David R. wants to know more about an Amazing Moringa Presentation I've been meaning to ask this for some time now, What would you think of adding fresh Moringa to…
Charles S. is concerned with feeding his macaw,
I have had Cookie since a baby for 15 years. Every day for years she/he regurgitation food that is barely if at all digested. I feed her the best parrot food Zupreem and a few nuts and sometimes a little table food.
It looks like she regurgitates as much as I feed her. It’s a lot.
Otherwise, she is very healthy. I have taken her to the vet a couple of times and am told it may be a mating thing. She does this year-round!
Mitch can you give me some information on nutrition for my IRP?
For whatever reason, he is a picky eater, unlike most as I have read. He hardly eats any seeds. I currently feed him cream of rice with Harrison pellets and I put the missing link ultimate avian in it.
I can’t get him to eat hardly any vegetables/greens as I offer them daily. I give him mixed vegetables with added corn and he eats mostly the corn and picks at the rest of it. He does well with fruit, grapes, apples, kiwi, bananas.
He likes the Higgins worldly cuisines Tuscan dream.
Old guy (70 on 3/7/2022) that I am I’ve always enjoyed a steaming bowl of oatmeal on a cold morning. What makes me feel warm at the beginning of the day is the same thing that will make your tropical bird a little more balanced in their counterintuitive environment that we call winter.
Call it “Comfort Food” for your birds.
There are fewer wild-caught parrots in captivity these days which means chances are, your bird was hand bred and fed yummy, soft gooey, hand feeding formula as a chick. Cooked bird food is a reminder of those comfy days just out of the nest.
The soft, warm, nutritious blend of fruits, vegetables, and spices is easy on your bird’s crop which helps reduce the stress of an unnatural cool, dry habitat. (more…)
Yvonne S. wrote:
I would like to ask you a question about my parakeet.
I have been thinking she could use a vitamin/supplement.
She has a very good appetite and is active but she is eating like nobody’s business.
I eat mostly organic pasta, and fruit, and a lot of baked potatoes.
Also some fish now and then.
The first answer to the Quora question:
I don’t know but I would recommend joining one of the many parrot groups on Facebook. I would think he would be eating very often. When my eclectus was 5 months he would eat a meal and then 15 minutes later be hungry again!
Well, that was helpful ~ not.
Facebook groups are the absolute worse place for pet bird information. If the information were ANY good we would not see 60% death by starvation of pet birds in the US.
Another open-ended question from Quora ~ sigh
“That depends”, I respond,
Actually, not all engineered food (pellets) for birds and parrots is the same, and is as far from the truth as can be.
I like to remind human-pet bird caregivers that there are no pellet trees in the rain forest.
Scott R. wonders,
Hi Mitch, always reading on how to keep my bird healthy and happy and stumbled on to your last email and was interested if maybe I should try making this food or not.
1 cup dry quinoa (makes about 2 cups when cooked), 2 carrots, 1 broccoli, 1 medium beetroot, 6 chilies, ¼ cup flaked almonds, ½ cup rolled oats. Cook quinoa, chop all other ingredients, and mix everything together.
Eclectus/Galah/Cockatoo/Amazon: 2-4 tablespoons
The original Quora question in full:
What are the three most nutritious nuts for macaws? Should any be avoided and why?
Let’s start with some housekeeping.
“Peanuts have the propensity to grow fungus and should generally be avoided.”
We’ve got some feedback on our statement “50% of captive birds deaths are from malnutrition” and I’m horrified.
Dollars Mum asked some pointed nutritional questions below and I’m always glad to have this discussion.
I think that people who serve their birds “chop” I well-intentioned but very misguided. A bird living on nothing but chop is a malnourished bird.
