Tops Chatter

I’ve owned parrots, macaws and cockatoos for many years now, and over that time a few of my friends have also begun keeping birds as pets. As the go-to authority on avian pet knowledge, they are always asking me questions about feeding and caring for birds. I’d like to share with you a few of the most common issues that are brought to my attention. First there’s the question of seed and pellet nutrition.

Unfortunately, people often frame the question in the wrong way. They’ll talk about “seeds versus pellets,” or some similar construction. The fact is that both are viable sources of parrot nutrition, and birds can always benefit from variety. Pellets are some of the most nutritional bird food you’ll find. They are made from a blend of nutrients, so each and every bite will be wholesome and beneficial.

In the last ten years many people came to me and wanted to know how to feed their birds healthier. Some of them wanted to change everything at the same time. And gave up after a short while. Many started with baby steps and came a long way. And some thought I am a plain nuts in the beginning. Of some of them I never heard again. Some contacted me after a short or long while and thankfully reported their progress. Which sometimes went so far as that they changed the diet for the whole family. And with some I became friends.

One who thought I am crazy in the beginning, but changed the diet of her birds in her own way, just send me am email she called Harvest Delight. I want to share it with you to show how easy it can become, after a little while, to create healthy parrot food dishes. And here we go:

Sending photos of our favorite meal that contains some wonderful foods available during the fall season!  Cranberries, yams, peppers, parsley, apples, and of course – fresh sprouted Totally Organics seeds!  Thank you, Auntie Gudrun!!

*Signed*

The Byrdbell Flock

And tommy can’t wait untill he gets it in his bowl.

Since many years now, when it comes to parrot foods, I am preaching the motto variety and moderation to anybody who wants to listen or not. This variety should always contain some fresh food. My reason was always that scientist discover constantly new components in fresh food, which are vital to our well being. We don’t know what we are missing, when our and our parrots diet consists of processed foods only.

 Lately I hear a lot about glyconutrients. They were discovered over the last few years. What are they? They are 8 plant carbohydrates, which are very important for the proper function and well being of the body. There is a lot of research done on them. If you want to know more details, here is a site:

http://www.glyconutrientsreference.com/whatareglyconutrients.html

You can go ahead and read or just be happy that your parrot gets these nutrients, because you are feeding fresh vegetable. Some fungus and mushrooms are high on glyconutrients, but almost everything fresh food contains it. Here is another site with the list of foods, which contain it:

http://heartspring.net/glyconutrient_sources.html

Hookbill birds, especially parrots and cockatoos, occasionally require some bill trimming when they’re kept in captivity. Bird owners begin to run into problems, however, when they “go it alone” and attempt trimming a pet’s beak without precise knowledge of how it should be done. It’s important to note that parrots which receive high-quality healthy bird food don’t require a beak trim in the first place.

If it turns out that your bird could benefit from a beak trim, use the birds from a professionally handled zoo as your guide. You can use a diamond nail file to grind and shape the beak. Have an assistant or family member restrain the bird during this process. Err on the side of caution when trimming, as birds have sensitive living tissue beneath the hard exterior beak layer.

Today I am not going to write about parrot food. Just forwarding a video I just received from the World Parrot Trust.

As much as I love my birds, I often think they should not live in a house, even less in cages. There is nothing I can do, but to do my best to give them a good and healthy live. But I also do what I can to help organizations, which work for helping parrots to survive in the wild.

Part of helping them is not to buy and/or recycle materials, which let to more of destruction of their habitat.

I hope you will enjoy this beautiful, though sometimes sad, video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXJyzTwCp3o&feature=channel_page

Feeding parrots can sometimes be frustrating; because of all the food we have to throw away. It is natural for them to spread some of their food all over. In the wild that would make sure that new plants grow and provide their future meals. Though throwing away a good part of the fresh organic parrot foods every day, sometimes really hurt me.

But I have a dog. She gets raw meat with some fresh vegetables every day. One day it dawned on me that I don’t have to throw away at least the fresh food, which the birds left in their bowls. Now I collect the rests from the parrot food and mix it into the meat for my dog Deva. I am really glad that I finally got this idea and waste less of my fresh organic parrot food.

I love to eat. And when I cook, it relaxes me. But I don’t feel like doing it every day. Since I live with birds I prepare fresh organic parrot food every morning. And I often don’t feel like cooking for myself another time the same day. So, I want dishes that are easy and fast to prepare and at the same time healthy and nutritious. Therefore I am really thankful that I lived in Italy and learned many recipes, which are easy and fast to make. When you prepare every day two meals with at least 3 courses, you can’t spend hours for every dish. And many Italian recipes are really fast, easy and yummy.

Sometimes I meet people who tell me that cooking is just too time consuming. I never understood. I also never understood, why many cookbooks contain elaborate recipes only. Then I was talking to a friend about this and she said: people who write cook books probably think, you know already the simple daily dishes and use the cookbook only when you want to make something special. Now that makes sense. But it does not help someone who never learned to cook and wants to start.

I already shared some of the recipes I make for myself and I can also use as parrot food. I will continue doing this, so some people can start using them and see how easy it can be to cook for your entire family, including the FID’s, one healthy, yummy dish.

There’s a general misconception among new bird owners that all parrots, parakeets and similar birds like to dine on the same foods. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, pet birds can be separated into five distinct groups, each of which boasts its own unique set of dietary needs. These include florivore, granivore, frugivore, omnivore and nectarivore.

Florivores function best when fed a steady diet of organic parrot seed, fruits and berries. As their name suggests, granivores such as the cockatiel thrive on grains and seeds. Frugivores like the blue-throated macaw flourish on a combination of fruit and flowers with seeds acting as a supplement. Omnivores eat a bit of each of the above foods in addition to small invertebrates. Finally, nectarivores like the lorikeet eat nectar, pollen and some small insects.

I ordered some eucalyptus branches from California. When the package arrived I was not here and the postman left it on the front door. When I came home there was a green bug sitting on top of the box. It stalked away when I grabbed the box. I had never seen such thing. It looked like a grasshopper, just bright green and much bigger (about 4 inches). Over the next few days it mostly hung out on the screen of my living room window. Which enabled me to get a very close look at it. I finally found it on the Internet. It is a praying mantis. Every once in a while it climbs down and (I assume) eats some bugs. Then it goes up the screen again. We keep looking at each other and I am totally fascinated. They usually live in warmer climates. Though, so far it is still pretty warm during the day. I wonder if it will survive here.

I know this has nothing to do with parrot food, but I did not even think that something like this might happen every once in a while. I don’t know how often a critter sneaks into a box and gets shipped like this, to end up in a total different state than where it is at home.

I am glad to live in an area where we have 4 seasons. I can’t imagine that pumpkin pie tastes as good in the south with 80 degrees than here, where it is getting cold. I also love the golden colors of fall. Many of the gold colors now are in the grocery store, which are full of all kinds of pumpkins. And they are a great parrot food, which can be severed in many ways. How much easier can it get, than cutting a squash or pumpkin in big chunks and let the birds have fun with them for the rest of the day.

I like to bake them for myself. What I don’t eat, I cut in cubes the next morning and another parrot breakfast is ready in not time. It is a joy to see how they welcome the food they did not get for several month.