Lory Diet / Nutrition:
In the wild, the bulk of their diet consist of nectar, flowers, fruits, pollen and seeds.
Previously, anyone keeping lories created their own version of "lory diet" and everything had to be made from scratch every few days at least. Unfortunately, very few breeders fully understood the nutritional needs of these birds, and many perished before their times due to nutritional diseases.
Nowadays, several commercial feeds have been developed and are readily available, which greatly facilitaties the process of feeding these parrots. They are easy to use -- as most of them just require you to add water (for the nectars) or are fed dry. These diets were developed by professional nutritionists to meet dietary requirements. An all "dry" diet is not recommended. If this is the predominate factor in the diet, fruits and plenty of fresh water should be provided.
Lories will not do well on a diet too high in protein. 15% should be the maximum. They are highly susceptible to gout and suffer kidney and liver problems. They should not be fed an amazon type of diet, as they are full of legumes and contain too much protein.
Their recommended diet consists of commercial or home-made nectar. Liquid nectar will need to be replaced several times daily. In warm weather every four hours. The main causes of premature death in lories are infections caused by spoiled nectar and/or a poorly balanced, one-sided diet that doesn't meet the special nutritional requirements needed for good health. Liquid nectar will need to be replaced several times daily - in fact, in warm weather it needs to be changed every 4 hours.
Lories also love honey, pollen and fruits, such as apples, papaya, grapes, cantaloupe, pineapple, figs, kiwi, and some vegetables, including corn-on-the-cob. Most any fruit is fine, but I would avoid avocado and pomegranates, as in some cases, lories have become impacted on pomegranates. Lories have also been found to be susceptible to hemochromatosis (iron storage disease) and for that reason I would not offer raisins or other high iron content fruits.(*AvianWeb Note: Raisins have the potential of toxicity in pets if fed in too high a quantity. Caution is advised. Avocado should never be fed to birds as it is highly toxic to them.)
Another healthful addition to their diet are flowers, including pansies, nasturtiums, roses, hibiscus, marigolds, and dandelions. All fruits, veggies and flowers should be pesticide free. Organic is always best.
Other food items include brewer's yeast, oat flakes, multi-grain flakes and small quantities of millet spray; oats, canary grass seed; some sunflower (sprouted). If a balanced nutrition can't be met, vitamin and mineral supplements may need to be provided.
During the breeding season, rusk or biscuit softened in milk are eagerly accepted by the parents for feeding the chicks.