Peanuts and the Aspergillis link

I've just been reading this: Aspergillus Peanuts and Parrots
I have to say it has made me slightly paranoid about the risks of my birds contacting this, not only due to contaminated peanuts but with the other risks listed.
Does anyone refrain from giving their parrot/s peanuts because of the link with Aspergillis?

Yup, no peanuts in the shell here! My vet gave me all kinds of info. Even organic grown are bad as they do not have any protection from molds or parasites. I personally know 2 parrots who got asper from the peanuts. Better safe then sorry.

Oh I never give them in the shells and always inspect first. Should I not give at all? The problem I have is it is the obly type of nut Beau will eat and Argylw will only eat peanuts and pine nuts

Yep I have seen mold growing inside Peanuts. This is from more than one place.
If in any doubt throw away.
Split the kernel into it's two halves and inspect. You will see the mold here.
That is enough to put me off feeding them to any birds. it's a shame as Pandis loves ripping them open and eating them.

Good grief! There are peanuts in the shell in Fred's seed mix...he LOVES them!

I have fed peanuts to my Ekkie for the last 3 years (mostly human grade) and he loves them, especially in the shell. Although now because of this info I am scared of them so I hardly give them to him any more.

There was a similar thread some time ago...http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/4761-peanuts-ok-treats.html
Parrot Queen posted a similar link about the dangers of peanuts. I think it is quite a big risk. Will the ones I have given him have any ramifications in the future? Is it a slow developing thing?

I would say if no symptoms have presented so far your bird is safe.

I have never given Hiroshi peanuts. I'm wondering are they essential to their diet in ANY way??? (Don't mean to sound ignorant)

Beilana said:

I have never given Hiroshi peanuts. I'm wondering are they essential to their diet in ANY way??? (Don't mean to sound ignorant)

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From my knowledge, any nutrition they get from a peanut can be substituted by other foods. Here is a link on nut nutrition Seeds & Nuts Nutrition

IMO the only real benefit is that they just taste darn good

Aussie Ben said:

Beilana said:

I have never given Hiroshi peanuts. I'm wondering are they essential to their diet in ANY way??? (Don't mean to sound ignorant)

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From my knowledge, any nutrition they get from a peanut can be substituted by other foods. Here is a link on nut nutrition Seeds & Nuts Nutrition

IMO the only real benefit is that they just taste darn good

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LOL They sure do, not only for the birds either!

Beilana said:

Aussie Ben said:

Beilana said:

I have never given Hiroshi peanuts. I'm wondering are they essential to their diet in ANY way??? (Don't mean to sound ignorant)

Click to expand...

IMO the only real benefit is that they just taste darn good

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LOL They sure do, not only for the birds either!

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hehe who says I was talking about birds?

In my opinion, peanuts are dangerous. I'm being paraniod though. The reason..... I'm allergic. Really badly.... they could kill me without medical treatment. So my budgies don't get peanuts.

My large birds get one or two peanuts every day (depends on their size) with their dinner. Not the ones in the seed mix but human grade roasted ones (the ones in the mixes are raw and those are the ones that usually have the mold problem) and I've never had a single bird come down with aspergillosis -not that it could not happen but, even if it did, I still would not stop (read why below). I pick the raw peanuts out of the mix and buy small bags of the roasted ones that last me one week so I don't have to store them for long.

As to those two birds getting aspergillosis from peanuts, how would they know that they caught it from peanuts? Because asper is EVERYWHERE, in our food (yes, even the human grade prepared food because heat does not kill it), on our clothes, on our shoes, on our hands, etc. The stupid fungus is ubiquitous in nature and that is no exaggeration. Birds both in the wild and in captivity live every day of their life exposed to asper 24/7/365 so it's not the exposure itself that causes the problem but a defective immune system that cannot keep it under control and allows the infection to develop. Healthy birds kept in clean conditions never get it. And, usually, when you start digging a little deeper, you find that the birds that caught it have some other condition or problem that went unnoticed or they have very deficient diets or they live under a lot of emotional stress or something. But there is always something. Always and without exception. So, as long as your bird is healthy, kept under stress-free conditions and in a clean environment with good food, a peanut or two a day couldn't possibly harm it.

All seed food coming into New Zealand is Heat Treated or Irradiated.
And yet you will still find it alive in the center of Peanuts. I will go shopping and then take a picture for you.
Yes molds are everywhere, but they are not all the same.
In the mulch that comes out of my Wood Chipper, some molds are OK, some are definitely very dangerous if even inhaled. Open a bag of Potting Mix and take a good breath. The dust you breath in has mold spores in it, these can make you very sick.
So I would never eat any Peanuts, that are not cooked and salted.
For the birds this would be a NO!
Please remember our Fids are very susceptible to such dangers.
What I have trouble with is. Why would you risk your Fids health, when there are plenty of safe nuts?

Thank you Clawnz! I agree 100%!!!

clawnz said:

All seed food coming into New Zealand is Heat Treated or Irradiated.
And yet you will still find it alive in the center of Peanuts. I will go shopping and then take a picture for you.
Yes molds are everywhere, but they are not all the same.
In the mulch that comes out of my Wood Chipper, some molds are OK, some are definitely very dangerous if even inhaled. Open a bag of Potting Mix and take a good breath. The dust you breath in has mold spores in it, these can make you very sick.
So I would never eat any Peanuts, that are not cooked and salted.
For the birds this would be a NO!
Please remember our Fids are very susceptible to such dangers.
What I have trouble with is. Why would you risk your Fids health, when there are plenty of safe nuts?

