Raw meat

[Mr.Darcy]

Has your parrot eaten raw meat? My Hahns just ate some raw chicken......and seemed to like it. I figure that they may scavenge in the wild off the occasional carcass which I am sure would not pass an FDA inspection....Thoughts??

Mr Darcy

[Michael]

2 things that come to mind.

1) Better safe than sorry. The value of giving them raw meat or meat at all is probably not much if any at all but the risk of it being harmful exists. They have no dietary need for meat.

2) About the FDA approval comment, the thing is that if they were to scavenge raw meat in the wild, it would probably be much cleaner. With all the antibiotics, hormones, and who knows what goes into the meat in this day and age, it's probably not a great idea to risk feeding it to a parrot.

I prefer better safe than sorry when the value is somewhere between dubious to non existent. Is there a reason you are compelled to feed them meat or some information about parrots eating meat in the wild?

[Lokums]

Would you eat raw chicken? The risk of getting bacterial infections from raw meat are too high, IMO. Plus as Michael said, they have no dietary requirement for meat in particular. Although recent studies show that parrots benefit from very small amounts of protein, along the lines of 5% or less of their total diet.

I give my parrots cooked meat on occasion, but they get most of their protein from nuts, beans, and eggs. In the wild parrots will eat a bug if the opportunity presents itself, but I don't think I am going to go the store to buy some crickets.

Mike

[zazanomore]

Better safe than sorry. There are too many other options for your parrot to obtain nutrients, that feeding raw meat doesn't need to be done.

[AmazonServant]

I'd rather eat the meat of a rotting carcass in the jungle than raw meat from the supermarket. But I don't see why either is necessary, especially for parrots.

[HungryBird]

I've never even heard of this. Is this commonly done? I would be afraid to give my birds raw meat. My dog gets it all the time but he is a carnivore. I have heard of people offering cooked meat to birds for protein but I prefer to offer beans instead. I use a product called Soak And Simmer. It's made by a company called Volkman. I highly recommend it. It has a huge variety of beans and grains and is inexpensive.