How to Feed a Parrot/ bird

How to Feed a Parrot

 

The proper diet for companion parrots to ensure a healthy bird. Don’t make the mistake of feeding only seeds! Learn all about chop and how to get a picky eater to eat.

When you walk into a pet store and you see all of the products that they have available for companion Birds it seems like it would be pretty easy to feed a parrot. You just buy a bag of the seed mixes and then put a little bit in their bowl every day. But that would be the incorrect way to feed a parrot.

 The first thing to understand is that the way that we feed companion parrots is going to be a lot different than how they would eat in the wild. In the wild parrots would spend all day looking for food and they would eat mostly a variety of seeds and fruits and vegetables would be a very much smaller portion of their diet. In captivity the healthiest way to feed a parrot would be to feed mostly vegetables with a small portion of seeds fruits and nuts. So you may be wondering why there is a big difference.

I usually give animals what they would get in nature. So why the difference this time? A seed and nut diet is very high in calories which is a good thing for birds in the wild. Wild birds will burn a ton of calories they'll be flying around they'll be looking for food they'll be doing things that will cost them a lot of energy. Now take our birds in captivity they are not going to be flying for miles, they are not going to be searching for food to stay alive and they're probably not going to need to be brain calories to keep warm, either they are not going to be burning as many calories as birds in the wild. Even if you have them in an outdoor aviary even if you have to add the cage most of the time they are still not going to be as active as birds in the wild. So therefore if they were given the exact same diet they would be fat and lethargic. And then some people just don't feed anything other than a seed mix. Because they just don't know that parrots eat things other than seeds.

 Even in the wild they are still going to be eating vegetables and fruit and things like that if they are able to find them. So the best diet that you can provide for your parrot is going to be 80% vegetables and the rest is going to be small amounts of fruit seeds and nuts.

 Before we start talking about what types of vegetables to feed, let's first talk about how to feed and when to feed?

 Parrots should be fed in the morning and then again in the late afternoon. Since I feed twice a day I like to offer fruit and vegetables in the morning and then in the late evening I will give them some seeds and nuts. For the most part parrots prefer seeds and nuts over everything else. So I will feed the vegetables in the morning. That way they're hungry they're more willing to eat. It and then offer the seeds and that's later that way they don't fill up on that first and then refuse to eat their vegetables.

 Now there is the debate of whether to feed in bowls or to only use foraging toys. So in case you're unfamiliar foraging toys are just toys that you put food items in and then the birds have to complete a puzzle in order to get the food out. Kebabs can also count as foraging toys as well. For me to put the vegetables in a foraging toy like a kebab is really just a waste of the food. Because it's going to be used as a toy and then thrown around and not eat I would only recommend using this method if your birds really like vegetables. But in general I recommend using a bowl to serve all your fruits and vegetables to your parrot.

 However when it comes to feeding seeds and that's I am all for using foraging toys this gives the bird something to do. Because they're able to spend the day trying to get to the seats and the nuts and get them out to eat. When you serve the seeds in the nuts in a poll, they tend to just eat it very quickly and then for the rest of the day they don't really have anything to do with themselves. But using foraging toys gives the parrot something to spend their day doing.

 So let's talk about the types of vegetables and fruit that you want to feed your parrots. Vegetables should make up about 80% of the parrots diet and this is not counting fruit. Fruit should also be fed but you're going to want to feed a lot more vegetables than for parrots can eat a wide variety of food really almost anything but not quite. They should never be fed onion or garlic or leaves from plants such as tomatoes or potatoes. There are a few other veggies that are widely debated between parent owners and that is avocado tomato citrus fruits and eggplant. It is believed that these foods are too toxic for parrots to digest and that it will make them sick.

 However there are parrot owners that have fed these items to their Birds and they claim that there haven't been any ill effects. However it does seem to be a case-by-case basis because there are some owners who have fed like tomatoes for example and the bird was perfectly fine or the bird got very sick. It kind of went either way either it was perfectly okay or it was really bad. I would rather not even find out if it was going to be okay or bad so I just completely avoid feeding those and while avoiding foods such as tomatoes avocado citrus fruits such as oranges and eggplant. I still found that it is easy to provide them with a variety of vegetables to keep them with a balanced diet.

 There is one that I am still not too convinced with and that is eggplant. So I want to look more into it in the future to decide whether or not I am going to be feeding eggplant. A lot of you guys are still wondering about pellet diets for carrots and a high-quality pellet diet is Iike choice. However it isn't completely necessary for the parrots to have a balanced diet. I actually never feed pellets to my parrots. They are still able to have a balanced diet without them and this is how I do it now.

