Sweet potatoes for a Quaker

[Israel.huxhold]

So I heard that sweet potatoes are very high in vitamin A and other vitamins and I was wondering if they had calcium as well? I'm trying to help my quaker with a calcium deficiency (at least I think he's deficient, he has a nibble of his poop every now and again) and I'm fighting tooth and nail to get him to eat fruits and veggies. That being said I have a couple questions. 1) how do you prepare sweet potatoes without a microwave and a steamer without cooking the nutrients out of it? 2) are there any other simple foods that contain calcium? Thank you in advance!

 

[Scott]

Many parrots love sweet potatoes and yams. I feed both, though sweet potatoes are a bit more nutritious. Cooking prep is easy; scrub clean, pierce a few slits with sharp knife, and cook whole in microwave. Split open and allow to cool, preventing crop burn. I serve claw-sized chunks placed in their bowls of "chop."

Acceptable foods with calcium include various seeds, beans, lentils, almonds, leafy greens, and edamame. (serve edamame sparingly as it has high soy {estrogen} content)

 

[Israel.huxhold]

Many parrots love sweet potatoes and yams. I feed both, though sweet potatoes are a bit more nutritious. Cooking prep is easy; scrub clean, pierce a few slits with sharp knife, and cook whole in microwave. Split open and allow to cool, preventing crop burn. I serve claw-sized chunks placed in their bowls of "chop."

Acceptable foods with calcium include various seeds, beans, lentils, almonds, leafy greens, and edamame. (serve edamame sparingly as it has high soy {estrogen} content)

Do you happen to know any other way than the microwave? I just moved in with my sister and we don't have one yet

 

[Terry57]

Many parrots love sweet potatoes and yams. I feed both, though sweet potatoes are a bit more nutritious. Cooking prep is easy; scrub clean, pierce a few slits with sharp knife, and cook whole in microwave. Split open and allow to cool, preventing crop burn. I serve claw-sized chunks placed in their bowls of "chop."

Acceptable foods with calcium include various seeds, beans, lentils, almonds, leafy greens, and edamame. (serve edamame sparingly as it has high soy {estrogen} content)

Do you happen to know any other way than the microwave? I just moved in with my sister and we don't have one yet

Welcome to the forum!

I wash the outside of mine well, and then cut in half and place them upside down on a rack in a pan. I add water to the pan with some flavouring spices (I usually use Cayenne pepper and cinnamon) and bake in the oven until soft, then remove the sweet potatoes from their shells and mash it up.
I usually do some this way as well: I remove the sweet potatoes from their shells and cut it into small chunks and boil it until soft and serve it that way as some of my birds prefer chunks rather than a mash. I also flavour these by adding the spices to the water or just sprinkling some on after they are done. The spices are not required, but I find my guys like it better this way.

 

[Israel.huxhold]

Many parrots love sweet potatoes and yams. I feed both, though sweet potatoes are a bit more nutritious. Cooking prep is easy; scrub clean, pierce a few slits with sharp knife, and cook whole in microwave. Split open and allow to cool, preventing crop burn. I serve claw-sized chunks placed in their bowls of "chop."

Acceptable foods with calcium include various seeds, beans, lentils, almonds, leafy greens, and edamame. (serve edamame sparingly as it has high soy {estrogen} content)

Do you happen to know any other way than the microwave? I just moved in with my sister and we don't have one yet

Welcome to the forum!

I wash the outside of mine well, and then cut in half and place them upside down on a rack in a pan. I add water to the pan with some flavouring spices (I usually use Cayenne pepper and cinnamon) and bake in the oven until soft, then remove the sweet potatoes from their shells and mash it up.
I usually do some this way as well: I remove the sweet potatoes from their shells and cut it into small chunks and boil it until soft and serve it that way as some of my birds prefer chunks rather than a mash. I also flavour these by adding the spices to the water or just sprinkling some on after they are done. The spices are not required, but I find my guys like it better this way.

Thank you again! I didn't want to boil them in case it cooked the nutrients out but now I am definitely going to! Thank you very much 😁 also thank you to Scott if he happens to see this!

 

[Ira7]

I cut a whole sweet potato into sections, then boil them one section at a time. Even one section provides several meals. Of course, everything goes in the fridge.

You might want to repeat the process with another veg, like turnip or beet, and feed her both in the same bowl. Mine loves turnips as well.

