes until all water is absorbed.
DON'T SPROUT: There is some controversy about sprouting alfalfa. If you do
sprout this seed you want to make sure you grow it so that it looks like the sprouts
you see in stores. The un sprouted seed contains the toxin canavanine (info from
Gabriel Foundation). The organic green powder form of Alfalfa ,dehydrated from
the green of the plant grown in the earth, may be superior to alfalfa sprouts in
nutrition. Alfalfa plants have extremely deep roots so they mine the earth for
nutrients which are then expressed in their foliage. That nutrient density would not
occur in the sprouts grown in containers. I often use alfalfa powder as an excellent
mineral supplement especially in the presence of calcium/magnesium/vita D3
supplementation.
DON'T SPROUT: Large beans: Anasazi, Black, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto and
Soy are not suggested for sprouting for parrots. These legumes may cause toxicity
and are difficult to digest. If you choose to serve these to your bird they MUST be
soaked for a minimum of 8 hours, well drained and beans rinsed very well, then
cooked by bringing them to a full boil, boiling uncovered for 10 minutes, covered
and simmered for another 20 minutes at least (info from Gabriel Foundation).
Beyond what I sprout, I personally do not feed any cooked beans to my parrots, no
matter how they are prepared and cooked.
‘SPROUTS’ GENERAL:
The sprout mix (seeds should be organic and raw - avoid anything that is GMO,
roasted, processed, or separated from its whole form if you are making your own
mixes) should contain proportionally 1 part legumes in the form of lentils, mung
beans and/or whole (dried) peas to 3 or 4 parts other seeds and pseudo grains like
quinoa. Generally, I do not use any seed in the sprout mix that contains gluten.
With a complement of legumes and seeds the sprout mix provides a complete
vegetable protein. Other than breeding and weaning babies, the fat content is also
at a minimum as I generally feed oil seeds and other healthy fats separately to
control amounts in individual diets here at Out of the Blue Eclectus.
* For those of you starting out with sprouting for your flock, you may want to
sprout individual seeds. With my eclectus parents and their babies I use the
Out of the Blue Sprout Mix, as well as a simple one made of :
* equal parts MUNG BEANS or LENTILS, and SUNFLOWER SEEDS
(without hulls). This one is soaked and sprouted the same way as described.
I also soak for 24 hours, and then drain, rinse and drain, raw, organic ALMONDS.
Treated this way, the almond becomes a nice crunchy treat. For my eclectus,
almonds are limited to one per day each and are a treasured treat.
GROWING SPROUTS:
A measure of dry sprout mix is placed into a bowl and washed thoroughly until the
water is clear. If you like you can spray drained mix with 3.5% Hydrogen
Peroxide, let sit a few minutes and rinse one final time before soaking.
Drained seeds are placed into an EZ Sprouter, or a wide mouth sealer jar with mesh
top (depending on what you are using), and the container is nearly filled with room
temperature reverse osmosis water (or filtered water). Keep in mind that it is
during soaking that the seeds absorb the water which should be as pure as possible
with no additives. Soaking is a minimum of 8 hours, most usually 12. At end of
soaking, seeds are well rinsed and drained and sprouting started. My containers
are in the kitchen on the counter out of direct sunlight. The seeds are rinsed and
drained usually twice per day after this. The directions for sprouting are followed
until the legumes have a rootlet poking out. This usually takes 24 to 36 hours of
sprouting. At the end of that time I place the sprouted seeds into a bowl, and rinse
again very well. The well drained sprouts are then placed in the fridge and I
usually have enough for 3 to 4 days. Just prior to using the last serving of the
batch, I start a fresh batch.
I have never had any mould or souring of sprouts when following these directions
and even the ones kept in the fridge do not again need to be rinsed before serving.
However, always look at, smell and taste your sprouts before giving to your
Eclectus/parrots. Any doubts ... compost and start again.
- Stefanja Dumanowski

[Leanna]

Thanks once again this sprouting post is exactly what I was looking for.

[Pajarita]

I use a soaking/sprouting mix for passerines I get directly from the manufacturer to mix with the gloop (I've never been successful in getting the larger parrots to eat larger sprouts) but I only do it during breeding season as canope feeders never eat them and, while the partial ground foragers do, they are only available during breeding season. When it comes to my birds diets, I try my best to always follow nature and, in nature, no species of bird eats a nutritionally rich diet all year round so that's what I do, too.

