Last Updated on by Mitch Rezman
This is a Quora question stated in full
As a bird owner, have you ever made your own seed/food mixture instead of buying store-made mixes? What type of seeds, nuts, dried herbs/veggies/fruits have you added and what type of bird do you own?
My shy retiring answer – Absolutely not!
You are trying to be anthropomorphic (Google it)
Firstly a statement of fact-based upon an enormous amount of necropsies (animal autopsies).
The American Veterinarian Association says that “50% of all pet bird deaths are the result of malnutrition”.
How could you possibly determine what your bird actually needs to eat and stay healthy let alone stay alive?
I sell 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of bird food per month.
I write website listings.
I know or have met CEOs from every major bird food manufacturer in the US, and a few in Europe.
Birds have a standing heart rate of 200 bpm.
Small birds like budgies can have 3000 – 5000 feathers.
Because of all these feathers, birds can fly.
Do feathers require protein that is derived from amino acids?
What would be your measurement for the proper amount of amino acids to serve?
How would you determine the proper amount of amino acids to serve your bird?
Further, there are only one species of dog and I think 36 species of cats.
There are close to 11,000 species of birds.
Of those 11,000 species, about 750 of them are considered potentially “pet birds”.
If you take a look at the packaging on, for example, the Hagen Tropican pelleted bird food for cockatiels – note.
Crude protein min 14% – Crude fat min 8.5% – Crude fiber max 3.5% – Moisture max 12% – Calcium min 0.15% – Phosphorus min – 0.3% – Vitamin A min – 800 IU/kg – Vitamin D3 80 IU/kg – Vitamin E30 IU/kg\
More importantly, the consider the size of the bird so food for large macaw class birds size will have higher levels of protein than parakeet class size birds.
Age is an issue too.
We are seeing more “senior” bird foods enter the market.
Hagen is unique because with Tropimix mixes all the seeds are hulled making for a much cleaner blend.
Ingredients: Corn, flaked corn, raisins, dehulled toasted soybeans, dried papaya, wheat, toasted split green peas, soybean meal, chickpeas, dried banana, dried pineapple, red milo, dehulled peanuts, dehulled sunflower seeds, corn gluten meal, dehulled almonds, flaked carrot, pumpkin seeds, dehulled brazil nuts, dehulled walnuts, dried coconut, brown rice, flaked potato, sugar, canola oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, flaxseed, yeast culture, lecithin, dried beet pulp, dried kelp, oat groats, orange oil, L-lysine, yeast extract, choline chloride, DL-methionine, salt, biotin, vitamin E supplement, niacin, calcium L-ascorbyl-2-monophosphate, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12 supplement, beta-carotene, riboflavin, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, inositol, folic acid, vitamin A supplement, rosemary extract, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, vitamin D3 supplement.
Crude protein min 14% – Crude fat min 8.5% – Crude fiber max 3.5% – Moisture max 12% – Calcium min 0.15% – Phosphorus min – 0.3% – Vitamin A min – 800 IU/kg – Vitamin D3 80 IU/kg – Vitamin E30 IU/kg
Manufactured in a facility that packages products containing nuts.
BTW you might want to visit the Hari Hagen Avicultural Institute.
They have 250 pairs of parrots both domestic and wild-caught.
Besides management, they have three full-time veterinarians and several veterinary techs.
They literally test what the birds are eating and then their poop (seven days a week) so as to control the quality of the food.
So please do the right thing and not starve your bird.
Buy commercial blends, without a lot of corn filler.
I don’t think the word anthropomorphic means what you think it means.
an·thro·po·mor·phic
/ˌanTHrəpəˈmôrfik/
adjective
- relating to or characterized by anthropomorphism.having human characteristics.
In other words, we continue to use Human (anthropomorphic) views ie I’ll use HUMAN FOOD (chop) to feed my pet bird – I’ll decide what size cage based upon other HUMAN suggestions
We should be caring for them based upon 120 million years of instinctual expectations not what HUMANS “think” the birds need.
File under “blow back”
Quora comment
“I don’t think the word anthropomorphic means what you think it means”.
File under “don’t argue with angry old men”
an·thro·po·mor·phic
/ˌanTHrəpəˈmôrfik/
adjective
- relating to or characterized by anthropomorphism.having human characteristics.
In other words, we continue to use Human (anthropomorphic) views ie I’ll use HUMAN FOOD (chop) to feed my pet bird – I’ll decide what size cage based upon other HUMAN suggestions
We should be caring for them based upon 120 million years of instinctual expectations not what HUMANS “think” the birds need.
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