What Do You Feed Your Amazon

I've been reading about the best diet for Amazons, and am getting conflicting info, especially regarding pellets. I think Fred may be a little overweight. I have a StarFrit kitchen scale, and am trying to weigh him, but I expect it's not going to be easy. Right now, Fred gets veggies with 1 tablespoon of birdie bread( I make my own, and it is packed with veggies, fruit, grain, pellets) in the AM. He sometimes gets two tablespoons of seed mix in the afternoon, if he seems hungry. He shares some of our supper in the evening, and pellets are always available. I plan on reducing to veggies and birdie bread in the morning, and 1/4 cup pellets in the evening. No more family food, which he loves.... We eat healthy, but I do use a small amount of salt, and I suppose even low fat family food may be too high fat for Fred. What and how much do you feed your Amazons?

My Wife feds Lily only with our own fresh veggies from our "bio" garden (somethimes I get angry with my wife, cause Lily eats all the gooodies before I come back from work )) ) and they are always fresh, not cooked or boiled, she also loves the fresh corn and beans and the fresh fruits especially the pomegranade, she always hangs the pomegranate and fresh corn with the fresh grapes and figs (looks like a skewer) in her cage, and she is playing and eating them the whole day, even when she has the cage door open, she climbes inside and eats or play with that skewer )) , she also gets at least once a week a boiled egg, and twice a week a mix of seeds that doesn't contain sunflower seeds (they are really bad for amazons) . She also adores all the pulses. She never eats our food, cause our food is not good for her! We also eat healthy food, but these birds can get killed very quickly becouse of the salt, oil and sugar and everything that we put in our food. She also love fresh herb leaves, such like basil leaves, marjoram leaves, oregano leaves, a little bit of parsley, and she also like all the aromatic vegetables, like "green" , fenel, spinach and so... she just "stucks" all that in all the corners of her cage, and she is very exited when she explores all the corners of her cage with some very nice goodies... soo... no spicy food , in the nature, they eat only veegies and fruits... so they can in captivity .. but it is a good thing, to give the mix of seed at least 2 times a week , and also somethimes, I give her a chichen bone (the leg), and she enjoys it , Our Lily has the right weight and looks to be a very happy healthy bird ) .. at least we think she is... and hope will be in the future

Thanks!!!

and aslo... i forgot to write... peanuts are bad for the amazon parrots... they can get... for example 1 or two per day, why? you can all read here Bird Nutrition ... a very nice site we also do not know why for shure, but amazons have diffrent diet than all the oder parrots, and it is said, that it is in their blood somethhning different, and I just can not remeber when did I or my wife read that... but it is important to know... as I remeber, they have different blood cells then the other parrots, we even heared, that the avian vets, that doesn't know that difference with their blood (from the oder parrots) , can diagnose your amazon with leukemia... very funny and serious stuff, and it is true it is not a myth!!! Just try to surf the internet more, there are a lot of forums, that discuss this difference , and be very careful with what you feed him ... don't panic I did't want to upset you, Lots of people feed their parrots with almost everything, and the parrots are O.K. , but most of them live much sorter life or has health problems. I also have an ant that has an Kongo Africanan Grey parrot and I told her for 10000 times, that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES she should feed him with chocholade and chocholade brownies... but she just smiles and sais to me... "but he loves the chocholate so MUCH" ... so... it is your decision I say like that .. my Lily 15-20 years old ... or my Lily 50 -80 years old ???!!!

Sharon- I have the opposite problem! Ozzy is underweight and wont eat enough! He has unlimited zupreem fruit/natural/wild and spicy at all times. He also gets 5 nutri-berries a day. I put boca nuts and a natural herb mixture thing in with his food but he doesnt touch any of it. I have tried fruits and veggies to no avail. He also has no interest in eating nuts or seeds (except nutri-berries) just likes to play with them. I think I have the only amazon in the world who is underweight!

I was thinking about switching to Harrisons pellets but I am getting mixed reviews from the bird stores. They have been saying something about the potency being too strong for amazons livers.... I need to look into that more.

Can we trade?! Lol jk

WOW!! can happen... don't give up! try it like that ... for the start, try to mix some fresh veggies and the fruits with food he likes the most... and do it seperatly, the mixed veggies and the food he eats now seperatly with the food he likes the most, also try to chop it in a different sizes.. some choped in a small pieces, some choped in biger pieces... and in the end, give him much more veggies and fruit, than the food he likes the most, cause somethimes, they are scared of the food we give them, cause they do not know, that this big piece of fruit/veggies is acually food... try to experiment in that way... also my Lily was very afraid of the pomegranate, and then my wife choped it in to a smoller pieces, and then she gave her bigger and bigger pieces of the pomegrande. now... she only chops it on half, and stucks it into her cage... and she can eat it all they long... it is her favorite food... for example

Hey Sharon, In regards to your amazon's diet i thought i should mention a few things and offer some advice.I've kept amazon for about 40 yrs and have had some that long, many things have changed over the years and i'm sure things
will continue to change as we learn more and as our pets age.
Weighing your pet, you can turn this into a ritual with treatsand rewards that your pet will look forward to. Keeping track will help in understanding diet and alert you to onset of other health issues(getting sick). Many birds can't stand securely on the scale pan so non-skid or a perch may help.Next time you take your pet to the vet get a opinion as to whether or your bird is over weight or not. Now when you feel your birds breast on either side of the breast bone you'll know what over weight feels like, i could explain but hands on means a lot more.
Activity level,all amazons need the same basic diet requirements,what changes is how much fat? A 2yr ,fully flighted in alarge outdoor aviary with other immatures has a very different metabolism rate than a 40 yr clipped bird in a cage. Birds don't store fat well, they usually burn it up pretty quick, and so they are quick to consume it when availible(they crave it). Inactive birds aren't processing the fat and it collects in their livers and could cause problems. Even non-flighted birds can be "winger-scizied" to help burn excess fat.
Varied diet, too much of anything is bad and a varied diet is best,if your bird only eats 1or 2 things it's because it always has or has no choices.Most amazons love all different kinds of stuff and you need to work on changing their diet, it can be a struggle but it's necessary. There's loads of info on what you should and should not feed your pet, so i won't go there.I normally feed fruit/vegs and sprouts in the AM then remove after and hour or so (before spoilage), change paper ,then pellets for the rest of the day, seeds and nuts are a treat and so is people food and only served in limited quantity.
Pellets,i think they are an important part of your pet's diet because they're complete with most of the vit/min needed.That being said, there's a world of difference in pellets, i avoid the color/flavored pellets (added sugars, unnecessary ingredients etc.). If you can afford the organic stuff great, but i've had good luck with the less expensive brands, READ the ingredients, READ the analysis ie;crude fat % (an active bird 6-7% OK). if you feed your bird right then added Vit/Min aren't needed unless your vet says so.
I'm sure many people have many different opinions on all this but it's just my 2 cents worth.
I thought i might add that excess fat in your amazon's diet can also lead to aggressiveness and hormonal issues, many New World parrots bred during the dry season (because they are cavity nesters) when green matter(fruit/vegs)in their diet is replaced by seeds and nuts,these foods are higher in fat and coincide with breeding season.

Thanks so much...that's very informative!