Seeds! Seeds?

QuackQuack · Apr 17, 2012

Are safflower seeds garbage? Is it something I want in my bird's diet? What seeds are good - what seeds are bad?

MissyMe83 · Apr 17, 2012

I think those are okay in moderation. Your best bet is to look for a mix that doesn't contain sunflower seeds. I buy my food online and there's many healthy mixes to choose from.

Check out Goldenfeast non-cookable/cookable mixes, Higgins, and Hagen. They all offer seed, seed/fruit/nut mixes. : )

Enjru · Apr 17, 2012

If you sprout the seeds, this makes them much more nutritious, as the harmful fat stored in the seed gets converted into useful nutrients for the plant to grow (and your parrots to eat).

MaraWentz · Apr 18, 2012

Depends on the bird. The store I bought my red front from was astounded and a bit irritated that I wanted to buy peanuts, sun and safflower seeds for treats. They argued up a wall with me saying it was way too fattening and unhealthy along with the risks of mold, etc

QuackQuack · Apr 18, 2012

That is really weird! You even said they were treats! I would have been like do you find carrots to be a treat or is cake a treat? Macaws are supposed to be energy powerhouses in need of some calories! Then again I had a 'petstore expert' tell me just yesterday that sunflower seeds were the best for my birds - HA!

Riio · Apr 18, 2012

As far as SAFflower seeds being garbage, I can't tell you, but I can tell you that my lil Rio will do just about anything to get a few! She will even be nice to strangers (and my annoying to her 3yr old son) if they offer up a few. I have heard that SUNflower seeds are bad for the birds, but again, I am no expert! I think its probably just like anything that is "bad" for us, anything is ok in moderation and as an occasional treat!

ShreddedOakAviary · Apr 18, 2012

Safflower seeds are safer than sunflower seeds. Though I feed absolutely NO seed to any of our birds (even my cockatiels get fresh food and pellets.

ShreddedOakAviary · Apr 18, 2012

I'll add that I get a lot of birds here for baby sitting or retraining that get seed as either main food or treats, and owners ALWAYS had ask me why their bird is so much more beautiful when they pick them up. Color and condition change a great deal on a primarily fresh food diet and I supplement pellet in and then we give almonds because they are a healthy protein. I also use extra firm tofu in our food for the same reason. In the end it's your decision, but safflower seeds are not completely bad.

MikeyTN · Apr 18, 2012

My mix consists of minimal safflower and sunflower seeds. Some of my birds don't like either one....lol....but there's so little of them in there they have to eat the other mix. But I've always been told safflower is not as bad as sunflower.

ShreddedOakAviary · Apr 18, 2012

Amazons are incredibly prone to obesity and fatter liver disease, which is why the petstore was horrified with the idea of peanuts and sunflower seeds, my advice would be to use almonds instead.

ShreddedOakAviary · Apr 18, 2012

Want more specifics of feeding? Try a yahoo based group called feedingfeathers.

ShreddedOakAviary · Apr 18, 2012

Oops... made a mistake, you were referring to a red front macaw. Macaws need a lot of protein, but if you like to give lots of treats I would still regimens almonds (for several reasons)

MikeyTN · Apr 18, 2012

ShreddedOakAviary said:
Oops... made a mistake, you were referring to a red front macaw. Macaws need a lot of protein, but if you like to give lots of treats I would still regimens almonds (for several reasons)

Your slacking!!!!! LoL....stop answering when your half asleep...

MaraWentz · Apr 18, 2012

Oh yes she was astounded when I asked them as treats. My last red front loved them. However I must admit when going over Elvis' necropsy it stated he had severe Atherosclerosis which is from fatty diets and the vet presumed he would had died in the. Ext ten years from that because of its severity and he was only 10 at the time! His diet was mainly seed mixtures- chiles, pellets, dried fruit, safflower seeds, sunflower seeds and peanuts as treats. With that knowledge I don't mind listening to the store when they say that isn't even good for a treat.

MissyMe83 · Apr 18, 2012

Ill add that I think moderation and variety are very important. I surely wouldn't want to eat the same food three times a day everyday. I try to change it up all the time while still offering a staple pellet and fresh veggies and fruit. I put that on a skewer that u can hang from the top of the cage. I think its good for the foraging aspect. Then ill add a cookable food, a couple different dryer mixes w fruit, nuts, pasta etc and different treats. It works well for us and I enjoy doing it : )

QuackQuack · Apr 18, 2012

If I may ask, is necropsy expensive? I think it would be something I would definitely have done if my bird died prematurely. It's good you had one done - you live, and you learn!

Featheredsamurai · Apr 18, 2012

nuts are a great alternative to seeds (peanuts are not nuts).

I feed my Galah healthy pellets and at the moment she gets veterinarian lafeber's avi cakes to help her gain weight, but will soon be off of them because I want no seeds in her diet.

MaraWentz · Apr 19, 2012

The necropsy is $90 and the biopsy is $275

goalerjones · Apr 19, 2012

MaraWentz said:
The necropsy is $90 and the biopsy is $275

depends on ur vet, mine was $70 but histology would've been $150

Seeds! Seeds?

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