Most of my birds like vegetables, when they are slightly cooked and warm. Prepared that way they eat more then when I just give them the raw veggies. Here is one of my easy and fast to prepare parrot food recipes:
For my 11 parrots I take two large carrots, a medium sized head of broccoli, half of small head of fennel and a stalk of celery. Sometimes I use zucchini, peppers, beets or other vegetables. I cook them in the steam over boiling water until they are still a little crispy. Then I cut the vegetables in different sized cubes, ad 1 teaspoon of olive oil, mix it, ad 2 teaspoons of sesame seeds and 2 table spoons of rolled oat and mix it again.
And voila, ready is the yummy dish
Phoenix Landing is going to offer 3 weekend workshops in their great new facility in the Blue Ridge Mountains this year.
Here are some of the classes of the workshops:
How Do I Teach My Bird That?
- Husbandry behaviors (going into a carrier, taking medicine, taking a bath…);
- Trick behaviors to build a positive relationship and provide mental enrichment to your bird (wave, turn around, drop things in a bucket..); and
- Good behaviors that work for your family, and avoid the problems that can cause a bird to lose their home (biting, screaming….).
Activities for Parrots: Your Job and Theirs
Health
• Anatomy • Diseases • General safety • Emergencies
- Lost birds
What should my parrot eat?
Here is the site for more information:
http://www.phoenixlanding.org/events.html
My next post will continue with the herbs as daily parrot food
Several years ago I red a research from the university Hannover, Germany. They stated that about 30% of the pet parrots die on enlarged hearts. They assumed the cause was not enough exercise. In nature parrots exercise by climbing around and have to fly a lot to find food, water or feed their mate and babies.
There are many things we can do to get our birds to exercise. Some of mine like to hang on a boinger or sisal rope and flip their wings. Going around and around. If the environment is save it is also good to let them fly around the house. Or build a nice aviary. Though, it seems birds do not just fly around for the pleasure of flying. They seem to always have a goal when they go somewhere. May it they want to get to their owner, find some food or goodie, tease another bird and so on. I have seen the same thing with the outside birds.
Unfortunately in this research only exercise was mentioned. Not a word about the food this birds ate. I am convinced food is an issue when it comes to heart problems. If we feed our birds foods with certain fats or foods containing salt or sugar it certainly is not good for their heart. So, providing ways to exercise and feeding the right food is important. One of the herbs, which can be used as a regular food are hawthorn berries. In Europe hawthorn berries are know as a heart tonic, because they relax and dialate arteries, increase the flow of blood to and from the heart, transporting so more oxygen to it and maintain healthy blood vessels. They help the vascular system by decreasing capillary fragility and permeability, lowering blood pressure, reliving hypertension and strengthening the heart.
Hawthorn berries are save for long term use. I ad them on a regular base to my parrot food. Mostly I use dried berries and have seen great difference in quality. The best ones I found are from Oregon’s Wild Harvest. The dried herb mix for my birds contains always some hawthorn berries. I also soak them and ad them to the fresh parrot food I feed in the morning.
If you have a yard, I would suggest planting a hawthorn berry bush. Otherwise you can use the dried berries.
There are herbs, which are best used in a health issue situation. Others can be used as food and for prevention.
I will share here some of the ones I use on a regular base and start with nettle. I like it because it is a blood cleanser and very nourishing. Nettle cleanses the blood by removing uric acid waste products from the system in using protein building blocks, so they do not pass useless into the system and so relieving strain the organs. Many issues start with the body being overloaded and can show up in symptoms like allergies, acne, eczema, gout, arthritis, rheumatism, urinary problems and more.
The good thing is that we don’t have to wait until we have one of these problems. Nettle being also a nourishing food, can be added several times a week to parrot food. Some of my parrots just love tea. So when I have a nettle tea, they get some of it. The birds, which are not so crazy about tea, get it sprinkled over their fresh food a few times a week. Nettles can also be prepared like spinach or as a yummy soup and shared with your parrots.
