Parrot Diet & Nutrition Therapy . . .

[NJBirdMan]

I am exhausted and have a Migraine just reading site after site, article after article, post after post on Parrot Nutrition. It's not only confusing, but it's exhausting. As a Nurse, I'm beginning
to think that it should not be this complicated - but we do the same thing with Nutrition for humans too. We complicate everything. There are always millions of opinions from people regarding what Birds should be eating. I have not yet jumped on the "Pellet Band Wagon" - Heck,
my own two Gouldian finches won't even touch Roudybush pellets, so how can I expect a Senegal
Parrot (which I will be getting in the Spring/2017) to eat the stuff?
The controversy is just to wide. I'm doing as much reading as I possibly can between now and Spring regarding Senegal ownership, and of course Diet and Nutrition is my utmost concern.
But for today, I just know that outside there are no 'pellets' on the ground for the birds to eat
and I really don't happen to think they are 100% complete nutrition that all the manufacturers
say they are.

[Pajarita]

You are 100% right, Patrick! It is exhausting, super complicated and difficult to figure out which answer is the right one (so many contradictory ones, right?) and, no, pellets are NOT the 'complete nutrition' the manufacturers claim them to be. I've had parrots since 1992 (I am not counting the ones I had as a child because we did not know anything about them then) and I am still doing research about it. I don't know all the answers but I try real hard to find out all there is to every question so, if you have any doubts, post them here and we will do our best to give you the pointers we use.

[Bird woman]

Honestly I think pellets were made because everyone used to think birds ate bread and sunflower seeds and that was good enough. I do have pellets in my arsonel but cook healthy foods twice a day for mine. I look at pellets like a box of cold cereal , sometimes It's just a change and lets me be lazy for a morning. Remember all cold cereal is not created equal !!!! LOL BW

[NJBirdMan]

Thank you for your reply Pajarita. I'm still tweeking the diet for my Gouldian finches. Now I am preparing to bring in a Senegal Parrot in the Spring, and I want to make sure I have what he will be eating down in my head so their is no more struggling and no more confusion. I do know Gouldian finches are seed eaters, and I buy my seeds individually and offer them on a rotation
basis, plus I had 'Hearty Bird' to their drinking water. They are doing very well indeed. I have not
been able to get them to eat 'fresh' food (fruits and veggies). They are a very stubborn species
of finch indeed.

[Navre]

You mean like "tropical oils are bad...we must invent trans-fats to replace them?" Then several years later, "trans-fats will kill you!"

When my grandfather had a heart attack in 1959, they told him to drink cream instead of milk, because he was underweight.

The point is, it's confusing, and ever changing, but it does seem to be heading in the right direction. There is also a difference between perfect and practical. A perfect diet probably wouldn't include pellets. There is no wild pellet tree growing in Brazil, from which birds feed. Pellets are too dry, and probably too nutrient packed. It's too easy to over eat. But most of us use pellets in some capacity. You can try to create a diet of fresh grains, legumes, fruits, and veggies, but you'll be missing something. Most of us try to feed a chop, or gloop of fresh and cooked stuff, and supplement with pellets to fill in what we might be missing. And we don't even really know what it is we are missing! Some birds are trickier than others. Ekkies ar tough to figure out. Amazons seem to be more sensitive to excess fats and excess proteins than Greys are. So statements about pellets being a complete diet for all birds are probably created in the marketing department, not the research department. But pellets are probably a good option for the vast majority of bird owners who will not put in the time or effort to figure out good alternatives. You've probably already done more research about your Senegal than most bird owners will do in their entire lifetimes, and you don't even have one, yet!

Things are better than than they used to be, when I got my baby grey in 1990 (I'd probably never buy a baby bird again. Another case of live and learn), they were just starting to figure out that birds needed more than just sunflower seeds. We were in the cutting edge by feeding our birds a safflower seed mix. We were also told that it was irresponsible not to clip their wings, that only a baby bird will bond with you, and you must hand feed it, or finish hand feeding it for that to happen. We know better now, and we will know better, still, 5 years from now.

[Pajarita]

Thank you for your reply Pajarita. I'm still tweeking the diet for my Gouldian finches. Now I am preparing to bring in a Senegal Parrot in the Spring, and I want to make sure I have what he will be eating down in my head so their is no more struggling and no more confusion. I do know Gouldian finches are seed eaters, and I buy my seeds individually and offer them on a rotation
basis, plus I had 'Hearty Bird' to their drinking water. They are doing very well indeed. I have not
been able to get them to eat 'fresh' food (fruits and veggies). They are a very stubborn species
of finch indeed.

Finches are not fruit or veggie eaters but they do love their greens! And you can trick them into eating stuff they would normally not eat if you chop it up real small (or grate it as in carrots, zucchini and apples, for example) and mix it with small grains (I use quinoa and/or millet that I soak for 12 hours prior serving -it activates wonderful enzymes in them!). Also, if you have trouble getting them to eat broccoli (great nutrition but mine would not touch it), try cutting off the 'little balls' at the end of the little 'hairs' that make the florettes and spreading them at the bottom of the cage - it worked like charm for me! Oh, they will also eat corn and pomegranate seeds!