Red palm oil

[Pajarita]

Yes, all parrots will eat birdy bread but make sure you do the recipes of real bread made with yeast and not the ones that are going around in birdsites which are made with baking powder (yeast adds nutrients while the baking powder adds nothing plus the yeast gives it a completely different texture).

I am not saying that people who feed pellets are bad people or that they don't care about their birds, all I am saying is that, in my personal opinion, fresh food is a more natural, better tasting, healthier option.

I don't like Roudybush because I don't trust them to list all the ingredients on their labels. The pet food industry is not regulated like food for people is and they don't have to list ingredients they, personally, did not add to the food BUT when they buy ingredients from China, for example (and they do!), all they have to list is what the supplier in China lists and China does not require them to list much (we all know all the terrible things that have happened with animal food from China!). This was what happened with the dry fruit in their mixes. It was sulfured fruit but they did not list it as such and, when people ask them specifically about it, they denied it. And they continued to deny it until they were confronted with several reports made by independent surveyors (I think it was SGS that did them) which clearly showed that the fruit had been treated with sulfur which is BAD for birds. Now, I do give people the benefit of the doubt and allow for more than one mistake but I do NOT give companies the same benefit because, in my mind, if you are advertising something as healthy for a bird, it should be goldarned healthy and I don't want to hear that you don't have to tell me there is something bad in there under US law!

[Eric&Rebecca]

It's true what Parajita says... birdie bread isn't that great prepackaged as a regular meal- but its not terrible in small amounts and a great treat you can make some good recipes from. At least the ones I've come across don't seem that great, there maybe some better options out there that are prepackaged or a pre made mix I am not aware of. I personally make my own birdie bread and own eggfood from recipes from the National Cockatiel Society. However, if you were just feeding it as a treat in small amounts I don't think any birdie bread would be a problem. If its something you feed regularly it might be better to make your own in batches, I don't really know how this would be best applicated as its just a treat for my birds. Perhaps Janet you could try and eggfood mix its not hard to make and is apparently quite good for birds who haven't been feeling too good. I also used to make fruit and veggie puree my mashing it with sweet potato. That also might work just till he can regain some strength.

With regards to the ingredients, I know TOPS source everything locally and organically but that is a point about pellets made outside the US or UK. TOPS are all made in US. I think some companies choose not to put all the information on there because people would see that on the back of the label and think WOAH ok I don't understand any of that and it puts them off buying it. If parrot owners understood what it all meant and how is related to their bird they probably wouldn't be buying them in the first place because they'd be the world's leading nutritionist AND have the perfect bird that eats everything. :p

However, I DO think they should have it readily available though like TOPS do with instructions of how to feed... but thats a marketing thing and something you should look into as an owner before deciding.

The websites often have the information. In fact I think this is true of nearly all products in human food too, unless you buy organic/locally sourced which I do with as many of the fresh things I can. I only use things that are prepackaged when I KNOW where they come from. If that information is not accessible I probably won't use it.

Unfortunately there's just not enough access for me (or the experience yet) to go completely veggies and fresh with seeds and other things added. Also apparently both my cockatiels are petrified of blueberries which I've just found out... sigh... going to have to eat them myself now :p

[Pajarita]

E&R, try the wild blueberries. I don't know if they have them in UK but here, there are what they call Maine wild Blueberries that are teeny tiny and the smaller species would go for them even when they don't go for the regular ones but, when I cannot get them, what I do is open up the blueberry inside out because, sometimes, when they see the little blue ball, they don't think of it as food but when they see the juicy inside, they would try it.

I make my birdy bread at night. Before I go to sleep, I put all the ingredients in my bread machine (and I HIGHLY recommend every bird owner to buy one for this purpose) and, when I get up in the morning, the bread is ready to be cut. The recipe I use is varies with what I have but I make a fruity one and a spicy one and most of them like them equally. I use:

1 cup unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat
1/2 corn meal (you can use the coarse one without a problem)
1/2 oatmeal (the kind you use for breakfast is fine but you can also use the steel-cut)
two tablespoons of honey or molasses
two tablespoons oil (I use extra virgin olive for the spicy and sesame for the sweet)
one envelope of dry yeast

then you something to moisten it like unsweetened apple sauce, pureed pumpkin, mashed sweet potatoes, coconut milk, grated carrots, etc (look around in the supermarket and see what you can come up with).

