is it safe for Alexandrines to eat some human food?

[KissesBaz]

Hi everyone.
I have a very spoilt 2yold Alexandrine called Baz. Each time he sees you with food he expects you to share!!! I read up on the net that they cannot eat chocolate and avocados so he doesn't eat them. Every night a dinner we have 5 dinner plates for the family plus one small plastic bowl for Baz!!!! And if you ever forget he will come down to the dinner table to get yours!!! we generally just give him the same food as we are eating.
Problem- lately I have notices he is preening his tail and wing feathers and they are looking shaggy. I wonder if this is some of the food he eats?? Ill list his food below..
He eats sunflower/parrot mix and apples, peaches. ( he prefers sunflower seeds and we give more of this than the parrot mix) He has a bath on top of his cage and baths himself every morning. He has calcium blacks and cuttlefish. He doesn't bother with fruit and nut mix. Cost us a fortune to find this out!!!
Human food- favourites are COOKED peas, carrot and corn (wont eat uncooked) Also loves mashed potato (mashed using lactose free milk and margarine) Other food he eats are- cooked pasta, toast, cheddar cheese, pizza crusts, spaghetti bolognaise. He really likes to have the same as us and knows when you are trying to trick him into giving different food! He poo's regularly and his poo's are always the same (healthy I think)
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Cheers Rachel

 

[DallyTsuka]

ideally, the sunflower seeds should be fed in small amounts because they are fatty. his plumage could be rough because of this, since parrots need a varied diet, not a lot of just their favourite foods.

i would introduce other healthy veggies and such into his diet as well, plus maybe some pellets to make sure he is getting the nutrients he needs.

have you looked into mashes and chops? you can get a lot of healthy variety for him. even making a salad for yourselves and him would offer a lot of variety. birds are flock animals so he will like to eat with the rest of his flock--which is you


just carefully limit the fatty foods (i would remove anything fatty, sugary, or salty) and be sure to double check whether all the ingredients in the foods are safe to feed before letting him eat them

 

[KissesBaz]

Thanks very much for your comments. A few thoughts.
Sunflower seeds.......he wont be happy about that!!!!! I did suspect this may be one of the problems as my brother had an Alex and too much sunflower seed made him psycho!!! (seriously)
Re- pellets? What are these. I'm in Australia. Can you get them here.
Re- Salads- he hates them- I've tried many times!
Re- Mashes- what do you mean and chops- is that lamb chops and if so do they eat the meat as well?
Meat- Is he allowed to eat meat? Chicken, beef? Or is this too fatty?
What are the best cooked veggies to give and what should you NOT GIVE.
Is there any food you should definitely NOT give?
Kind Regards, Rachel

 

[DallyTsuka]

"chop" and "mash" are basically a mix of veggies and grains. this is mash here:



basically, it is a bunch of veggies all finely chopped or mashed together so the parrot doesnt have much choice but to try all the foods. there are soooooo many ways you can make mash. some people put cooked beans and legumes, some sprout seeds and beans. some put quinoa and other grains. ideally, as much variety as you can is best. i like adding corn, broccoli, dandelion, cooked sweet potato, carrots, and peas. but its great to add in new things and change it up often. try different things, your parrot may like it different ways. mashes generally have cooked veggies, and chop is usually raw. some people use both terms interchangeably though.

variety is the best. i would offer as many veggies and grains as you can into your birds diet, seems he is willing to try some different foods.

small amounts of chicken can be fed as a treat, it's high in protein so it should be best limited as a rare treat.

i believe there are a few kinds of pellets you can get in australia, but i will let some australian members chime in on that one to help you they are a food supplemented with proper nutrition to help your parrot get nutrients you might be missing in the over all diet.


bad foods to never give: chocolate, caffeine, avacado, alcohol, mushrooms, onions, salty foods, greasy foods, sugary foods, human vitamins, raw potatoes, raw beans..


you can still give sunflower seeds, but i'd save them as a small treat. maybe give him about 4 a day. thats what we do for our birds they have vitamins and minerals and fatty acids that are good for birds, but too much of them is bad for health. like anything, too much of something can be bad. so reduce them from his diet and work on giving him more veggies and variety.


variety is the best way to go, a bit of everything.

