Affordable/free parrot nutrition sources?

[Tiel]

Hey guys,
I hope I'm not being annoying by posing this question but currently I'm really trying to change my parrots diet. I've sort of struggled with finding scientific avian nutrition books that are also affordable? I know Bird Tricks has one but quite frankly, without doubting their integrity, it's too expensive for me at the moment. Are there any PDFs or books that detail parrot nutrition in detail with great chop recipes? Currently my parrots would rather eat slabs of concrete than touch any of my chop I want to know not only which vegetables to use but also WHY I should use them. Thank you in advance!

 

[Laurasea]

Hi,
I'm not into the chop.
All of my parrots including budgies eat vegetables with gusto! But I serve individual vegetables spread out, fresh each day. What I buy for the week i use till its gone, I try for 3-5 different types offerd twice a day. So if green beans are in season and I buy a bag they will get them at each feeding, along with the other vegetables. I do not cut up the vegetables, or I only do a minimum cut up.
I feed in wide shallow dishes like glass casserole dishes , on top of the Cage. Parrots seem to explore better out of the cage . Info nit limit any of their other foods, of pellets and seeds.

Once parrots start trying new stuff the better and better they will get at trying new foods.

Mine race out of the cage to the vegetables plate. They can't wait to see what's offered and dig in. Since I've gotten 9 parrots of differnt ages, circumstances, and species to love veggies. I feel it's a pretty good system.

 

[Tiel]

Hi,
I'm not into the chop.
All of my parrots including budgies eat vegetables with gusto! But I serve individual vegetables spread out, fresh each day. What I buy for the week i use till its gone, I try for 3-5 different types offerd twice a day. So if green beans are in season and I buy a bag they will get them at each feeding, along with the other vegetables. I do not cut up the vegetables, or I only do a minimum cut up.
I feed in wide shallow dishes like glass casserole dishes , on top of the Cage. Parrots seem to explore better out of the cage . Info nit limit any of their other foods, of pellets and seeds.

Once parrots start trying new stuff the better and better they will get at trying new foods.

Mine race out of the cage to the vegetables plate. They can't wait to see what's offered and dig in. Since I've gotten 9 parrots of differnt ages, circumstances, and species to love veggies. I feel it's a pretty good system.

I wonder if mine are just grossed out by the "mush". They seem to not like the idea of a sludge of veggies. To me it's just important for them to eat it so maybe next time I'll just quite literally chop up the veggies and serve it to them like that?

 

[Laurasea]

Absolutely!!!@! Try hanging ahead of Swiss chard or romaine. When they are hanging, I can almost guarantee a nibble. Set out a broccoli florets, cubes of cucumber or squash, carrots i do shred...but offer in hunks to, Brussels sprouts. Sugar snap peas ..

 

[Laurasea]

Presentation is everything! How can they resist this lush yellow bell pepper? They can not!

Or you can use stainless steel bird skewer to hang at beak hight or make more fun

Ps blankets cuz all my sick babies, been draping cages

 

[SailBoat]

Free to inexpensive parrot nutrition resources are rare. But, completing a Web search of the foods commonly available in your Parrot's species natural range will be helpful in understanding what their natural diet includes.

 

[fiddlejen]

Veggies to NOT give birds: Avocado, Mushroom, Onion, Garlic, nutmeg.

I hope that's the full list. It's the NO-list i've been using. If it needs correcting or adding, someone please tell me!

 

[Moxie]

Hey guys,
I hope I'm not being annoying by posing this question but currently I'm really trying to change my parrots diet. I've sort of struggled with finding scientific avian nutrition books that are also affordable? I know Bird Tricks has one but quite frankly, without doubting their integrity, it's too expensive for me at the moment. Are there any PDFs or books that detail parrot nutrition in detail with great chop recipes? Currently my parrots would rather eat slabs of concrete than touch any of my chop I want to know not only which vegetables to use but also WHY I should use them. Thank you in advance!

" I want to know not only which vegetables to use but also WHY I should use them. " Based on this statement I would recommend you start with some basic Nutritional Information on Vitamins, Minerals and Amino Acids I think it would help you considerable. I have compiled a few of my favorite books. I laid them out so you could read the spline of the books.

I have quite a collection of avian books some are fantastic and some are so so and some are more geared for the Avian Vet.