It can’t hurt.

 

[Scott]

Hadn't thought of boiling, and I'm too lazy to bake. Though they probably taste better as do white potatoes fresh from the oven!

 

[Ira7]

Hadn't thought of boiling, and I'm too lazy to bake. Though they probably taste better as do white potatoes fresh from the oven!

The first time I made sweet potato for him, I nuked it. And although he went for it (Archie eats everything), it simply came out too dry for my tastes, even though he’s the one eating it, not me.

In addition, you’re not going to cook a WHOLE sweet potato, That makes no sense. I believe in different meals every day. (It’s also an integral part of the training and bonding process.) So I slice and boil little hunks of it on as-needed basis. A sweet potato will stay fresh and healthy in the fridge for a LONG time, like 2 weeks and more.

 

[wrench13]

Egg shells from a hard boiled egg can be pulverized by bashing them between layers of napkin, into a fine powder and sprinkled on his regular food. Eggcelent (Ha Ha) source of calcium. Maybe 1x a month. Chicken bones also are good, again maybe 1x a month. Our 'zon loves them, to the point where he knows when we get a bucket o' the colonels best, he is pacing back and forth waiting for his leg bone!

 

[Ira7]

Egg shells from a hard boiled egg can be pulverized by bashing them between layers of napkin, into a fine powder and sprinkled on his regular food. Eggcelent (Ha Ha) source of calcium. Maybe 1x a month. Chicken bones also are good, again maybe 1x a month. Our 'zon loves them, to the point where he knows when we get a bucket o' the colonels best, he is pacing back and forth waiting for his leg bone!

Hard boiled egg was on the menu for Archie tonight! Not the shell, though. Gave it to him 2 weeks ago and he seemed to really like it. But maybe he was just being polite, like I pretend to like my mother’s brisket.

How often can I give him this? Are you saying only once a month, and the same for chicken bones?

But for chicken, I wouldn’t think fried. For my grey, I cut the wing tips off and just baked them. The rest are of the wings, I lathered with every unhealthy thing on earth to eat myself.

 

[Tami2]

When I realized Levi was loving himself some mashed potatoes, I decided to make him his own special mash. I boil one medium potato, one large sweet potato and butternut squash. I mash them all together and he loves it.

 

[Ira7]

When I realized Levi was loving himself some mashed potatoes, I decided to make him his own special mash. I boil one medium potato, one large sweet potato and butternut squash. I mash them all together and he loves it.

That’s a ton of potato.

Do you refrigerate most of it?

 

[DaveTX]

I buy flash frozen sweet potatoes in chunks and I will steam them for 5 minutes and add other things like turnip, broccoli etc. It’s quick and easy

 

[Ira7]

I buy flash frozen sweet potatoes in chunks and I will steam them for 5 minutes and add other things like turnip, broccoli etc. It’s quick and easy

I’m gonna look to do this. I was just afraid to buy frozen, thinking it has added stuff.

 

[Tami2]

When I realized Levi was loving himself some mashed potatoes, I decided to make him his own special mash. I boil one medium potato, one large sweet potato and butternut squash. I mash them all together and he loves it.

That’s a ton of potato.

Do you refrigerate most of it?

Sometimes I make a lot more, I separate a portion for Levi & we eat some as well. I do refrigerate the rest. I use more sweet potato & squash than white potato.

 

[Ira7]

I gave Archie some raw turnip last week. He acted like a human doing psychedelic mushrooms, or a cat on catnip. It was seriously SCARY, but maybe it was just a coincidence:

His utter happiness frightened me. I’m not used to that in my own life.

I’ve since boiled one (it takes a long time to soften a turnip!!!), refrigerated, and chopped, and get a few meals out of it...mixed with something else.

He doesn’t trip out this way, so I may go back to raw.

 

[wrench13]

Acorn squash is another good vitamin rich vegie. We take a 1" slice,zap it on the potato setting, trim the skin off, cut into small chunks, leave a few seeds in the mix and serve it. Its one of Saltys favorite meals.
Main thing about veggies is to wash throughly, to get ridof pesticidesand stuff. Roots like turnipes and yams to get rid of the dirt, broccolis and spinach to get rid of the sand etc.

 

[Bentlegs]

Can you give a quaker parrot a chicken leg bone to chew on?