A few fruit questions.

[hacatta]

hi, today at the marked i got a orange passion fruit for free to try,can the birds have this?
I got some lychee too ,can they have it?
Also i bought a bag off cranberry's but noticed that some are deep red with red inside and the others white inside,does the white mean they are not ripe yet and i can't give them?
someone told me to be careful with the fruit that surrounds the seed,is this true?i thought it was just seeds.
Thank you!

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

The only thing you asked about that I know about is the cranberries. I give Zilla fresh cranberries daily. It doesn't matter the color as long as they aren't "green" or "white" on the OUTSIDE skin. Inside color she eats either white or red, I think the red is just riper. I give them to her whole. Sometimes she eats the whole berry other times she just eats the seed and tosses the rest.

 

[MikeyTN]

Passion fruit and lychee are both safe for parrots to consume.

Are you talking about the stone fruit such as peaches? The center seeds of peaches must be removed, same with apple seeds as they're toxic to birds.

 

[MikeyTN]

Lychee is one of my top favorite fruits to have! Whenever I do get them fresh I would share them with my birds. I don't get passion fruit very much. One that my birds love is Asian pears.

 

[hacatta]

Great to know i can give them all that.
Asian pears?never heard off it,late,y i have been shopping on the turkish marked and found so much fruit that isn't for sale in the supermarked,i feel like a kid in the candy shop
I always go to the same shop and he knows that i buy it for my birds,he always gives me a little something for free for them,last time a dragonfruit,what a wierd fruit is that!had never seen it before but my gcc's are in love with it.

 

[weco]

The cranberries are safe and the lighter colors and white one are just not ripe...cranberries grow in bogs (under water), similar to rice paddies, but when harvested, they are raked in, with rakes & pretty much everything in the rake goes with the berries, though much of the trash is picked out by spotters, but the unripe berries usually get through.....

 

[hacatta]

The cranberries are safe and the lighter colors and white one are just not ripe...cranberries grow in bogs (under water), similar to rice paddies, but when harvested, they are raked in, with rakes & pretty much everything in the rake goes with the berries, though much of the trash is picked out by spotters, but the unripe berries usually get through.....

This is new to me,i uses to have few cranberry bushes 4 years ago.
But the outside birds where always faster that me

 

[weco]

Here's a link for you: How Cranberries Grow Introduction

 

[Bartleby]

The cranberries are safe and the lighter colors and white one are just not ripe...cranberries grow in bogs (under water), similar to rice paddies, but when harvested, they are raked in, with rakes & pretty much everything in the rake goes with the berries, though much of the trash is picked out by spotters, but the unripe berries usually get through.....

Cranberries don't really grow underwater, it's more of a marshy wetland type of growing medium. The bogs are surrounded by dikes. When the berries are ripe the beds are raked and then flooded. The buoyant berries float to the surface and that's the pictures you see of standing water over the beds at harvest time. Then they typically keep it flooded for overwintering to protect from frost and winds.

This link explains growing conditions a little more clearly:
The University of Maine - Cooperative Extension: Cranberries - How to Grow Cranberries
Here's a bit on the commercial harvesting and irrigation practices:
http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2247e/

 

[Scott]

Most of my birds that love whole cranberries enjoy the seeds at the core. They have a preference for the firm dense berries and generally toss the soft squishy ones. I tried freezing a few bags to defrost during the "off" season, but unfortunately the thawing process softens them!