Nutrition

NOURISH TO FLOURISH
 
Nutrition Tips for a Healthier Parrot:
  • A good diet can help prevent disease and ill health. Food is also restorative, helping our bodies to heal. Providing a parrot with a varied diet is important both for physical nutrition as well as mental joy and satisfaction. Enrich your parrot’s life with a plentiful VARIETY of fresh, wholesome foods, and a quality organic pellet.
  • Calcium is a key element for all parrots. Calcium-rich foods include leafy greens, carrots, unhulled sesame seeds, broccoli, dandelion and other greens, yogurt and almonds. To absorb calcium, vitamin D3 is needed, which can be acquired through sunlight naturally, or in pellets as a supplement. Let your parrot enjoy some safe time outdoors or provide access to a full spectrum light. Light filtered through window panes is not full spectrum.
Foods which help produce vitamin A are also essential for parrots. Deep orange vegetables and fruits are rich in beta carotene (yams, pumpkin, carrots, winter squashes, mango, papaya, apricots and cantaloupe) as well as palm oil, leafy greens and broccoli. Make vitamin A and calcium-rich foods a regular staple in your bird’s daily diet.
  • Most parrots enjoy grains. These can be cooked, sprouted or simply soaked. There is a wide variety to choose from such as quinoa, groats, spelt, kamut, rice, amaranth, buckwheat and barley. Combine grains along with recommended legumes such as lentil, garbanzo, adzuki or mung for complete protein. Other sources of protein include cooked salmon or trout, tuna, chicken, chicken bones, quinoa and occasional egg dishes. Most parrots relish these foods and will savor every morsel.
  • Healthy seeds contribute to the health of your parrot. These include: sprouts, soaked or sprouted grains, legumes, nuts, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and sesame seeds. Please do not feed your bird a packaged “bird seed” diet. Not only does this diet lack essential ingredients like vitamin A, calcium and protein, but most packaged seed diets are high in fat and lead to ill health. Smaller birds such as parakeets, cockatiels and lovebirds need more grains than pellets; such as oat groats, flax, canary seed and other grains.
  • Fruits are a delectable part of the diet of many parrots. Darker fruits such as mango, papaya and pineapple provide the best nutrition. White-colored fruits such as grapes have higher levels of sugar so use those more sparingly. Keep dried fruits to a minimum and make sure they are always unsulfured.

  • Essential fatty acids (EFAs) support key functions of the body and must be obtained through the diet. High sources of EFAs include flax seeds and oil, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, leafy vegetables and fish.
  • Parrots evolved to eat natural, unprocessed foods. Look for pellets with organic ingredients (no dyes). Avoid extruded pellets made with high heat which greatly lowers the nutritional value.
  • Change the water frequently to help prevent bacteria, but give your bird a chance to enjoy this “water feature.” Many birds dunk their food or take a bath in their water dish. For times when you are away for long hours, teach your bird to drink from a water bottle.
  • Pay attention to what your bird actually eats, not just what you provide. If your parrot has not learned to eat fresh foods, try mixing minced food into pellets or seed, make a warm mash with a favorite item sprinkled on top to create curiosity, or play a game and show your parrot that it is yummy to eat a particular food. Don’t give up, your bird can learn to enjoy healthy foods in addition to pellets!
Switching Your Bird
from
←   ←    Seeds to Pellets     →  →
 
While the ideal diet for pet birds, especially parrots, has been poorly studied and is bit controversial, it is clear that an all-seed diet is poorly balanced and unhealthy for most types of pet birds, especially parrot species. Formulated diets are increasingly available and are now being designed for specific species and should make up part (but not all) of the diet for most pet birds.
 
Technically, the term "formulated diets" is probably more accurate than the term "pellets," since these diets are available in many forms, including pellets, crumbles, nuggets, and others. However, the terms are often used interchangeably to refer to the spectrum of complete balanced foods now on the market for pet birds, and both terms will be used here.
 
Many birds are less than enthusiastic about switching to pellets, however. With patience and persistence almost any bird will eventually accept a formulated diet as a significant portion of a well balanced diet. The transition to pellets may take a few weeks or a few months, and some or all of the following strategies may be used. Most importantly: never try to starve your bird into eating pellets - this could be dangerous and definitely stressful. If at all possible you should monitor your birds body weight throughout as well to make sure weight loss is not a problem.
 
