Natural Diet for Parrots danger of cooked grains

[Wolf]

There is no doubt that there are places that do not follow the rules as set out by law, but practical or not there are places that do follow the rules

[Bird woman]

I have several real fussy eaters in my flock and have found one sure way to get them to eat raw vegies daily , and to wolf them down. I take steel cut oats a little corn meal and make a supper thick mush out of it ,then add all kinds of purred fresh organic vegies and fresh sprouted seeds ( I do myself) and a little piece of melon or apple or blueberries , small amount chia seed ,hemp seed and flax seed to cool it down and they go crazy for it. This way I know they have ingested a good amount of vegies and the greens ! So the whole greens they are given throughout the day is just a bonus if they are actually eating is or just tearing them up. You have to get pretty creative with some of these rescues because most of the time they were never fed right to begin with. I know it is very costly to have to buy fresh vegies and there is a lot of waste and I am fortunate to have a big garden for my crew. Small container gardens work well if you have limited space just make sure to always wash throughly !!!! And always be very careful when sprouting seeds , if not done properly you could make your birds sick. I make bretty big batches of this mix enough for 3 days there's a lot of birds but you can freeze this mixture in ice cube trays , store properly and thaw one out as you need it. BW

[Pajarita]

Do you cook this mush, Birdwoman?

I am lucky in that my birds eat all the veggies in the gloop -well, there are a couple that don't eat the green beans but they are not that nutritious to begin with so I don't worry about it.

[Bird woman]

I should be so lucky . the only one that absolutely loves her veggies is loomey the lessor. I make a batch of vegie chop and they will only eat it if we eat it with them. that is the best thing about the kids they make you eat healthier. My vet swears by Harrison's but I really try to make there diet fresh organic as possible. I asked him if he ever popped a chunk in his mouth ( of course not) well it taste like pure dried corn. There seems to be a lot of opinions on what to feed the birds but no mention of the leaves and branches they nibble on in the wild. What about the bug they ocassionally munch on ? I agree the fresher the better and I'm a big fan of sprouting , but you have to be very careful of bacteria. There's so many things to watch out for , protein items will grow bacteria within just a few hours , and store bought produce with listeria and e-Colin . Gotta wash throughly. I have a salad spinner works great for washing veggies . Also there seems to be a lot of talk about pluckers. After I am sure diet is corrected and no medical problems and environment is in order I will buy them an all natural feather duster and hang in cage . They will preen the heck out of it and pay less attention to there own feathers this trick has worked several times for me. B.W.

[Bird woman]

I barley cook it just till it makes a lump. BW.

[Wolf]

OK I'll bite. What are you cooking until it makes a lump... the feather duster?

[Bird woman]

Steel cut organic oats , corn meal, ground lentils or a little cream of wheat ( old fashion ) this is cooked with hemp milk or soy and fresh vegie juice. I cook it a minute or so , gotta keep stiring or it will burn ( goes off quick) them I take a ton of fresh vegies puree and mix, cool then feed. I make enough for 3 days. This mix is about 60 % fresh vegies. Most of the birds that come to me have no idea what a variety of fresh vegies are. This is one way I get them to start developing a taste for them. Also I don't have to worry when there tearing up all the vegies during the day weather there ingesting them ! ( OR NOT ). ( OR WHO ATE WHAT ) they gobble this goop up . I've had to come up with some pretty sneaky Pete ways to get the good stuff down them. They would all be carb-aholics if they had there choice. B.W.

[Bird woman]

WOLF, you go ahead and laugh about that feather duster , I got a grey that was picked to death 4 , 5 , or 6 months ago hell all my time flys fast , but the little picked grey now looks like a real bird because of the feather duster goop !!! and it didnt take no dam year either . LOL the only problem were havin with the feather duster is it keeps loosin IT'S FEATHERS !!!! Things moved along really fast with the 2 Greys when I got there nutrition straightened out , weight and calcium. BIRDWOMAN

[Wolf]

I hear that about the Greys. Kookooloo is still plucking her feathers, although not as badly as early this spring. She hates it when I have Kiki or any other bird out and on me. It is her opinion that I am hers and that I should not be wasting any time with the other birds. I have gotten her to the point that I can keep her from attacking them outright but she would happily beat their a$&%es, anytime she could get close enough to them so as to establish her rights to me in their minds. She is determined to be with me 24/7 at the very least. The only time that she plucks is while not with me and sees another bird interacting with me. She gets mad and starts pulling her feathers out. I am not really sure how I am going to get this straightened out so that she stops doing this, but I will manage to do it somehow. It will probably have to be putting up with it some, but letting her remain on me while interacting with any other bird, I just have to keep her from going after them while she and they are on me, which is no easy task.

She does have an independent streak and does like to do her own thing and I have been trying to encourage her to play independently which she is fine with until she sees me with another bird. As much as I love this bird, I would gladly give her to the first person that she liked well enough to want to be with that had the time to and means to give her all of the attention that she craves, so that she would quit the plucking. At least she doesn't do it when she is on me even with another bird on me as well, she is too interested in figuring out how to run them off.

[Pajarita]

I think that if the bird has been plucking for a long time, you can improve them with good husbandry but most of them will continue to pluck. Linus Too was a real mess when he first came in. No primaries, no secondaries, no contour feathers, no nothing but down wherever there was not exposed skin, the only thing fully feathered was his head and this only because he couldn't reach it. Of all the pluckers I've had, only the ones that had not done it for very long.