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Yes, of course you will find it in peanuts (heat does not kill aspergillus). And you will find it in your potting mix. And in your bread (all wheat has it). And on your kitchen counter. And on your hands. You will find it everywhere. But you are not correct in that parrots are susceptible to this danger. They are not if they are healthy.

Think about it. Most of the parrots we keep as companions come from tropical regions so they live their entire lives surrounded by fungus spores. They would be everywhere in the jungle... in the moldy leaves, in the rotting vegetation, on the wet trunks of trees, on the ripe fruit they eat, everywhere! But birds in the wild don't usually die of aspergillosis. Why? Because they have healthy immune systems.

Your own bird is exposed to asper spores all the time, same as mine, same as all other birds out there (and all other animals and all other people). They are in pellets, they are in seeds, they are in grains, they are in produce, they are even in cooked food, they are everywhere. There are hundreds of species of aspergilla and they flourish in nutrient-rich environments as well as nutrient-poor. You can't get away from them, they are even on and inside your walls, for heaven's sake! And that's why the immune system evolved to deal with this constant exposure - because if it hadn't, there would be no terrestrial life on earth.

And let me reassure you that I am not endangering my birds' health by feeding them one roasted peanut a day. I have had birds for over 40 years now and I currently have about 100 and I have never, ever had a single case of aspergillosis. Not a single one. Not that it cannot happen because it can -most likely, I've just been lucky! But if it did, it would not be because of the peanuts, it would be because the bird has a weak immune system for whatever reason. And this is not my personal opinion, this is what the scientific community says after years and years of studies (we've known about it since the 1700s) and I have no reason to doubt it is true.

Now, just to clarify: You can start with a bird with a healthy immune system and end up with a bird sick with aspergillosis. But that would only happen if the bird is fed only moldy grain for a long period of time. And, actually, most likely, the bird will not really die of aspergillosis but of aflatoxin poisoning.

Birdamor!
I think you are lumping all molds as Aspergillosis. (Or you maybe referring to Bacteria.)
Which is incorrect, there are thousands of different molds. Some are safe, some are only considered safe when they are not in bloom.
When some molds bloom is when they are their most dangerous.
Different molds form on the mulch at different stages of aging, they are not present side by side. Ok so the spores maybe there, but do not develop.
And of course most are seasonal and conditions have to be right for them to develop and then bloom. (Flower)

I agree with you if your birds are healthy and street wise they should be OK.
A lot of caged birds are not street savy. and may not be a perfect health.
Anyway it is not worth the risk. As I said open up untreated Peanuts and I bet you will not eat them yourself, so why would you feed them to your birds and take that sort of risk when there is no need?

These are only my opinions.
You have far more experience than me with birds. I have only kept Tiels for two years.
But I am 62yrs old and not on any medications and have just past a 'full on' hospital medical. So you could say I must be doing something right.
Pictures of my Tiels will also confirm that they are a picture of health.
And I do research a lot of things. And some molds in the mulch are only bad for around two weeks then they are fine. In that period if you do not wear a mask you will notice lung trouble almost instantly. No I do not know names of the molds, but I know enough to tell you do not need to breath some in, let alone eat them.

No, no, not bacteria and not all molds, there are hundreds of different species of aspergillus. There are over 60 of them that cause disease but the ones that we need to be concerned with are Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus and A. niger which are all found in grains as well as pulses and seeds. I used to work for a grain company, we traded wheat, barley, corn, soybeans, rice, etc. and one of the specifications in all grain is a maximum aflatoxin number (aflatoxin is the poison produced by aspergillus) so I know for a fact that it's even in our food. I also know somebody who has a macaw with aspergillosis. She's had it for years and no matter which antifungal they give her or for how long, they can't cure it but, IMPO, this is most likely because she has an aspergilloma and the only way to treat this is through surgery, application of a contact antifungal on the place of excision and follow up with orals after because aspergillomas can have such thick walls that the antifungal cannot go through it even if it's a systemic one. But this poor bird has all kinds of health issues, she has high cholesterol, high triglycerides, diabetes AND malassezia on her face so you know her immune system is shot.

As to your own health, 62 and not on any medicine?! Wow, that's great! I am a bit younger than you but I already have osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, hypertension (and this one is bad because I am a borderline stage one who crosses over to stage two when under any little stress), COPD and I am a cancer survivor (ten years and counting). As you can see, I am a regular wreck -LOL- but it's not because I don't take care of myself because I do. It's mostly genetic.

The peanuts you buy in a shell in bulk or the ones you find in bagged bird food are the worst offenders for mold. I feed no peanuts at all because if your bird does ingest the mold and gets sick it is a long long road to recovery if at all.

OK peanuts are'nt the best nuts for birds But what about walnuts,almonds,brazil nuts I have had these nuts and have found some of them with mold on the almonds or a white looking power on the walnut shell and the the brazil nut shell had a faded looking shell instead of the dark color shell on it I did'nt give the birds those nuts cause i did'nt want to take a chance and threw them out So my question is what is the differance with peanuts and mold and the 3 other types of nuts with mold and peanuts is the only one being mention