[seagoatdeb]

I use a soaking/sprout
ing mix for passerines I get directly from the manufacturer to mix with the gloop (I've never been successful in getting the larger parrots to eat larger sprouts) but I only do it during breeding season as canope feeders never eat them and, while the partial ground foragers do, they are only available during breeding season. When it comes to my birds diets, I try my best to always follow nature and, in nature, no species of bird eats a nutritionally rich diet all year round so that's what I do, too.

I dont see it the same way you do even though I believe in following nature. in the wild the birds have access to fresh food and fresh air. We cant provide that even if we feed as natural as possible. I do cook some foods occasionally,because they have to be cooked, but I would never feed cooked food everyday. I also do not use the gluten family of wheat, rye and barley for my birds. So many humans have a gluten problem and they arent natural to the Parrots so I wont chance it. I also wont feed potato, I have a horrrible allergy to potatoes, and so I have researched them extensively for my own health. I had health affects all my life untill, I finally found out it was potatoes. They contain many allergens, I will use sweet potatoes, they have a very low allergy profile.

[liz]

Mine love boiled potatoes and baked sweet potato. Well they like all the other starches too but I have to rinse them very well.

I call my grain mix hot soaked not cooked. 20 minutes in a thermal cup with boiling water makes them aldenta (or how ever you spell it). I stir it and rinse it in cold water. They like it so well that Phoenix comes running if not already on the food tray.

[seagoatdeb]

Mine love boiled potatoes and baked sweet potato. Well they like all the other starches too but I have to rinse them very well.

I call my grain mix hot soaked not cooked. 20 minutes in a thermal cup with boiling water makes them aldenta (or how ever you spell it). I stir it and rinse it in cold water. They like it so well that Phoenix comes running if not already on the food tray.

I miss boiled potatoes, and french fries, and hashrowns, but I had an anaphlactic reaction and thats how I found out about my allergy, so i cant ever have any again, and I cant even be around potaotes boiling. So my parrots are SOL when it comes to potatoes...lol..But we do so enjoy our sweet potatoes together.

[Wolf]

I really have no idea as to potato history, or why regular potatoes have been pushed and not so much sweet potatoes when as far as I know sweet potatoes are better for us.

[seagoatdeb]

The Spaniards brought potato back to the East and it spread from there. Sweet potatoes on the other hand are from South America as well, but were overlooked until much later. They spread from South America into the Southern States and some African slaves thought they looked similar to their plant in Africa and that started the fallacy of calling orange sweet potatoes yams even though they are not related in any way to real yams. They are very healthy and their greens are edible too. They are good raw and cooked and I love them, but I have never been able to locate the nutritional profile on the leaves in relation to parrots and if it is safe for them to eat sweet potato greens so I have never given them to my birds. I grow them and they have very few natural enemies in Canada, but the wild marmots here do chew on the leaves sometimes, but they grow fast enough it doesnt matter. If you have never had sweet potato greens they taste most like baby spinach raw and have a very mild taste when cooked.

[Pajarita]

The potatoes are from South America (the Incas cultivated them) but the sweet potatoes are actually from Central America. My birds eat both but cooked, never raw. They get sweet potatoes (either yellow or orange - the yellow is lower in sugar but the orange is higher in betacarotene, I don't use the white because it's lower in betacarotene and higher in sugar) in their gloop daily and they get regular potatoes (usually the colored fingerlings) baked, sliced and with a drizzle of olive oil on them while they are still hot so it's absorbed into the flesh (I don't peel them). Everybirdy eats them (even the canaries) but the larger parrots LOVE them! They don't get them very often because they eat only the flesh (it's the peel that has most of the nutrition) so, it's more of a special thing that a diet staple.

As to the gluten non-celiac sensitivity, there are studies that seem to prove that, in reality, it might not even exist and, personally, I doubt parrots would have it because the wild ones certainly eat wheat crops like there is no tomorrow! It is true that it's not part of any tropical parrot natural diet but then, so it's most of the food we give them... I don't use rye at all and more kamut than wheat kernels and, next time, I am going to be using farro and freekeh instead. I prefer using ancient grains but you can't find farro or freekeh whole, it's always cracked so you can't really cook it without it becoming too creamy for the gloop, a fact that had been stopping me but, experimenting with the Shoprite gloop, I found out that I can add cracked grain to the cooked one when it's still hot and it works well so I will be trying these two next (I am always and forever tweaking the gloop recipe ). I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Leanna]

Sweet potaotes are most likely from South America, slthough some argue Central America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato