Broccoli gases??

Recently a friend of mine lost two love birds. They cannot figure out what happened except they were curious about the possibility of gases from broccoli that had been microwaved. He was telling me that his wife had a baby shower for their daughter and they microwaved a large quantities of broccoli. When he got home that evening he said the smell was overwhelming. The next morning they got up and one of the lovebirds was dead and by the time they got to the vet with the second one he had passed away also. Any insight?

I can't say i have even heard of this before....I did a quick google and some people say broccoli is bad to eat but probably more say that about egg whites, soda, or apples. If I had to lay money on it someone at the shower had a cold or virus...

I'm not a nutritionist but, I've never heard of anything regarding "broccoli" and "death" in the same paragraph before. The other most common poisons for house birds are plants inside the home. Pretty, but some are not good for birds to eat.

I can't say definitively but I would look to another vector before I settled on broccoli. Of course someone an hour from now might say I'm wrong but i honestly wouldn'y think twice about giving broccoli to my bird, unless I heard otherwise.

And I'm not even a fan of broccoli. It's fine with cheese and certain soups.

I'm sorry for the birds.

Seeing that it was a baby shower, probably they made other dishes in teflon-lined cookware? Maybe even the microwave had teflon inside. If I remember correctly, some of them have teflon, in order to be easier to clean in case your food pops up all over inside. If this is the case, perhaps the extensive use of the microwave placed enough toxic particles in the air for the poor birds.

I would be wary of what the broccoli was heated in. A plastic bag? Some microwave popcorn bags contain teflon and similar chemicals inside the bag, so it seems logical a microwaveable bag of broccoli and cheese or similar could be lined with something toxic. Was it heated in plastic bowl or container? Any plastic container that gets hot enough (and being repeatedly microwaved and full of steaming hot food) could release fumes. I suppose a microwave itself could too, especially with prolonged/abnormal use.

Broccoli is a safe vegetable for parrots and while somewhat smelly, it is a harmless smell. About the only thing I could think of negative about broccoli is a food borne illness but symptoms you state suggest a death more in line with poisoning from toxic fumes. Another consideration- there are often children at baby showers, is it possible a child (or perhaps stupid adult) gave the lovebirds something unknowingly bad for them while no one was looking?

Did they do any deep cleaning before the baby shower using chemical cleaners? Aerosol air freshener either as part of cleaning or placed thoughtfully in the bathroom? Could a guest have fed them something they shouldn't have had?

Did they ask the vet to perform a necropsy? That would give better information than all of us taking best guesses.

Was the baby shower at the bird's home? I've known people to feed pets large amounts of food they shouldn't have, just because it's fun and they don't know any better. If someone sneaked the birds a bit of tasty chocolate, for example, that can be fatal.