Organic? Frozen?

I do not have an ekkie but I have been thinking of getting one if it is a good fit. Before I get one, I have been doing a fair amount of research. I do understand that the diet is very different from other parrots and enriched pellets enjoyed by other species is not good for ekkies. I also have learned about the toe tapping, general demeanor, mellow atmosphere, etc.

The one thing that sort of puzzles me is this common point that they need "organic" vegetables. I really wish someone could give more details on this. In the US, getting the "organic" label has gotten ridiculously bureaucratic. I can understand that pesticides would be bad for any parrot and all vegetables and fruits. Washing vegetables does help. I also get the point of the "organic" movement helping the overall environment with avoiding negative impacts of run off etc. I get that. But that is a different matter when discussing the specifics of what to feed an ekkie.

I am also a big fan of frozen vegetables as often they are the most nutritional since they are snap locked at their peak ripeness. Frankly, unless you picked the vegetables themselves, frozen vegetables are better for you. But I do love fresh and crunchy salads.

I guess I am wanting to hear more about the emphasis of "organic" with food for an ekkie. It is mentioned more for ekkies as if there is more of a problem than other parrots. Are frozen vegetables OK?

No expert but I'd guess the answer is simple. Human, large body and a certain tolerance for pesticides. Parrot, tiny body and much, much less tolerance for pesticides.

If you care about what you feed your parrot, I don't think that there is any more emphasis on organic for Eclectus than any other parrot.

An "Organic"label can be a big pile of horsemanure as well, it all depends on who is doing the checking/ quality controll.

Some places can get to be "certified organic"-producers because they've not used pesticides and certain types of fertilizer for 5 (maybe 8) years.

Those places could very well be near busy roads, polluted watersources (manure, antibiotics, factory-exhaust etc.) etc.etc.. so the veggies should also be tested for "content".
But that does not always happen...
so organic is only as good the the people who make the (final) checks.

Pesticides etc are not healthy for anyone- and indeed: the smaller the bodymass - the higher the impact (and in a lot of cases: fast metabolism also is quite unhulpfull)

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I had a lot of collegues laughing about (uninformed) optimists here who will "grow their own crops" and literally eat crap because of it.
Yes, they do not use pesticides (and eat stuff they would never *ever* buy in a shop) but forget about water/airpollution, never once checked what was in the soil etc.etc..

Sometimes you have a lot less issues with "artificial"-but-controlled conditions.
f.e. Hydroculture and using wasps etc. to keep the bugs out the crops.
Yes it is not perfect, but are not getting polluted plantmaterial either

I don't know if you're still considering the difference or organics, but I'm new to the forum, came across your post, and just happen to be a nutritionist.



There are three different types of produce to consider: organically grown, conventionally grown, and genetically-modified (GMO), aka genetically-engineered (GE)


From a base-level nutritional standpoint, they're all pretty much the same (There was a Stanford study done years ago which made news for this claim that GMO foods were just as nutritional as their organic counterparts) A smaller study, the Newcastle study, was being performed around the same time and they proved organics were superior in secondary metabolites. (I consider them to be a factor in nutrition- the USDA, not so much). Conventionally grown is something like a middle man; organic foods are claimed to be healthier and safer than them and GMO foods are claiming to be as healthy as they are.



Hopefully that came across as objective. In my opinion, organic foods are better. The growers have to jump through a lot of hoops to get that label on their foods. If it's something with a skin barrier, like citrus, that you're not giving them, conventional is ok. If it's green leafies, organic is truly the best. In last years "Dirty Dozen" list put out by the Environmental Working Group (EWG.org), one of the lettuces had 74 different pesticide residues remaining on it AFTER a thorough washing!!! That's outrageous. Scarier than that is many compounds have synergistic effects on each other, increasing their potency in what they do. It can be beneficial like adding black pepper (contains piperine) to turmeric; the piperine increases turmeric's absorbancy in the blood by 6000%. On the flip side, the pesticides can be synergistic too.



Use the Dirty Dozen as a reference; it's free. Thanks for reading

Thanks for bumping this thread Dania...and welcome to the forum. Your contribution to the understanding of 'organic versus non-organic' fruit and vegetables is helpful for all of fid owners.

I feel confident that an Organic Eclectus will be much happier than a Frozen Eclectus.

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fiddlejen said:

I feel confident that an Organic Eclectus will be much happier than a Frozen Eclectus.

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Click to expand...

You cheeeky character.. not even an organic Eclectus for you! Happy OR not...