cabbage type veggies

[sherillynn]

I read on one of the posts that you shouldn't give the birds cabbage. I hadn't heard of that before but thankfully I hadn't. I was wondering if this applies to cabbage type foods also such as broccoli. My birds love broccoli- both raw and par boiled. I don't give it to them a lot as I like to keep the variety up but should I avoid all cabbage family foods for them?

Sherill

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I've never heard that one, and I guess I missed that post. I have read too MUCH spinach can create a nutritional imbalance but that's the closest assertion. Having a diet that's heavily biased to one food is likely to create imbalances (except pellets) but for what reason would cabbage present a problem as part of a varied diet? I feed all kinds of leafy greens and cruciferous veggies when I have them on hand.

[captwest]

Most of what i've heard is to watch dark greens (spinach) too much is not good.Cabbage is not a big hit around my house but acouple of birds do eat things like Bok Choy (especially if sauteed in butter, not good),try some okra.

[kaylayuh]

Besides the fact that I hate cabbage and won't eat it (Eastern European grandparents with an affinity for halupki and halushki), I don't feed it to my birds. But this is more because I have a personal grudge against it and not because it's bad for them. In fact, a seed mix I buy for them has dried cabbage in it.

I think the issue with dark greens -- e.g., spinach -- is the high iron content. Given to birds in such high amounts would essentially overdose them on iron, which is good for no one.