Tapioca starch- safe for birds?

[Kiwibird]

I am working on a parrot food "project" for those of us keeping our parrots on an organic, unprocessed, whole-foods diet (which I will share on here when I am finished) and need a binder for alternative (gluten free) flours, such as oat or chickpea. I am intentionally avoiding wheat flour, which means I will need an alternative binder in the absence of gluten. I am needing to yield something similar to pasta dough. Usually, I would use tapioca starch in such a recipe, but I am unsure if it is safe for parrots? Other alternative binders I have considered experimenting with are chia seeds, arrowroot or agar powder (also unsure of safety for parrots on those). Wanted to get some insights before feeding any to

 

[Doublete]

Chia seeds are safe... At least I found a parrot recipe with them and used them....

 

[labell]

Yes I offer Chia seeds they are a super food! Not sure about Tapioca starch but I can say I am intrigued with this recipe and look forward to you sharing it with all of us.

 

[Kiwibird]

I think I might experiment with a small batch using ground chia, ground flax (I use that as an egg replacer in baking) and the tapioca. There seems to be recipes out there that use tapioca pearls in parrot recipes. I'll leave the agar and arrowroot alone though, since those could potentially be toxic and no info.

I've gotten quite a few PM's about how I feed Kiwi, so I want to come up with a little something special for the birds (and anyone else who wants to try it).

 

[Matt_95]

I think arrowroot should be fine, I know a fair few people give their birds arrowroot biscuits as a treat here to their parrots.

 

[Demeter]

I am working on a parrot food "project" for those of us keeping our parrots on an organic, unprocessed, whole-foods diet (which I will share on here when I am finished) and need a binder for alternative (gluten free) flours, such as oat or chickpea. I am intentionally avoiding wheat flour, which means I will need an alternative binder in the absence of gluten. I am needing to yield something similar to pasta dough. Usually, I would use tapioca starch in such a recipe, but I am unsure if it is safe for parrots? Other alternative binders I have considered experimenting with are chia seeds, arrowroot or agar powder (also unsure of safety for parrots on those). Wanted to get some insights before feeding any to

I heard we couldn't give tapioca starch to our parrots because it is a cassava plant product and thus poisonous with it's cyanogenic properties n whatnot. It looks like that is the case, but maybe it's a matter of how much is in the recipe. I just found a Walmart bird treat that has tapioca starch in it and I knew I'd read that recently so. And since I was here I might as well write a warning note on this 15-year-old wall in case me fellow travelers, pull up anchor here too. aarrrr!
warning

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I can't remember where I saw it, but I had read tapioca is toxic to them too. It will be interesting to see what you find out about it with your research.

 

[rheashard2]

I read and was told by avian vet to avoid tapioca. To read labels because it can be an additive. I never bothered finding out why. (I dislike the stuff.) Again don't remember where or who told me but xylitol an artificial sweetner is recommended to be avoided. It's not uncommon in nut butters. Xylitol has been shown to be toxic to dogs. I went to organic.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I just looked up tapioca starch and whether parrots can eat it. AI says "No". The cassava root is toxic to parrots. Tapioca starch is probably not as harmful as the root itself but you should avoid it.