What do you feed your bird every day?

[Nevermore]

Sprouts. They're seeds that have just started to germinate. Like Broccoli sprouts, or alfalfa

My boy, I have pellets available in his cage all day, every day. But every evening I put together a small mix of fruit or veggies; depending on what is in the fridge. Since its only Jack, Its quick, painless and doesn't take up a whole lot of space.

For instance, I"ll chop up a bit of broccoli, and an almond or two then stick it in a bowl in the fridge. Another day I did broccoli, cucumber, pineapple and some sunflower seeds. Then during the morning rush to get ready for work, I just put the works into his treat bowl.

How much you give also depends on the number and size of your birds. You don't want to give so much fresh stuff that they don't eat their pellets. Their pellets are important too.

Make sure you be VERY careful about what you give your bird. There are certain fruits and veggies that are poisonous. Avacado, and rhubarb for instance. Check the internet for more that you should avoid.

Certain species have different diet requirements too. Green-cheeked Conures for instance, have a vitamin k deficiency. So I feed my boy lots of stuff high in vit-k.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Make sure you be VERY careful about what you give your bird. There are certain fruits and veggies that are poisonous. Avacado, and rhubarb for instance. Check the internet for more that you should avoid.

It is always a good idea to be careful and check things with a definitive authority. However, if you look at everything on the internet, you may come to the conclusion that hardly anything is safe, and it really isn't that bad. Actually the list of really poisonous items is fairly short and there are very few items on it that a person would eat, so with a few exceptions, in the fruit and vegetable world if you can eat it, your bird can eat it. Avocados are the big exception there. Caffiene, alcohol and chocolate are also on the major no-no list. Alliums (onion and garlic family) are also not good raw or in large quantity, but a little is probably not a big deal. Too much of any one thing can result in too much or too little of a nutrient -- spinach being one such. With rhubarb, the oxalates in raw rhubarb aren't good, but people don't eat it raw either. Cooked it is OK. The seeds and pits from apples and stone fruit aren't good. Again, that goes for people as well, but birds are sensitive to much smaller "doses". Raw potatoes are a no-no, but you wouldn't eat them raw either, likewise kidney beans and their close relatives. Well cooked they are OK. So I would encourage people to be cautious but not paranoid. I also encourage people to be at least as cautious, if not more so, when it comes to natural remedies. It amazes me when people freak out about feeding cherries (the pits in conjunction with the pulp is toxic, but the pulp itself is fine) and then turn around and list a regime of medicinal herbs they regularly feed without having investigated what the active compounds in them are or if they are safe. Garlic is one I hear being used a lot, and I'd personally be very careful with raw garlic. A little may not be a big deal, but as a daily dietary component... what little research there is suggests raw alliums can be harmful to parrots. Data on the use in therapeutic use of garlic is limited and in birds it is truly few and far between.

When in doubt, I guess I'd trust my avian vet.

YMMV.

[patdbunny]

Ya know, I always tell people don't feed avocado because it's poisonous. But I've doubted the avocado thing for many years now, but I've never gotten around to doing in dept research on the subject.

Why do I doubt avocados are poisonous? Because for years now I've seen avocado being fed to the birds in the aviaries at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park. Never remember to find a bird keeper and ask them about it.

new post on sprouting for seed junkies: http://staringatbirdsandgoats.blogspot. ... sited.html

[TheNzJessie]

Ya know, I always tell people don't feed avocado because it's poisonous. But I've doubted the avocado thing for many years now, but I've never gotten around to doing in dept research on the subject.

Why do I doubt avocados are poisonous? Because for years now I've seen avocado being fed to the birds in the aviaries at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park. Never remember to find a bird keeper and ask them about it.

new post on sprouting for seed junkies: http://staringatbirdsandgoats.blogspot. ... sited.html

when i worked at a pet store he had a guy who went on a lot of business trips but owned a cockatoo (Not very fair on the bird to be stuck 40 weeks of the year at the pet store) but the owner once told me vinnie got into an avocado once atre everything the skin the fruit and the seed in a matter of 10 minutes, he raced him to the vet and the vet was like well sorry to tell you but avocado makes there heart race and with the amount vinnie has eaten its going to race so fast that its going to stop.

vinnie was fine, nothing out of character, but i still wouldn;t give my birds avocado because of the debate

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Apparently avocado does contain potentially toxic chemicals in the leaves, skin, bark and pits. However, it does not consistently cause issues. Apparently it CAN even cause problems in humans but it is rare. This is the most definitive article I could find after a brief search:

http://kgkat.tripod.com/avocado.html

[kaylayuh]

Ya know, I always tell people don't feed avocado because it's poisonous. But I've doubted the avocado thing for many years now, but I've never gotten around to doing in dept research on the subject.

Why do I doubt avocados are poisonous? Because for years now I've seen avocado being fed to the birds in the aviaries at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park. Never remember to find a bird keeper and ask them about it.

new post on sprouting for seed junkies: http://staringatbirdsandgoats.blogspot. ... sited.html

According to Dr. Donna Muscarella, professor of Exotic Avian Husbandry at Cornell University's Veterinary College, avocado is poisonous due to the persin in them. Persin is a cardiac glycoside that causes rapid cardiac arrest and death. She quotes studies that show that some species of birds, especially African Grey and cockatiels, are particularly susceptible to the toxin.

Dr. Muscarella goes on to say that some species of parrots, particularly Amazons in the backyards of Florida, do eat avocado and have shown no ill effect. She recommends not feeding avocado to parrots because we can't be sure which birds will react okay and which will suffer ill effect.

To read the whole essay, it's here: http://www.plannedparrothood.com/articles/avocados.html

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Yes, that's consistent with the article I posted as well. The point is we know it can cause problems and although there may be species generalizations, you can't say with any certainty that any given individual will be OK. I'm all for not being paranoid, but this is one area where the risk exceeds the benefit IMO.

[kaylayuh]

I definitely agree. I even freaked out when Cheney Cat got a hersheys kiss, which most vets now say is okay since milk chocolate contains relatively little actual chocolate. I'm just not willing to risk my bird because some species are okay with it.

Though I would think the birds that eat the avocado in the wild have different metabolic enzymes that allow them to eat it with little to no risk. I'd be interested in seeing someone do a study of avian metabolisms, specifically Amazons compared to African Greys.

[patdbunny]

I'm with you guys. That's why I don't even tell people I've seen avocado fed at the zoo in the aviaries. It's not even worth figuring out why. I have read something about mexican avocados being lower in the toxins. I'm not a plant person. I couldn't tell the difference between a toxic avocado and one w/ less toxins.

[kaylayuh]

I love avocado. I could eat it every day of my life if the grocery store had a better selection of them. I make sure that the birds are no where near where I am when I'm eating it. Or I put them in their cage. I'm not sure if the Haas avocados have more or less toxins than the other avocados, but I'm not willing to find out. I would be interested in knowing why the zoo feeds them to their birds, and I'm still upset I didn't get to go when I was in San Diego in November.