Can I feed my parrots frozen veggie mixes?

[Birdieboy3300]

I recently bought a package of frozen veggies from the grocery store, it contains a mix of corn, carrots, green beans, and peas. I have seen pictures and videos of people giving their parrots these foods, but some say that corn can be deadly for them. Are the other foods safe, even if they’re in the same package? Should I microwave it or give it to them straight out of the package?

I also bought celery and peanut butter, can they eat that?

I’ve had them on a pellet diet along with treats such as millet, dried veggies and fruit from my local bird store, and occasionally a nibble or two of my own veggies or plain pasta.

 

[noodles123]

The stringy parts on celery are not recommended, as they cannot be digested and can lead to intestinal blockages. Many people advise against giving celery at all--- especially because it is fairly empty in terms of nutritional value and it can fill your bird up (leading to deficiencies)---Ice burg lettuce has a similarly filling effect (without much nutrition).

Peanut butter is also not something you should give your bird (except in TEENY TINY amounts (like, as a treat once in a while)...1) It is high fat. 2) Most are high in sugar, 3) it contains salt, 4) many contain preservatives.

If you feed the vegetables, corn is sort of a filler (high in carbs, low in nutrition)-- you might consider removing some of it. Eating corn on its own corn isn't deadly for any toxic reason---it is deadly in the way that a truck-load of cookies and ice-cream could be deadly to a child (if that child were allowed to choose what he/she ate). If you gave most kids a plate of steamed broccoli at the same time that you gave them a plate of cookies and said "there you go! Eat whatever you want from there", most kids wouldn't touch the broccoli and would only eat the cookies. Do this for long enough and you will have an obese, diabetic child with nutrition deficiencies and behavioral issues. Your bird is similar, in that it gets to "pick" what it eats within the mix and the choices made may not be the healthiest--the logic then being that you should consider removing the unhealthy option (or at least some of it).

I wouldn't feed veggies still frozen, but I don't think this mix would be a problem as long as your are mindful of the fact that your bird may ONLY eat the corn (problematic)--The best way to thaw veggies without cooking them would probably be to soak some in hot water and then strain (if you want them to stay raw). FYI- To the best of my knowledge, all of the vegetables in your mix are safely eaten raw, but keep in mind that some vegetables need to be cooked in order to be safer for birds.

Side-note: As long as the veggies and fruits in question are safe to eat raw (for a bird) then keeping them raw will preserve more of the nutritional value. That having been said, some birds prefer the texture of cooked veggies and in that case, experiment (just beware of hot-spots if using a microwave).

**Make sure you check your box of pasta before feeding it to your birds---I like to give cooked pasta (a noodle) to mine as a treat now and then, but the vast majority of pasta sold at the store is fortified with added vitamins and mineral--this is not the type that you want to give to your bird, as these vitamins are added with humans in mind, and can overdose a bird- fortified cereals, pastas, juices etc should not be fed to birds**

I feed mine "Rozoni" (brand) "Gluten Free" Rotini, as it was one of the few pastas I could find at Walmart that didn't have added iron etc (I am not a gluten-free person).
As far as I know, my brand seems safe-ish (at least as an occasional treat).
Ingredients-white rice flour, brown rice flour, corn flower, quinoa flour, mono and diglycerides.
Here is the nutritional breakdown listed on the box- Vitamin D: 0mcg, calcium: 0mg, Iron: 0mg, Potassium: 65 mg (2% of a human's dietary needs).
200 calories per 3/4 cup, 1.5 g fat and 4 g protein.

Bottom line: if you see a bunch of vitamins on the side of your pasta, they are added and should be avoided.

 

[chris-md]

Yes the frozen veggies are great! They usually form the base for chop for a lot of us who make frozen chop. I’ll sort of agree with noodles to watch what he picks out. But I dont think it’ll be a problem. They often go for the peas and green beans also. If anything I’d anticipate challenges with cubed carrots...

Feed away! And celery is great for them as well (try Swiss chard as well!) The stress you hear sometimes about the strings, while something to be mindful off, really is never an issue.

 

[noodles123]

The stress you hear sometimes about the strings, while something to be mindful off, really is never an issue.

I imagine that an Ekkie might be better at digesting this sort of thing, due to their unique digestive system---aren't they highly efficient at extracting nutrients compared to other types of parrots?

 

[texsize]

All my large birds get some frozen veggie mix. All of them like it to some degree.
I warm it up in the microwave to thaw it out them use hot water to finish off.

I don't give it to them every day. It's my thinking that they will eat it as a treat and stay interested in eating it if they don't get it every day.

texsize

 

[chris-md]

The stress you hear sometimes about the strings, while something to be mindful off, really is never an issue.

I imagine that an Ekkie might be better at digesting this sort of thing, due to their unique digestive system---aren't they highly efficient at extracting nutrients compared to other types of parrots?

Nope they can’t cope with the strings any more than other birds. But yes to nutrient extraction. The Ekkie diet at its core really speaks to the need to avoid more nutrient dense foods. That’s about it.

They can become impacted by the strings. But the occurance of said impaction across parrot species is low given HOW they eat the celery (going for the interior pulp) that the concern, while not zero, is so remote that it should not overly concern people so long as the bird is on an otherwise diverse diet.

I’d be concerned about it if celery were the only thing the bird ate, but that’s largely in a vacuum.

 

[Scott]

I regularly feed frozen lima beans, green peas, and blackeyed peas. First rinsed to remove salt, microwaved a bit, cooled to room temperature.

 

[Talven]

I've just started using frozen veggies myself. I've found that the diced carrot is flung far and wide but whole baby carrots are well received in comparison. It gives them something to hold onto just like with green beans.

Corn is an issue as that takes priority over anything with my birds. Birds are born marathon runners living the life of a couch potato. They still think that they need the huge amount of energy to fly large distances daily. They will go for the high energy foods first.

As I try to give my birds their raw foods in the morning I've found that if I put a handful in a covered bowl in the fridge overnight to thaw I don't have to microwave or use hot water. I just pull the bowl out when I get up and leave on the bench for 15 - 20 mins to get to room temp.