Avian Nutrition by Robert G. Black is a pretty good book. https://www.amazon.com/Avian-Nutrition-Robert-G-Black/dp/0910335044

Comparative Avian Nutrition by K.C. Klasing is another book and you will see a lot of avian authors reference this book in their books.
https://www.amazon.com/Comparative-Nutrition-Publishing-Klasing-1998-01-02/dp/B01K0V4QS0

Avian Medicine 3rd Edition by Jaime Samour MVZ PhD Dip ECAMS
I really love Chapter 3 I will share a few a bit from the chapter I will not share the whole chapter.
https://www.amazon.com/Avian-Medicine-Jaime-Samour-ECAMS/dp/0723438323

While whole foods natural to the species are essential, diets must be informed and complete. Before the middle of the last century, uninformed attempts to provide naturalistic diets to captive exotic and wild birds were the rule. Incomplete diets such as those composed entirely of seed or meat were deficient in calcium and vitamins A and D, and often caused disease and early death.

After essential nutrients were discovered and chemically characterized, formulated “complete” diets became the norm for feeding livestock, including poultry. These products were, and continue to be, composed largely of grain and soy. They are made “complete” with additions of purified micronutrients.

Formulations for pets and exotic and wild captives soon followed, based on the same types of ingredients. The motto in animal science departments became “nutrients, not food.” Although outdated, that approach still prevails in many settings. Indeed, one major manufacturer sells a single formulated diet that is labeled for use in zoo animals ranging from herbivorous hindgut fermenters to carnivores.

Among captive birds, formulations are often used for adult psittaciforms, whose natural diets may consist of fruit, nuts/seeds, invertebrates, flowers, tender leaves, and in some cases nectar. Not surprisingly, formulations are far from optimal for these birds. Soy is poorly digested by birds (Parsons et al., 1981; Elliston and Perlman, 2002; Choct et al., 2010), and grain is a nutrient-poor dietary base for species that did not evolve to eat it (Cordain, 1999; Dewey, 2013). Pelleted diets for parrots have startlingly low bioavailability; only 50% of their protein is absorbed (Kalmar et al., 2007) compared with >85% in naturalistic foods (Sales et al., 2004).

Formulated products also have the major disadvantage of forcing birds to consume a monotonous diet that is inadequate or entirely lacking in most of the essential phytonutrients described above. And because birds’ requirements are highly dynamic, all nutrient levels in formulations are inevitably nonoptimal, over significant periods of birds’ lives, for all species. For certain species, nutrients including calcium and vitamin A are typically present in toxic excess (McDonald, 2003; de Matos, 2008). When birds cannot choose what they eat, they cannot avoid such toxicities, which also arise as a result of too-frequent quality control problems in formulations (Frederick et al., 2003; http://www.fda.gov/animalVeterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/default.htm).

A healthful and complete naturalistic diet for species of any taxon can be knowledgeably created by examining the primary literature (e.g., Witmer, 1996; Gilbert et al., 2003; Brightsmith et al., 2010). Collections of species accounts, notably Birds of the World (Oxford University Press; http://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/b/ bird-families-of-the-world-bfw/?cc=&lang=en) and Birds of North America (American Ornithologists’ Union; http://bna.birds.cornell .edu/bna/) are invaluable.

I will include page 28 so you may see the foods chart

I don't feed pellets at all except to Miss Moxie they were the only food she knew for the first few years of her life. We have made great strides in expanding her diet and she doesn't eat many pellets now but as long as she still wants the few that she eats I won't take them away. No other parrot in my care will touch a pellet. Every thing is fresh and prepared daily and it is either put divided in their bowls or hung by skewers. I never worry about favorites because they are every changing.

I do want to say that I respect the choices that people make for their parrots even when it comes to foods they feed.

I don't feed garlic raw but they do get garlic cooked in other dishes. In the book A Guide to a Naturally Healthy Bird: Nutrition, Feeding, and Natural Healing Methods for Parrots by Alicia McWatters she used garlic for fungal infections. https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Naturally-Healthy-Bird-Nutrition/dp/1884820212

Nutmeg is has psychoactive properties in large doses but I do use it in recipes that they eat. My pumpkin bread recipes calls for 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp for the whole recipe so they would consume a very tiny amount when eaten. Other than in a recipe I would never give it to them.

