What do you think of the "Circus Diet"?

[SunUp]

http://theparrotuniversity.com/circusdiet

It seems quite nutritious, and has a good track record for keeping parrots healthy, at least according to the author/owner. What I also find interesting is 1) how little is fed - very controlled portions, and 2) the fact the food is left with the birds all day and even overnight. I would have thought this diet would need to be pulled from the cage after a few hours.

So what do you guys think?

 

[lotus15]

This is very interesting. Thank you for posting. I agree that leaving the food out is a concern, but I like the philosophy behind this diet. Great food for thought!

 

[Mizzely]

I definitely like the concept behind it; I wish they supplied more of their reasonings for choosing specific things, and perhaps offered more information on which veggies and fruits to feed. If I followed this and knew nothing about parrots, I could do broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and grapes and be at their 75% to 25% ratio, but still missing some important things (I personally feel that orange foods are absolutely necessary and my chop always contains 1-2).

I wish someone would do a conclusive study on how long fresh food should be left out for.

 

[lotus15]

I definitely like the concept behind it; I wish they supplied more of their reasonings for choosing specific things, and perhaps offered more information on which veggies and fruits to feed. If I followed this and knew nothing about parrots, I could do broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and grapes and be at their 75% to 25% ratio, but still missing some important things (I personally feel that orange foods are absolutely necessary and my chop always contains 1-2).

I wish someone would do a conclusive study on how long fresh food should be left out for.

Ugh, you and me both on the fresh foods study!!!

 

[danadear]

I like the idea but it seems strange to freeze sprouts to store them. Maybe I mis read that part. I also don't like the idea of leaving the food in the cage overnight.

 

[SunUp]

Apparently they've been feeding this for 20 years to (I think) 100s of parrots, with great success.

I'm beginning to think there are as many ways to feed parrots as there are parrot caretakers! And as they say in the Circus Diet article, there is no such thing as the perfect parrot diet.

I agree it would be helpful if they listed veges and fruits with higher nutritional values, and especially mentioning orange veges.

Re: freezing the sprouts - wouldn't that be similar to freezing any other vege? Not sure...I just assumed it was. Could be totally wrong! lol

 

[CheekyBeaks]

Very interesting article.
I too would be concerned about leaving the food out overnight, I don't think too many avian vets would be impressed by that. I guess it may depend on the climate they live in but here in Australia if I left food out too long in the hotter months it would certainly go off, particularly any fruits or cooked items.

I do strongly agree though that most birds are over fed, I am pretty strict with my servings but always ensure they have a small amount left over from the day so I know they have eaten enough. But I do have two meal times a morning feed consisting of chop and other fresh items with the days serving of pellets and in the afternoon they get a very small serving of seed (aviary birds only) with some dried fruit and nuts.

 

[hockeymomwood]

I thought the benefit of feeding sprouts is that it is "living food." It seems to me that freezing sprouts would negate that. And I am not sharing my wine with Aengus!

 

[jeansie1988]

Very interesting thread. I am excited to see what others have to say. I agree with the comments above. I do not leave food overnight. Also, the article mentions that there should not be a bowl of pellets. I got Hachu a couple of months back, but I was told that by leaving the pellets in their cage I will gain my bird's trust to a degree.My bird will know that I am not leaving them hungry. Maybe this is recommended only when you get a new parrot, but I still do this. What do others do?

 

[Mizzely]

Very interesting thread. I am excited to see what others have to say. I agree with the comments above. I do not leave food overnight. Also, the article mentions that there should not be a bowl of pellets. I got Hachu a couple of months back, but I was told that by leaving the pellets in their cage I will gain my bird's trust to a degree.My bird will know that I am not leaving them hungry. Maybe this is recommended only when you get a new parrot, but I still do this. What do others do?

I've never heard leaving food in their cage will make them trust you more. Interesting!

 

[hockeymomwood]

I feed mine their fruit and veggies at mealtime twice a day. I leave their pellets and dried fruits, nuts, and dried foraging food in their day cages. I think I may try to remove the pellet bowl from the day cages and replace them with sprout bowls. Then I would just add a couple of pellets to their meals. We will see how it goes.

 

[Mizzely]

One thing I thought of too - Gizmo is like the stereotypical picky child that if her mashed potatoes touch her peas, she won't eat them. If I give her a new food to try, it has to be separated a bit in her bowl from her favorite foods, or she won't eat ANY of them. It's gotten better, but for her, mixing it like stated I would worry about her starving!

 

[dolldid]

ok i think i might be in trouble after i post,,lol ok I know I will but its time I was truthfull . I never remove Mangos fresh food every day unless it has an oder sour then I remove it some times he has 5 dishes some might be 2 days old and would you beleave many times he will eat that befor the fresh food yes I hate the looks of his parrot tray it is always a mess but I beleave they know when not to eat something that will hurt them reason I have seen him toss out what he either dosent like or thinks its bad
It all started beleave it or not with nuts now I buy from a great large nut store and Mango only will eat nuts from shells NO i dont buy peanuts ,,lol but I do but wallnuts pastashios in shells and im bad for remembering names if it isnt fresh he tosses them , many things stay fresh longer than we think and yes many sour fast I use a lot of hot sauce and I think that helps things fron spoiling I coud be wrong but these are the ones he prefurs to eat at least a day old hes never showen any sighns of being sick as long as I have had him sweet pepppers spoil fast thats one thing I remove
Mango also prefers his fruit as it comes hole so I place a hole apple or peach plum on his tray and he loves it cut an apple up and he wont touch it I leave it for 2 days then toss it out and replace it , yes I do have lots of waist but to me its worth it mind you I do have but 1 bird , trust me theres many times he will walk a way from fresh food he likes eat some of the old food go back to the fresh , I have also discovered some things he likes what to me is very hot mind you not hot enough to do damage to him but to me much hotter than I would expect a bird to eat, ok i love my food hot and he will come to my plate and eat from the out side of my plate yes its cooler than the middle but I dont touch the outer side I leave it for him and if it isnt warm enough for him he will reach in towards the middle to get it I tell him its HOT he tests it with his beek if its to hot he leaves it Hot he knows the word .
I know none of us now how long birds in the wild live im meaning the ones you see around your homes they eat what they can find
If you were to make a copp of just the hard vegies it would keep 2 days no greens or any thing that goes mushie but put all the greens and peppers and that kind of thing in it and its bad in hrs some times we dont think and heck we all know kids that dont get dirty and mix with every one sure gets sick fast well what are we doing to our birgs were keeping them in a sterl invirament is it healthey cause if for sum reason they were to get out in the wild what chance do they have .