And the goodies! This is where you can be creative: all kinds of chopped nuts, sesame and/or flax seeds for any kind of bread and raisins, currants, dry cranberries, chopped figs and/or dates, naturally dried organic apple chips and/or low-sugar pineapple bits, dried papaya/mango bits, if you are making a 'sweet' bread, and sun-dried tomatoes, drained corn, dried peppers (the spicy ones -look in Hispanic stores), herbs like basil, oregano, chopped garlic, etc -even wasabi peas!

And don't worry too much about proportions or recipes, just throw everything together in there and start the machine because the birds don't really care if it comes out too heavy or too dense or too whatever, they like it anyway!

[janetafloat]

What size did you use for him... maybe you could feed him the smaller hookbill size (the one with the cockatiel on the front) as a supplement and find alternative methods. If its harming him then maybe its not for him. .

Which food are you talking about here...Harrisons or TOPS? Re the Harrisons I use the coarse but I cut them in half. For the TOPS I have the normal parrot size which is not very big, just small pellets. And yes, I too have eaten them (they're not bad tasting I think), the taste is very green. I've been chewing on one when he's sitting on my shoulder and offering him some until I discovered, from all this discussion about ingredients, that they contain barley which is a no no for me (I'm a coeliac), oops. So today I was pretending to eat them and he actually took a few bits from me and ate them. I thought we were getting somewhere, and put a few pellets on his java tree play area, so he flew over to check it out...then very pointedly and with feeling chucked them on the floor! He does make me laugh...he certainly knows his own mind. Also today I lovingly prepared him a bean mix with brown rice and carrots (all cooked) with chilli seasoning in the hope of encouraging him to eat some new healthy foods, but he carefully picked out the carrots (which he loves) and didn't touch the rice or beans. On the plus side, he's just (in the past week) discovered the joys of banana, corn on the cob and blueberries...all of which he really likes

[Eric&Rebecca]

I'm talking about the TOPS. Edmund threw them at first but everyday I held the bowl in my hands and he began to eat them. Then we had seeds for one hour in the morning pellets and fresh the rest of the day and then seeds for one hour at night. That converted him well. Every third day you need to give a good feed up though. Now he goes to pellets over the seeds!

TOPS do the parrot food size which a 3cm long harder pellets and then the small hook bill crumples. Try him with another size, the two have completely different textures... And taste lol.

[janetafloat]

Oh, okay, thanks, I'll try the crumples. I'm persevering and this morning he took a few bits out of my hand and ate them while I was 'fake eating' them...we'll get there!

[spiral71]

this is not directly related to the food question but i find that if i hold her water bowl my bird is always more imeadately inclined to take a bath in her bowl which is in my hand which is interesting.
the same wilth fake aeating any food that i want her to eat if i have something that looks interesting she wants it for herself.

[GreenWing]

'Sorry if I'm jumping into the conversation -- haven't read the other posts, TLDR -- but I strongly advise against palm oil as a supplement, etc., not to mention palm oil is environmentally destructive (destroys Rainforests, the home of many of our beloved parrots), and even RSPO-certified palm oil is questionable.

I do advise using organic coconut oil instead; I feed it to my bird in very small amounts once in a while. It's very moisturizing (I use it in all of my natural, organic soaps) and it's actually good for you.

[janetafloat]

Sigh...there's so much conflicting advice out there! Anyway, as it happens, Alfie won't touch anything that has the Sunshine Factor on it with a bargepole. He won't eat pellets either...
I'll try the coconut oil, it sounds like it might be a lot more appealing than palm oil too

[GreenWing]

Sigh...there's so much conflicting advice out there!

I know, right!?

I'll try the coconut oil, it sounds like it might be a lot more appealing than palm oil too

Lol I agree. Also coconut oil has that slight taste of coconuts (Captain Obvious, lol). Tiki will just take a tiny bit and walk away but that should be enough. It was recommended on Dr. Oz, too... it dramatically helps dry and irritated skin; it also fights off microbial infections.