Another option would be the nutritional bar charts. There are some on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Quick-Study-Health-BarCharts/dp/1423218426

 

[fiddlejen]

I don't feed garlic raw but they do get garlic cooked in other dishes. In the book A Guide to a Naturally Healthy Bird: Nutrition, Feeding, and Natural Healing Methods for Parrots by Alicia McWatters she used garlic for fungal infections. https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Naturally-Healthy-Bird-Nutrition/dp/1884820212

Nutmeg is has psychoactive properties in large doses but I do use it in recipes that they eat. My pumpkin bread recipes calls for 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp for the whole recipe so they would consume a very tiny amount when eaten. Other than in a recipe I would never give it to them.

https://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Quick-Study-Health-BarCharts/dp/1423218426

Thank you for this information. I had been concerned and was avoiding nutmeg and garlic even when cooking for myself, due to my bird likes to sample my food, so I'm glad to hear that a small amount would probably be safe.

 

[fiddlejen]

Somehow this list of books reminded me of something I often forget. Many local libraries, such as my own, have e-books available for borrow. My own has quite a large selection, and I did borrow one from them on parrot behavior after I first got my Sunny. Since OP has asked about Free resources, the local library can be a good place to check.

 

[wrench13]

Presentation can be a big part of acceptance of new foods. In the past I've done a 3 day cycle - 1st day really large pieces, like halves for the small veggies, 2nd day chunks about 1/2" inch or bit smaller, 3rd day like what a food processer makes, little bits. With some veggies it took awhile a. get him to try them, and b. see which was the favorite.

 

[Laurasea]

Hey guys,
I hope I'm not being annoying by posing this question but currently I'm really trying to change my parrots diet. I've sort of struggled with finding scientific avian nutrition books that are also affordable? I know Bird Tricks has one but quite frankly, without doubting their integrity, it's too expensive for me at the moment. Are there any PDFs or books that detail parrot nutrition in detail with great chop recipes? Currently my parrots would rather eat slabs of concrete than touch any of my chop I want to know not only which vegetables to use but also WHY I should use them. Thank you in advance!

" I want to know not only which vegetables to use but also WHY I should use them. " Based on this statement I would recommend you start with some basic Nutritional Information on Vitamins, Minerals and Amino Acids I think it would help you considerable. I have compiled a few of my favorite books. I laid them out so you could read the spline of the books.

I have quite a collection of avian books some are fantastic and some are so so and some are more geared for the Avian Vet.

Avian Nutrition by Robert G. Black is a pretty good book. https://www.amazon.com/Avian-Nutrition-Robert-G-Black/dp/0910335044

Comparative Avian Nutrition by K.C. Klasing is another book and you will see a lot of avian authors reference this book in their books.
https://www.amazon.com/Comparative-Nutrition-Publishing-Klasing-1998-01-02/dp/B01K0V4QS0

Avian Medicine 3rd Edition by Jaime Samour MVZ PhD Dip ECAMS
I really love Chapter 3 I will share a few a bit from the chapter I will not share the whole chapter.
https://www.amazon.com/Avian-Medicine-Jaime-Samour-ECAMS/dp/0723438323

While whole foods natural to the species are essential, diets must be informed and complete. Before the middle of the last century, uninformed attempts to provide naturalistic diets to captive exotic and wild birds were the rule. Incomplete diets such as those composed entirely of seed or meat were deficient in calcium and vitamins A and D, and often caused disease and early death.

After essential nutrients were discovered and chemically characterized, formulated “complete” diets became the norm for feeding livestock, including poultry. These products were, and continue to be, composed largely of grain and soy. They are made “complete” with additions of purified micronutrients.

Formulations for pets and exotic and wild captives soon followed, based on the same types of ingredients. The motto in animal science departments became “nutrients, not food.” Although outdated, that approach still prevails in many settings. Indeed, one major manufacturer sells a single formulated diet that is labeled for use in zoo animals ranging from herbivorous hindgut fermenters to carnivores.

Among captive birds, formulations are often used for adult psittaciforms, whose natural diets may consist of fruit, nuts/seeds, invertebrates, flowers, tender leaves, and in some cases nectar. Not surprisingly, formulations are far from optimal for these birds. Soy is poorly digested by birds (Parsons et al., 1981; Elliston and Perlman, 2002; Choct et al., 2010), and grain is a nutrient-poor dietary base for species that did not evolve to eat it (Cordain, 1999; Dewey, 2013). Pelleted diets for parrots have startlingly low bioavailability; only 50% of their protein is absorbed (Kalmar et al., 2007) compared with >85% in naturalistic foods (Sales et al., 2004).

