Eating habits, do your birds love the same food all the time?

[Mare Miller]

On our walk today, Amigo flew onto the ground, in front of me. He's been doing this lately. I believe it is to stop me in my tracks so's he can munch. So I'll sit on the ground to observe and he starts pulling up the young grass, munching on and flinging the soil, then gets down to the roots of the grass! I heard somewhere that birds need grit to digest their food but I don't think Amigo is swallowing the dirt, just digging to get to the roots, I think. He does look like he's enjoying them. Tomorrow, I'm going to try some out for myself, may be a new delicacy.

 

[roxynoodle]

Some things they do seem to want all the time, and then sometimes others they lose some interest for a little while. Twice last week Rowdy left her carrots, which she usually doesn't do. But, she wanted broccoli more those days.

I know dandelion leaves are supposed to be very good for birds. Maybe Amigo should try some of those.

 

[Mare Miller]

Thanks Roxy, do you steam your veggies for Rowdy or serve them raw? Amigo will sometimes decide that today I will eat raw, a few days down the road he wont touch them so I'll steam them. He'll take to that for a couple days then turns his nose up at them. I tried Mikey's trick of spritzing with organic apple cider vineger and he actually liked that!, for a few days. So we go round and round, at least he eats, just likes to keep me on my toes!

 

[roxynoodle]

I do steam the veggies. That is how I always prepared them for myself, until my pancreatitis stopped me from being able to eat veggies. So she got used to them being served that way and that is how she wants them. Pete didn't know what veggies were when I adopted him, so he too likes them that way now. I'm still experimenting with Merlin. She doesn't seem to want carrots steamed, raw or cooked mushier. Her previous owners told me she loves carrots, so I'm not sure why she usually won't eat them here. She eats most of the other veggies I give her though. I just bought some organic sweet potatoes that are like a mash (frozen). I'm going to see if she will eat that instead. Supposedly she does like sweet potatoes, but since I was also told that about carrots, I guess I can only try it and see.

 

[triordan]

Remington's "likes" change all the time, except for grapes and nut he will always accept them!

 

[themacinjosh]

Should I only be looking for organic vegetables when it comes to feeding my lovebird? I just realized I bought all these vegetables without paying attention to whether or not they were organic...I totally didn't think about the possible use of pesticides in your regular veggies. Should I be worried about that? Or is it something that's no big deal to them?

 

[roxynoodle]

Just wash them well. I don't buy organic most of the time either. And just because something is organic doesn't make it safe. It very well could have manure on it instead of pesticides. You need to wash all fruits and veggies before eating them or giving them to your animals.

 

[themacinjosh]

ahh, good point. So just rinse them well in water, is that what you do to wash them well? I have been doing that.

 

[roxynoodle]

Here is a good link, and it is everything I do as well.

7 Tips for Cleaning Fruits, Vegetables

 

[Pedro]

On our walk today, Amigo flew onto the ground, in front of me. He's been doing this lately. I believe it is to stop me in my tracks so's he can munch. So I'll sit on the ground to observe and he starts pulling up the young grass, munching on and flinging the soil, then gets down to the roots of the grass! I heard somewhere that birds need grit to digest their food but I don't think Amigo is swallowing the dirt, just digging to get to the roots, I think. He does look like he's enjoying them. Tomorrow, I'm going to try some out for myself, may be a new delicacy.

Mare, in the wild Toos forage on the ground, they eat roots & tubers from plants. They also pick up seeds & bugs they might find. Parrots don't need grit to help digest their food, however i think he is lacking minerals in his diet because my SC2 does exactly the same when he is on the ground.

If you imagine what a parrot would eat in the wild they wouldn't eat the same foods day in day out they would have to move with what foods were available seasonal, I personally think that is why they like a variety of foods. I know with all my birds they won't eat apple everyday, when they start to leave it i stop giving it for a few weeks. I try to change my birds diet daily so they don't get bored with their food.