Parrots need a healthy diet that comprises a wide range of distinct sorts of food. It is critical to realize what are the distinct nutritional values of food you must Choose for your parrots so as to decrease or stop complex medical complications in pet parrots.

1 of the questions regularly asked, “Can I just feed my parrot on seeds alone?”

Sunflower seed is completely unsuitable as the major constituent of a parrot’s diet, as these are far too high in fat and lacking in vital vitamins and minerals.

Parrots in the wild prefer to eat foods that are high in either fats or sugars which contain extra calories to offer them the high-energy, high-fat food as fuel for lengthy distance flying. Nevertheless, in captivity parrots do not require such a high intake of rich food because they only fly short distances in their cages and can’t burn off the excess calories.

So, the very best healthy diet will need to be mainly carbohydrates (about 70-80%) with around 15% vegetable protein and only 5-8% fat. cereal grains such as wheat, oats, millet, rice and maize are low in fats but high in carbohydrates and protein.

Typical fat content are contained in these food and really should be fed sparingly:

o Sunflower seeds: 48%
o Pine nuts: 68%
o Peanuts 50%

Conversely, legumes such as peas and beans contain rather small or no fat, with around 80% carbohydrates and 10-20% protein. Vegetables and fresh fruits such as bananas, pomegranates, celery, carrots and broccoli should really also be fed to be component of a balanced and healthy diet.

Legumes can’t be eaten as a dry food and must be soaked in warm water (about 12 hours) just before given to your bird. On soaking, this quantity will enhance in weight as the seed absorbs water.

However, you could also enable the mixture to sprout and germinate for an additional 12 hours which has superior advantages. Make positive you maintain the food moist at room temperature (not soaking in water) and rinse it thoroughly various times in cold water to stop any bacterial contamination of the food. In this way, their vitamin content is further increased.

Provide your parrot a mixture of various legumes such as chickpeas, mung beans, black-eyed peas, aduki beans and pinto beans and observe which of these your parrot likes most beneficial.

A balance healthy diet is suggested for most parrots would be about

o 35% soaked/sprouted beans or mixed beans (chickpeas, black-eyed peas, aduki beans and pinto beans, etc.)
o 25% soaked/sprouted seeds and cereal grains (sunflower, safflower, wheat, oats, rice, hemp, millet, maize, etc.)
o 40% fresh fruit and vegetables such as apples, grapes, pomegranates, bananas, sprouts, broccoli, green beans, peas in the pod, corn on the cob, sweet potato, etc.

The following foods are toxic and harmful to birds and really should be avoided: avocado (harmful), alcohol, chocolate, coffee and tea. Avoid salty food such as chips and fatty food such as cookies, cheese and even meat which can cause a bird to be chronically sick with liver and kidney complications.

Birds can not digest milk with high lactose (fat) and so several dairy items are inaccessible to birds. Instead, feed them with fermented dairy goods in little quantities, such as yogurt and cheese, where the lactose has been broken down so as not minimize the salt intake as component of the healthy diet.

I hope you uncover these basic ideas on nutritional and healthy diet for your parrots helpful.

Wilfred is a fellow parrot lover and author of the book “Complete Parrot Guide”.

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