Formulated products also have the major disadvantage of forcing birds to consume a monotonous diet that is inadequate or entirely lacking in most of the essential phytonutrients described above. And because birds’ requirements are highly dynamic, all nutrient levels in formulations are inevitably nonoptimal, over significant periods of birds’ lives, for all species. For certain species, nutrients including calcium and vitamin A are typically present in toxic excess (McDonald, 2003; de Matos, 2008). When birds cannot choose what they eat, they cannot avoid such toxicities, which also arise as a result of too-frequent quality control problems in formulations (Frederick et al., 2003; http://www.fda.gov/animalVeterinary/safetyhealth/recallswithdrawals/default.htm).

A healthful and complete naturalistic diet for species of any taxon can be knowledgeably created by examining the primary literature (e.g., Witmer, 1996; Gilbert et al., 2003; Brightsmith et al., 2010). Collections of species accounts, notably Birds of the World (Oxford University Press; http://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/b/ bird-families-of-the-world-bfw/?cc=&lang=en) and Birds of North America (American Ornithologists’ Union; http://bna.birds.cornell .edu/bna/) are invaluable.

I will include page 28 so you may see the foods chart

I don't feed pellets at all except to Miss Moxie they were the only food she knew for the first few years of her life. We have made great strides in expanding her diet and she doesn't eat many pellets now but as long as she still wants the few that she eats I won't take them away. No other parrot in my care will touch a pellet. Every thing is fresh and prepared daily and it is either put divided in their bowls or hung by skewers. I never worry about favorites because they are every changing.

I do want to say that I respect the choices that people make for their parrots even when it comes to foods they feed.

I don't feed garlic raw but they do get garlic cooked in other dishes. In the book A Guide to a Naturally Healthy Bird: Nutrition, Feeding, and Natural Healing Methods for Parrots by Alicia McWatters she used garlic for fungal infections. https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Naturally-Healthy-Bird-Nutrition/dp/1884820212

Nutmeg is has psychoactive properties in large doses but I do use it in recipes that they eat. My pumpkin bread recipes calls for 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp for the whole recipe so they would consume a very tiny amount when eaten. Other than in a recipe I would never give it to them.

Another option would be the nutritional bar charts. There are some on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Quick-Study-Health-BarCharts/dp/1423218426

I'm so glad to see someone else talk about terrible soy!!!! Soy is cheap! Soy is easy to grow cuz nothing wants to eat it! Soy has anti nutrients, that block the up take of nutrients.
Soy is subsidized, so farms want to grow it and find markets for it. Soy is being stuck in so many human products, read labels you will be blown away.

Moxie feel free to stick any science stuff in the ornithology thread!

 

[Moxie]

I don't feed garlic raw but they do get garlic cooked in other dishes. In the book A Guide to a Naturally Healthy Bird: Nutrition, Feeding, and Natural Healing Methods for Parrots by Alicia McWatters she used garlic for fungal infections. https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Naturally-Healthy-Bird-Nutrition/dp/1884820212

Nutmeg is has psychoactive properties in large doses but I do use it in recipes that they eat. My pumpkin bread recipes calls for 1/2 tsp or 1 tsp for the whole recipe so they would consume a very tiny amount when eaten. Other than in a recipe I would never give it to them.

https://www.amazon.com/Nutrition-Quick-Study-Health-BarCharts/dp/1423218426

Thank you for this information. I had been concerned and was avoiding nutmeg and garlic even when cooking for myself, due to my bird likes to sample my food, so I'm glad to hear that a small amount would probably be safe.

You are so welcome

Another one to mention is Cinnamon. There are different kinds/types of cinnamon and they have different amounts of coumarin Ceylon cinnamon has the lowest amount. If you only feed cinnamon on occasion then it probably wouldn't be an issue but for someone who feeds it on a regular they would want to feed the Ceylon Cinnamon because coumarin is a natural blood thinner. It will certainly keeps the ants from anywhere you don't want them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon

You always hear not to feed avocados to parrots but mine always want some of the guacamole when I make it. I can see where it could be harmful to Old World Parrots but not New World Parrots. Avocados are native to South America and so birds from there would most likely eat them and would have evolved in some sort of way to deal with any toxin. Still I don't feed mine avocado but occasionally someone will try to sneak a bite.
Check out this video of wild birds in California.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYvrZh7odLc"]Parrots and Avocados - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Littleredbeak]

Check out the ParrotsRUS Instagram page. She talks about parrot nutrition and has live chats and discussions with an avian vet. I believe she is one of the co creators of TOPs parrot food. (I’m forgetting her name right now).