When I lived in Italy pasta was often one of the 3-5 course menu’s we used to eat every day. Somehow since I came to the US I started eating them less and less. But my birds love them. Now, normal wheat pasta is not really a good parrot food anyway. So, I was happy when I discovered organic quinoa pasta. My birds are happy too, because since that time every once in a while there is pasta on the menu again.
Here is one of the recipes my birds really like:
Bring water to a boil; throw in pasta (for my 11 parrots I used one cup).
While the pasta is cooking, I put a large carrot and ½ of a small fennel in the food processor until it is a mash. You can use any vegetable for this recipe.
When pasta is almost soft, I remove the water and add one tablespoon of olive oil, stir it well and ad the vegetable mash.
The olive oil makes the vegetable mash stick to the pasta. Otherwise most birds would just eat the pasta and leave the veggies.
Buon Appetito
I wish all of you, your family, including the feathered and four legged ones a very Happy 2010.
May it be a year full of health, peace, happiness and prosperity for all of us.
I will keep sharing information mainly on parrot food and other bird related issues, which I think can help us making the life of our beloved birds a better and healthy one.
I already suggested the Nourish To Flourish - A Healthy Cookbook for Parrots several weeks ago as a good Christmas gift. Since I got the book, I keep enjoying it every day. It astonishes me constantly how in 129 page can be so much information. This is a long needed cookbook for parrots; or better for their owners.
Nourish to Flourish is really a treasure. It contains information about parrots nutritional needs, basic utensils in your kitchen, essential dietary components, how to teach your bird to eat new foods and learn to forage, which foods to avoid, many great recipes and much more. All of this combined with wonderful and fun photos. The book is spiral bound, which makes it easy to use while you are cooking.
No matter what parrot food you offer to your bird right now, this book can only enrich your knowledge and your birds diet.
Like you already know, I like to use herbs for my parrot’s food. Now at this time of the year there is not much growing. I am also an avid user of herb teas. To buy them in bags is not only expensive, but it does not taste as good as tea from fresh bulk herbs. So, long time ago I started to have always a supply at hand. Eventually I thought it would be a good idea to mix some of them and offer them to my birds.
Now during winter, when there are no fresh herbs, my birds have their bowl with dried herbs in the cage. But that is not the only way they can be used as parrot food. I add them to omelets and other fresh food. They give a variety in taste and provide nutrition.
Here are a few of the dried herbs I use:
Nettle leafs - which have a very cleansing effect and are especially good for older birds with arthritis.
Peppermint - calms the digestive system and nerves, is soothing and strengthens the heart muscle.
Yarrow - is good for the liver and the glandular system
Slippery Elm Bark Powder - draws impurities and heals all parts it comes in contact with.
Hawthorn berries -are high on vitamin C and B complex and are very good for the hearth.
Dandelion leafs - promotes healthy circulation, strengthens arteries, stimulates the liver and cleanses the blood and much more.
In case you want to give it a try, here is where I buy my herbs:
A while ago I wrote an article about intuitive parrot feeding for the Parrot International Press. I just saw that they have it up now. They have many interesting articles about parrot food, behavior and parrots in the wild. They really cover the whole parrot world, from pet birds to information about conservation, reintroduction in the wild and much more.
http://www.pipress.org/2009/11/intuitive-parrot-feeding/
I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season
You might imagine that traveling long distances in a car with your pet parrot could be a real headache. Surprisingly, the process can be painless and even fun if you prepare well ahead of time and make a few basic considerations. Your parrot will be happy and content during the duration of the ride as long as it receives food, water, shelter and some parrot cracker now and again. Make sure that the bird is well fed before the journey commences because it will be less likely to eat during the trip.
Keep a bottle of fresh water within the bird’s reach, and keep a spare ready to go within the car. Bird travel carriers are the final consideration. The carrier needs to be large enough to allow the bird to stretch its wings. Good ventilation will allow the parrot to breathe normally, so check that there are relatively large holes or vents in the carrier. Just like a common birdcage, the carrier should also feature a perch that allows the bird to stand.