B & G Macaw hormone specific human foods list to make a dehydrated chop.

[Bogie's Mom]

Well....as you all have heard...my love Bogie...just about took my pointy finger off yesterday. I'm not a whimp. He's always been pinchy nippy sassy alpha-y....and it is an opportunity for me to learn how to train him into not being this way. But...yesterday...was life changing. I blame me for not knowing the rage of hormones that can happen. So today one thing I'm working on is acquiring a top-of-the-line human food grade list of foods SPECIFIC to Macaw hormone rages and it to help it. Tons of talk is about temperature and consistency. So one owner makes a chop that she dehydrated. Not specifically for hormones...she just does this. So im going to collect an organic list of food to give during the horrormone season. I read chamomile??? So now I'd like to start a thread on collecting a list of all foods to feed that are neutral to or helps hormones in macaws. Im collecting and dehydrating. Im going to try to do organics. Id love to grow from my garden too. So please any and all foods that are neutral to give or helps the hormone season is greatly appreciated. So far....I have greens, peas, corn, green beans, chamomile..... Im looking into herbs too....thank you.

 

[SailBoat]

Since this is a general development of a diet to reduce /keep Mac's (and other large hook billed Parrots) from enhancing the Seasonal Hormonal Flow. It becomes important for all uses of dehydrating equipment to remember that by hydrating foods, the process tends to enhance the results by volume. i.e., by removing moisture what is left has greater potency. This is especially problem with fruits.

 

[Bogie's Mom]

Since this is a general development of a diet to reduce /keep Mac's (and other large hook billed Parrots) from enhancing the Seasonal Hormonal Flow. It becomes important for all uses of dehydrating equipment to remember that by hydrating foods, the process tends to enhance the results by volume. i.e., by removing moisture what is left has greater potency. This is especially problem with fruits.

Yes...thank you. I understood this but I guess you're saying that things like herbs i need to be careful of? I don't want to make concentrations toxic or super sugary...

 

[wrench13]

'Boats I seem to remember reading that either dehydrated or freeze-dried foods are not OK for parrots, one or the other, but of course I can't remember which one. Any info on that?

Bogie's Mom, what is the intended reason for the dehydration? What is that supposed to accomplish? Would you re-hydrate upon serving?

 

[Bogie's Mom]

'Boats I seem to remember reading that either dehydrated or freeze-dried foods are not OK for parrots, one or the other, but of course I can't remember which one. Any info on that?

Bogie's Mom, what is the intended reason for the dehydration? What is that supposed to accomplish? Would you re-hydrate upon serving?

I wonder why these food preps are bad? Yikes! I got the idea when I was reading about specific foods to give or omit when a B & G Macaw is hormone raging AND that food warmed and foods mushy should be avoided too. So I went to YouTube n searched food prep for birds. This gal has a site about dehydrating foods for a dry chop. So I thought for the purpose of not wet/ mushy and warm food this might be an idea. And for storage n longevity reasons....as in she had dried flower petals and I thought it would be nice to have that in the middle of winter...im in illinois. No...I was thinking of serving it in its dry state because I was wanting to not do any triggers for hormonal birds and it seems temp n consistency are. Thoughts?

 

[Talaya]

We do a dry macaw mix here in the Uk , made from human graded freeze dried ingredients (dehydrating destroys some vitamins) but it still says to be fed in with its normal chop. Called Shelby Dry mix Gourmet. It’s not intended as a complete replacement for their ‘natural’ food.

 

[HeatherG]

I wonder why these food preps are bad? Yikes! I got the idea when I was reading about specific foods to give or omit when a B & G Macaw is hormone raging AND that food warmed and foods mushy should be avoided too. So I went to YouTube n searched food prep for birds. This gal has a site about dehydrating foods for a dry chop. So I thought for the purpose of not wet/ mushy and warm food this might be an idea. And for storage n longevity reasons....as in she had dried flower petals and I thought it would be nice to have that in the middle of winter...im in illinois. No...I was thinking of serving it in its dry state because I was wanting to not do any triggers for hormonal birds and it seems temp n consistency are. Thoughts?

You can buy rabbit or small animal herb mixes that are safe for birds. They have flowers in them and they’re not expensive.

 

[wrench13]

I wonder - if served dry ie dehydrated, and they are re-hydrated in the birds crop, doesn't re-hydrated food regain some of its original size? I keep thinking about the old tale of throwing rice at weddings only to have birds come later, eat the rice and have it expand in their crop and kill them.

Given that, I would use the dehydrated foods dry as a small part of overall feeding.

 

[SailBoat]

Al, you are correct, but either method (dehydrated or freeze-dried) foods can enhance the danger as both tend to degrade the cell structure as they corrupt (collapse) the outer wall of the cell. The concern with either is their end results tend to be concentrated. i.e., those foods that are a health problem or concern in its natural state becomes serious /dangerous when concentrated.
Whether one is more likely to be a problem, I do not recall, but since both have a like end result, one should use the same level of concern with either. To my understanding, Freeze-dry tends to lock more moisture that falls away on the outer surface, as dehydration tends to evaporate more.
I think it would be better to let the Science Snobs handle the detail and allow us Engineering Snobs to simply call attention to a concern beyond our realm.