 

[Diesel_Hyland]

Hi...Thanks for the info on the mash. I had NO idea about the raw beans. We have been giving our wee lad them but we will stop.

Do you serve the mash warm?

 

[Bundiibird]

Hi Rachel

I feed my Alex either Vetafarm or Paradise pellets. I get them from My Parrot Shop here in Australia. They have a website and send direct to your house. Bundii has only been on them for a couple of weeks and I have fund that she now prefers them over her seed. We are still gradually decreasing the amount of seed but it is a work I progress. She also has corn on the cob, apple, celery, snow peas, grapes, watermelon, carrot, rockmelon, honeydew melon, kale, broccoli, mashed potato, mashed sweet potato. She has these most days along with some occasional treats like cheese, chicken, pasta, sweet biscuits. She gets the biscuits only on special occasions. She also likes popcorn and any kind of nut.

I have found that when I do my grocery shopping, I buy something different each time and then she can have a bit variety.

Hope this helps.

 

[DallyTsuka]

Hi...Thanks for the info on the mash. I had NO idea about the raw beans. We have been giving our wee lad them but we will stop.

Do you serve the mash warm?

i should have specified dried beans. raw green beans i believe might be okay, someone correct me if i am wrong on that one. :/

and warm or chilled, depends what you parrot prefers

 

[UMARKHANMARDAN]

Hi Rachel.first of all stop giving him too much sunflower seeds.i mean Alexanders like sunflower seeds but you should control the amount of.Sunflower seeds are very fatty.they are good in winter but bad in summer.i hope you will get my point.give him good mix of seeds.feed with fresh fruits & veggies.Avoid cauli flower & cabbages.One thing if your summers are very hot then also mix some multi vitamins & Electrolytes in their drinking water.Birds lose great amount of nutrients in sweat in summer.so you must give them extra vitamins & electrolytes to prevent any heat stress.

 

[coral3]

Yes, green beans are fine raw...I feed them to Ringo & he loves them. It's just if you buy dried kidney beans, or a dried bean/lentil mix (the kind that you might use in soups like minestrone etc) these must be soaked & cooked. Especially the kidney beans, they are harmful even to humans if not cooked well.

Ringo's favourite veggies (raw) include:

snow peas,
fresh peas in pod - when in season
green beans
whole chillies
capsicum (he especially loves the seedy bit in the centre)
silverbeet
spinach
broccoli
celery
carrot
sweetcorn
pumpkin - he LOVES the flesh out of the centre with the seeds in it

Favourite vegies (cooked):

sweetcorn
peas
carrots
broccoli
pumpkin (he LOVES roasted pumpkin)
sweet potato

I tend not to give a lot of fruit, but he does enjoy apples, grapes (not too many: high in sugar), orange & pomegranite

Generally I give him chop/mash every morning (cook up a big batch and freeze in portions) - made up of a heap of different vegetables, plus cooked dried beans/lentils, cooked brown rice & quinoa, plus I mix a heap of bird pellets into it (it's the only way he'll eat pellets). Plus he gets some kind of fresh/raw veg each day.

Ringo also wants our tea, LOL And he KNOWS when we're eating, even if you try to hide it from him. I usually give him a little taster of what we're having...mostly just the veg portion of it, maybe a little rice or pasta, small piece of chicken once or twice a week. Occasionally I give him a quarter of a boiled egg.

We only give him sunflower seeds as training rewards, they work really well for that but only if you cut them out of his regular food completely.

Air-popped popcorn makes a good treat also.

ETA: I'm in Australia too You should be able to find parrot pellets in your local Petbarn/Animal Tuckerbox (or similar) if you have one near you. Otherwise you could order online.

 

[KissesBaz]

Hi Bundiibird. Thanks very much for your very informative reply. Our 2 birds have a very similar diet (except for the sunflower seed which I need to reduce!!!) I genuinely think it is the sunflower seed that is doing it to his feathers as we have increased his intake of this not decreased!! Actually while hubby was out driving he came across a huge paddock of sunflowers growing near Tamworth in North Western NSW. He grabbed a couple of the heads (the size of a dinner plate) and proudly bought them home for Bazil as a present!!! How wrong were we? LOL.
Oh man its going to be hell weaning him off them but he is going to have to deal with it. Thanks for your help.

