Healthy Diet Breakdown

[Bashful]

Hi guys,

I wanted to see if there were any parrot diet experts out there. Any surface level research I do - all I find is broad breakdowns (pellets, veges/fruits, seed) of how much their diet should be of each category of food. While this is helpful, it's not super helpful when I'm looking at ingredient lists of different pellets or seed mixes. I want to know specifics. How much protein vs fibre vs salt etc should be in a birds diet and why. Are some forms or protein/fibre superior to others? What makes a healthy diet, healthy? I want to get down to the nitty gritty

 

[Mizzely]

The problem is that we're still figuring it out. We have a lot of information from poultry studies, and we have anecdotal information from decades of feeding parrots, but very few legitimate studies on parrots. Even those are limited in species and number of birds. Unlike cats and dogs who we've domesticated and are each only one species with some breed variances, parrots are still very much genetically wild animals with dozens of species from all over the world.

Drs. Harrison's, Lafeber, and Roudybush probably have the majority of the published papers on parrot diet, so using their food macros as a reference point can be helpful as their research informed their diets.

As an example, Harrison's Adult Lifetime Fine and Super Fine:

Crude Protein 14% min
Crude Fat 6% min
Crude Fiber 5% max

If you look at other pellets on the market, maintenance formulas hover around these amounts. You can see some listed here: Pellets for Parrots

Some links to get you started if you're wanting to dive further:

RESEARCH - Harrison's Bird Foods

www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com

https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/T-E-Roudybush-4115236

 

[Parrot2001]

How do we feel about TOPs? mixed with Intune for pellets?

 

[Mizzely]

I personally don't use TOPS because I prefer pellets that are fortified with vitamins. My birds have also never taken to it.

I have no issues with in tune I like that they use natural colors.

 

[Parrot2001]

I personally don't use TOPS because I prefer pellets that are fortified with vitamins. My birds have also never taken to it.

I have no issues with in tune I like that they use natural colors.

What do you recommend that has vitamins in it, or a supplement I can add?

 

[Mizzely]

What do you recommend that has vitamins in it, or a supplement I can add?

inTune already has vitamins in it Most pellets on the market are fortified. TOPS is one of the only current exceptions.

If you don't want to do a fortified pellets, but want a multivitamin, then I really like the Hagen Prime vitamins.

If you don't want to do any synthetic vitamins, you will need to feed a wide variety of grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and more, as well as ensure your bird gets access to unfiltered sunlight (i.e. not through a window) at least 30 minutes a day several times a week.

 

[sunnysmom]

I feed my cockatoo In Tune also.

I just wanted to add though that diet really is to a degree also species specific. I think one problem with avian nutrition is that parrots all get lumped together. A diet for a cockatiel isn't the same as a diet for an Eclectus or a Lorikeet or a Macaw, etc. Hopefully, someday "best" diet will be broken down more to meet each type of parrots' particular needs. But at least information on avian nutrition is making progress.

 

[Linwood]

Not sure what bird you have, but at least for amazons (and I think a lot of others), you may get the perfect diet with the right percentage of every component there, but what actually makes it into the bird is another matter. My guess is 80% on average of the food I provide is discarded, slung hither and yon, dropped in the cage bottom, etc. Even the pellets are pulverized and some unknown percentage is turned into powder that she won't eat (and I strain out like a prospector panning for gold).

I don't mean to imply it is not worthwhile determining (say) which pellet is the best match for the bird and the rest of the diet, but trying to do this quantitatively seems hopeless outside of a lab environment where you weigh all the waste food to see what's going down the gullet. Maybe some birds eat everything given them and you can track it, but definitely not mine.

I think providing a reasonable mix of pellets, veggies, fruits and seeds is the closest we can come. Maybe some bits of human food like scrambled eggs, popcorn, etc. as treats.

 

[Finchbreed]

The longer we have birds the more we discover that it is like having children.
We do the best we can for them - but they are independant creatures that will make their own - not always wise - decisions.

 

[Linwood]

The longer we have birds the more we discover that it is like having children.

Except of course the kids eventually grow up and leave home. Well, most do.