 I provide my parrots with several different types of vegetables per feeding. I like to offer about eight different types of vegetables every day along with two types of fruit. I go to the grocery store once a week and stock up on a bunch of different types of vegetables and then I go again next week and I try to get different things than what I had gotten the week before. This keeps the diet changing and not only does it keep their interest in the food. It also provides them with a balanced diet for those of you who are wondering how to get a parrot to start eating. This especially when they've only been given a seed mix.

 The answer is pretty simple consistency. So it's pretty common for parrots to not want to eat any fruits or vegetables especially when they've never had that before and they've only been given a seed mixed diet and oftentimes. People get pretty discouraged right away but you have to keep offering this to the bird every day. Regardless if they do want to eat it or not you want to give them their vegetables in the morning.

 That way they are hungry and they're more willing to eat it and don't give them their seeds and nuts until later in the day. If they have eaten some of their vegetables any common mistake is thinking that an empty bowl means ngry bird. Which is not always the case. A lot of times people over feed seeds and nuts too much the day before. So in the morning the parents actually not hungry. So they're not going to be willing to eat their vegetables. Because they just aren't hungry enough to be willing to do. So you do need to feed small amounts of seeds and nuts if you are feeding it to them in the evening and they're going to be served vegetables in the morning.

 Another trick to getting picky eaters to eat is to mix small seeds in with chop chop is a word used to describe a very popular way to feed parrots. Chop is fruits vegetables and nuts chopped up very small and mixed together. It is a very efficient way to provide a balanced diet for them and it's also very convenient. Because it's usually prepared one day out of the week and last for the rest of the week shop is often the best way to get a picky eater to eat for example bury the rose-breasted cockatoo. We'll throw all of his food out of his bowl and all over the cage and floor unless it is chopped very small. You can also mix in chia seeds and slices of almonds into the chop. So that the parrot is more willing to eat it. They'll be going around the food looking for those small chia seeds and almonds and they will eventually be eating other pieces of the food.

 By trying to look for that when it comes to chop it's all about providing different colors and textures this keeps the parrots interested in their food. A lot of times people are worried about preparing chopped that it will spoil. However I have found that it does last seven days without spoiling of course you do want to avoid certain fruits that do spoil quicker such as bananas. I have found do spoil within a couple of days and that does ruin the entire batch of chopped. So if I do feed banana I open up a fresh one for that day. If you want to get some ideas of making chopped for your parrots you can. Here's one example this one is made with kale cilantro, orange pepper, apple, cauliflower, papaya. Carrot, Mexican squash, raspberry chia seeds and quinoa and in this one we have carrot, apple, spinach peas, green beans, almonds grapes, hard-boiled egg peach, dried red peppers blueberry, corn, chia seeds and quinoa. It kind of gives them all stuck together. So he really does have to eat all of the food.

 You just learn how to use certain methods in order to get a bird to eat. If they're very picky or find out what their preferences are when it comes to feeding seeds and nuts. There are lots of different brands that you can choose from in the pet store. You want to go with a high-quality one. Of course usually brands will have different bags depending on the size of your bird. So they will have large seats and nuts for macaws. That need a higher fat in their diet and smaller ones for conyers.

 Remember these seed mixes are going to use more as a snack or a late meal for your birds. However in my personal opinion, I be good seed mixes are a complete waste of money. I find that a lot of times they do have low quality seeds even the brands that are more expensive and a lot of this just gets wasted. I prefer to make my own seed mixes using human grape seeds and nuts. Usually the health food stores will have the containers where you fill up as much as you need and it's sold by the pound. I don't find this to be more expensive than buying the seed mixed bags at the pet store. Because this is going to be a higher quality food and so a little goes a long way and of course I'm not using a lot of that type of seed and that's because I am feeding mostly chopped and then another thing that is important to mention is do not feed parrots.

 Human food and this I mean food that you have cooked for yourself. Usually we cook with a lot of herbs and spices to make the food flavorable for us and that is not going to be healthy for the bird. Parrots always want to see what you're doing and get into whatever it is that you have so eating chips and things like that around your bird is probably not a good idea. If you cannot say no to your parrot. Do not let your parrot eat potato chips Cheetos things like that. It is not healthy for them and it is not doing anything good for them by allowing them to eat. If you insist on sharing your snacks with your bird then eat healthy snacks otherwise eat them when your bird is not with you and that is how you provide a companion parrot with a good diet.

 

Thank you.