 

[KissesBaz]

Hi Rachel.first of all stop giving him too much sunflower seeds.i mean Alexanders like sunflower seeds but you should control the amount of.Sunflower seeds are very fatty.they are good in winter but bad in summer.i hope you will get my point.give him good mix of seeds.feed with fresh fruits & veggies.Avoid cauli flower & cabbages.One thing if your summers are very hot then also mix some multi vitamins & Electrolytes in their drinking water.Birds lose great amount of nutrients in sweat in summer.so you must give them extra vitamins & electrolytes to prevent any heat stress.

thanks very much for your reply. I have started him on vitamins. Good idea. He doesn't get too hot in the summer as he lives inside our air conditioned house!!! His cage is awesome. He has a large cage with a 30cm high T piece perch on the roof. This is where he spends most of his time. His bath is on the roof as well plus other toys.

 

[KissesBaz]

Hi Coral 3
Thanks very much for taking the time to reply such a comprehensive list. A lot of the things you listed Baz does eat so that makes me feel good that I am giving him the correct foods. I think we really need to wean him off the sunflower seeds and get some parrot pellets. I have printed your list off to keep handy in the kitchen when we are cooking. We tend to give him a taste of our dinner in his own bowl which is why he loves the cooked food. Ill be carefull not to give him too much fatty food from now on.
They are awesome birds aren't they.
Cheers

 

[coral3]

No worries

If you have seed mix you could try sprouting it?...sprouted seeds provide better nutrition than just the seed as is & it's really not difficult.

 

[birdy_numnum]

Hi there , like every one said avoid giveing him to much sunflower seeds .and just keep an eye on this pooh, if it gets too watery , always keep a fresh stork of apples and Pomegranates with you , these fruits are excelent for loose a n waterler stools, for yr bird. Pomegranates have some great medicine propities , which is good for yr bird.(Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

[KissesBaz]

Back again.
I bought some parrot pellets @ $33 a bag.
Well, Baz will not have a bar of them. He fishes them out and throws them on the floor!! I have mixed them with his parrot seeds and he still wont eat them. I have waited him out until he was really hungry and no luck either! So I went back to the Pet Shop and bought a different bag of parrot pellets. On the bag it says even the fussiest of eaters will love these colourful pellets............... but not Baz!! Another $33! Any suggestions for getting him to eat them? Also the Pet Shop man said it is ok for him to eat the grey stripy sunflowers as they do not contain as much oil. Is this true???

 

[Kalidasa]

He'll eat them if you eat them. Have him with you with a bowl he likes with some pellets and casually start eating a few. If he hates being told "no" you can use that to your advantage by at first acting like he can't have any, then finally "give in" and give him one. Lol you might have to eat a few pellets, but he'll get the idea and try them. Just tossing them in his dish is usually not enough, they have to see you eat it as well. Good luck. conversion to a pelleted dominant diet usually takes some time and persistence. Don't give up.

 

[KissesBaz]

OMG Ill vomit if I eat it! Have you smelt that stuff!!! LOL Ill try though. (Maybe ill pretend)

 

[kc_y0]

You can pretend to eat them I know some people "wet" the pellets so they are soggy haha, he might like that too! Honestly just keep trying though, eventually he will get curious and give them a try

 

[U2gal]

If your boy eats seed and won't try veggies, I recommend switching him to pellets and only allowing seed for 1 hr at night.

Seed is seriously like potatoe chips. Very little nutrition. Too much fat but not enough of everything else.

 

[Ian]

Hi

My Alex's have a supply of the best seed available, fresh water and a fruit kabob. Which they love.

They also enjoy pizza, burger, steak (especially), garlic bread, chips, bolognaise, spaghetti (the favourite), mezze platters, ice cream, chicken, any form of egg, sausages, beans etc etc you get the idea.

I never give them the poisonous foods and their portions of food are always free of salt.

Most seed mixes get filtered by your bird until they are eating rubbish. I personally don't buy pellets because you wouldn't feed food pellets to a human child whereas you might feed some of your dinner mushed up.

They generally get a little plate of goodies at mealtime or they start begging.

Not contradicting what the others say, just offering another perspective which may be wrong!