No im not a dirty person as my post sounds im just trying to give my bird choices to make in doing so hopping I will be making him stronger if he ever got out and had to fend for him self .
hope I havent steped out of line here and im sure I will get may upset with me but I can asure you Mango is health and very active also very demanding,,lol

stop think many things can be fed hole fresh beans peppers swiss chard peas and as chop and discarded in hrs, also many things like squash turnip sweet potato carrots corn can be chopped and left for 2 days

stop think am i right yep more work but can be done
ok ill wait for the tongue lashing to start , lol hugs doll

 

[Laurie]

I am a little afraid to post after Dolly

But...I feed fresh fruits and veggies and sprouts in the morning and the birds eat almost all of it within an hour or so. I add seeds later in the day and I do not remove the dishes until the morning.

Here is my take on it.

First of all, I feed a small amount and their is very little left in the dish (sometimes none), it is an over sized dish and so any little bits left are strewn about and dry up. Left over sprouts are still growing, they are not rotting. There is never any moist bits about, it is all desiccated and dried up. I also only have one thing that is cooked and that is sweet potatoes. I would not leave a cooked mix out all day but I have never had any trouble putting out fresh food and leaving the dishes in all day. I have heard that cooked food will attract bacteria quicker that raw food.

What is left in my dishes amounts to crumbs not really leftovers.

If it was very humid, or I had lots of food left over I would remove it but honestly, I don't worry over the crumbs that dry up in the dish.

On the other hand, one can never be too careful so for those who are vigilant about removing dishes, good on you

As for sprouts, if frozen you can't really say that you are feeding a living and growing food but I have read that even letting them go through the sprouting process will improve the nutritional content. So maybe we could feed both?

 

[dolldid]

I am a little afraid to post after Dolly

But...I feed fresh fruits and veggies and sprouts in the morning and the birds eat almost all of it within an hour or so. I add seeds later in the day and I do not remove the dishes until the morning.

Here is my take on it.

First of all, I feed a small amount and their is very little left in the dish (sometimes none), it is an over sized dish and so any little bits left are strewn about and dry up. Left over sprouts are still growing, they are not rotting. There is never any moist bits about, it is all desiccated and dried up. I also only have one thing that is cooked and that is sweet potatoes. I would not leave a cooked mix out all day but I have never had any trouble putting out fresh food and leaving the dishes in all day. I have heard that cooked food will attract bacteria quicker that raw food.

What is left in my dishes amounts to crumbs not really leftovers.

If it was very humid, or I had lots of food left over I would remove it but honestly, I don't worry over the crumbs that dry up in the dish.

On the other hand, one can never be too careful so for those who are vigilant about removing dishes, good on you

As for sprouts, if frozen you can't really say that you are feeding a living and growing food but I have read that even letting them go through the sprouting process will improve the nutritional content. So maybe we could feed both?

Ha Ha glad you did thought i close it,,lol
you explained it better than me thanks cooked and some fresh things spoil fast and none of this is in his cage always on his parrot stand , i leave pellets in his cage at all times and he also has pellets on his stand
today he got cooked food for bk and will be removed as soon as i notice it has a smell to it as ill be home all day weather is bad but Mango will be happy ..lol
thanks for taking the chance to post after me,,lol hugssss

 

[waterfaller1]

I've never heard leaving food in their cage will make them trust you more. Interesting!

Haven't you ever seen how they "train" birds for those shows? They starve them. I wouldn't trust anyone that starved me like that either.
Birds wake up at the crack of dawn. I think they should have something to munch on.

 

[Macawnutz]

Haven't you ever seen how they "train" birds for those shows? They starve them. I wouldn't trust anyone that starved me like that either.
Birds wake up at the crack of dawn. I think they should have something to munch on.

Awww Carole, not all parrot shows.

 

[waterfaller1]

I am so sorry. That was no slight against you Sarah. This is what I was told by someone who used to work the parks here in Fl. It made me very sad.

 

[Macawnutz]

It is sad and your right, that is how most shows "train" birds. It's the easy way and the quicker way. It's disgusting.

My guys eat as much as they want all day long. They have breakfast when they wake up, do a show at 11:00, have lunch, do a show at 3:00, have dinner and are put to bed with overnight pellets. They work for nuts as I don't feed any nuts in served meals. Some of my birds will do the trick and skip the nut if they are full, they do the trick because they enjoy it, it's fun, it's makes me happy and that makes them happy.

My show is proof that there is a better way. It may take a little longer but it's worth the effort in the end.

 

[waterfaller1]

I wish you could teach them. It makes me never want to go. It also makes me wonder if they are also starving the dolphins and other animals to 'perform'? I used to love to go to Sea World. I haven't been in decades, and in the last few years I feel very differently about it. I almost feel like a hypocrate, since I keep fish. But I don't think highly intelligent animals like killer whales, dolpins, belugas, etc, should be kept in tanks.