 
Tips
 
  • Ideally, start young birds on pellets, since young birds are usually much more willing to try new foods than older birds who may be "set in their ways."
  • Never starve a bird into trying a new food.
  • Do not attempt the transition in a sick bird.
  • Experiment with different kinds of pellets - some birds have strong preferences for different shapes or sizes of pellets, textures (pellets Vs crumbles) or flavors.
  • Try to choose a pellet with few artificial colors or flavors if possible.
  • See if your pet store offers small samples of different pellets
  • Mix some pellets in with the seeds.
  • Finely grind some of the pellets and sprinkle over the seeds or a favorite treat, with the aim of getting the bird to taste the pellets.
  • Try moistening the pellets, perhaps with warm water. Remove any moistened pellets after a couple of hours though, due to the risk of spoilage.
  • Offering new foods first thing in the morning is helpful, since this is when many birds naturally forage for food, Try offering new foods alone first thing in the morning, and then offer the more familiar foods a couple of hours later.
  • Try hand feeding the pellets so your bird thinks they are a treat.
  • Let your bird see you eat some of the new food if you can - they don't taste all that bad, and your bird might be tempted to try something he/she thinks is a special human treat!
  • If your bird is not used to a variety of foods, you might want to work on introducing some new vegetables and other foods before introducing pellets. Getting your bird used to new flavors and textures may help the transition to a formulated diet. It is possible to introduce other new foods along with pellets, but to avoid overwhelming a bird with too many new things at one time, you may at least want to start the transition to a formulated diet a few weeks before or after introducing other new foods.
  • If your bird is reluctant about switching to pellets, carefully monitor the number of droppings and the bird's body weight. If the number of droppings is diminishing and the birds body weight goes down by more than 1-2 in a week, back off on the new foods and offer more of the old diet.
  • Remember there might be a change in the droppings (color, texture) when you feed pellets.
 
Measure How Much Your Bird Eats Now
 
  • Measure how much your bird eats in a whole day (amount given less the amount left at end of 24 hours)
  • Add up the amounts eaten every day for 7 days, then divide by 7 to get the average daily intake
  • The average daily intake determines the total amount of seeds and pellets (combined) to feed each day. During the switch you will gradually reduce the amount of seed fed, and make up the average daily intake with pellets.
Schedule for the Transition
 
Ideally, your bird will readily accept the new pellets, and you could make the switch quickly using a schedule such as this:
 
  • Week one: feed 75% of the calculated daily intake in seeds, and substitute pellets for the other 25%
  • Week two: feed 50% of the daily intake as seeds and 50% as pellets
  • Week three: feed 25% of the daily intake as seeds and 75% as pellets.
  • Week four: reduce the seed component even more for larger parrots.
For many birds, however, the switch may need to be much more gradual. For the average bird who is not used to eating pellets, you may need to try the following:
 
  • Offer a dish with pellets first thing in the morning
  • A couple of hours later, offer the seed mix, but substitute a formulated diet for only 10% of the seeds. Mix the pellets with the seed so your bird has to work around the pellets to get to the seed. You may want to grind some of the pellets and sprinkle them over the seed so the bird can get accustomed to the taste of the formulated diet.
  • Once you are sure your bird has at least tried the pellets, start to decrease the seed and increase the pellets in small increments until you get to the desired amount of seeds fed (see "Success!" below).
  • If your bird is still reluctant to try the pellets, you can offer the seed mix for only an hour or two a couple of times a day, with a dish of the pellets available all the time
  • Be patient - for really stubborn birds, the gradual shift may take months rather than weeks.
  • If your bird is in the stubborn category, keep a close eye on his or her weight (invest in a small scale and weigh regularly).
 
Success!
 
For smaller parrots such as budgies and cockatiels, once you achieve a diet that is just 25% seeds (25% seed, 50% pellets, and 25% fresh foods) you have succeeded! For larger parrots, continue to decrease the seeds a bit more so that the diet is only about 10% seeds overall (with about 50-60% pellets and the rest made up of fresh foods and treats).
 
Making the switch may be difficult, discouraging, and time consuming (not to mention the wasted pellets until your bird accepts them). Just remember, your effort is really worth it and you will be rewarded with a healthy bird on a well balanced and nutritious diet.
 
Best wishes!
 
 
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