Diet Essentials
How
can we provide our birds with a balanced diet? We can achieve this by being
aware of the requirements of the species and by introducing a wide range of
foods when they are young. Whether you offer a complete pelleted diet or a quality
seed mix, fresh fruit and vegetables are essential.
Always buy quality fruit and vegetables, wash them thoroughly before you serve them.
Fruits
are valuable to provide fibre, vitamins, juice and colour. In most cases
the food 
value
of fruits is low, but this is no reason to withold them. There are many exotic
fruits which parrots enjoy, such as Catus fruits, Loquats and Lychees. There
is no limit if your budget will stretch! Cherries are relished!
There is great controversy regarding fruit kernels and pips, such as apple pips and cherry stones. It has been written that these are poisonous. This is not the case - parrots would need to eat huge amounts of pips or stones to cause them harm.
We
would like to place a brief quote here regarding this topic from Rosemary Low:-
"I have been feeding apple pips to my birds for 40 years. Certain individuals
like these so much that I save the day's pips for two or three birds. The stones
of cherries, peaches, etc, are perfectly safe in the small quantities that a
parrot would receive. (Did anyone ever tell Hawfinches that their diet of cherry
stones and apple pips was poisonous?!)"
Vegetables
are extremely good for parrots. Green beans are
especially popular along
with carrots. Tomato and carrot are the two most valuable foods that can be
offered, due to their high Vitamin A content. Warnings have been published about
the sodium content of frozen vegetables. Infact there is normally only a trace
- most pellets contain more. Many parrots like boiled potato while it is still
warm. Chips should not be given to parrots.
NEVER feed your parrot Avocado this can be extremely harmful to your parrot and may even be fatal. Avoid chocolate and items with a high sugar content.
We should also not forget the value of feeding your birds berries. These are relished by most parrots, hawthorn berries are very popular and can be purchased all year round from 'Double Dutch'. Soak them for a few hours, drain and serve. Parrots love them!
Providing your parrot with a good, healthy, varied diet will not only give your bird great pleasure, such a diet will provide your bird with all the requirements to stay healthy, increase life expectancy and reduce vet bills.
©2007