I know for the other types of teas I give my birds I do 1-2 tsp. To 1 cup of water.
Blueberry tea?! That sounds delicious!
it really is! Celestial Seasonings True Blueberry this tea is mega yummy! just don't let it steep too long!
Sadly, there is no fresh mint I could buy and growing mint would be an issue for a few reasons (if we plant it in the ground, my dad would almost definitely mow it down, if we put it in a pot, someone could take it or some idiot would dump their unfinished drink into it as this has happened several times with pansies, marigolds, etc.)Why not give your bird some fresh mint? It is probably seldom an issue but one thing to possibly keep in mind is that dried leaves do promote the growth of certain kinds of microorganisms including trace amounts of mold and so on. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Certain kinds of teas and tea growing even evolved to take advantage of these extra microorganisms, and I assume many do so without any specific knowledge of the extra organisms present. The most extreme example I can think of is the famous desert wine Sauternes which owes its whole existence to the flavor imparted when the grapes become infected by the Botrytis fungus. Itโs not the type of thing I can usually afford but I had a sip of it once and it was truly mind blowing - as a human. Still, you might not want to risk exposing your bird any more than necessary to these types of organisms, whether introduced to the tea leaves intentionally or unintentionally. They do get exposed to a ton of stuff every day so that may be on the more paranoid end of the worry scale. Pretty much all foods have something that especially likes to grow on them.
And your bird may have its own opinion about mint tea.
Iโm a coffee snob myself. I even roast my own beans. But when Iโm making espresso in the morning my very young bird gets very excited on my shoulder, by both the sounds and sights. It has been all I can do to keep him from eating the coffee grounds and trying out the espresso.
This is genius! It sparked an idea in my atom sized brain! When Rico lands on the floor, table, or curtains, Iโll just ignore him and do something fun somewhere else to entice him to get off of that and come see what Iโm doing! He loves to cause chaos and see what Iโm doing at the same time. I never verbally punish him ever but occasionally he gets a time out (like eating the wall for example, or breaking something expensive. The 2nd one is more for keeping him out of what he broke so I can safely clean it up without him diving into it and getting hurt.) thanks for the idea!He is hard to handle at times. <shocker!> Like I have noticed in a lot of parrots, trying to bar him from some activity can be like waving a red cape in front of a bull. Anything you try to stop becomes THE thing they become obsessed with doing. There is no such thing as verbal or physical negative reinforcement for parrots - at best it simply has no effect whatsoever, and at worst is has precisely the opposite of the intended effect. While trying (and failing) to keep him from removing all my buttons as well as eating random things including coffee related stuff has been a peaceful wrestling match so far, with no biting or anything like that, I have been wondering the past few days if I might be able to save myself a whole lot of time by just allowing him to get one actual taste of coffee grounds and one actual sip of espresso.
I haven't tried with Goose yet but both my other Greys have really loved apple and grape juice, so I don't see why the lower sugar option of some kind of tea would would not also be liked. There is such a thing as apple tea popular in the middle east that I sometimes get from a local middle eastern grocery. But I think that one might also have some regular black tea in it as well so the caffein would be a no-no.
Yeah, I figured Rico wouldnโt like some sorta mildly spicy food (donโt remember what but I think it was a spicy rice) and he went crazy over it! I had to put him away to eat peacefully. He kept sticking his Peets in my food, landing in it, grabbing some and flying away with it, etc etc etc. but yeah, Iโm really glad you took my advice because you will think your bird will not like a food and there is a good chance they will just because you do. Flock mentality or something like that. Rico will try something and not like it, but as SOON as I eat some, suddenly he HAS to try it again and suddenly he likes it. Unless he genuinely doesnโt like it (for example, lemon or dried mango) but thatโs relatively rare.
Yeah, I found the apple cinnamon on celestial seasonings Amazon page! I put it in my cart as a reminder to get some at three bears this weekend ๐Humm. I was curious if my memory was correct about the tea, and it was not. Tea bags, but no caffeine or black tea, some added hibiscus and cinnamon. I think this was the brand I last tried, but looks like on Amazon that there are versions of the same thing by more upscale producers like Tazo and Celestial Seasonings. I think I had it in Turkey first time, and it made an impression on me.
