Tops Chatter

Well, it was not my first recipe, but the first one almost all parrots went for. It took me a while to realize that I had to trick them into trying something, which was new, but had a familiar taste to it. I had made this parrot food in various forms several times, but most birds decided they wait for the seeds and pellets.

It was when I added a little peanut butter that they thought it was delicious. And here we go:

I cooked millet or quinoa; put the same amount of two or three different vegetables in the food processor and blend until fine.

That was the recipe they did not want to eat first. So, I added some peanut butter and voila, they liked it. Over time I decreased the amount of peanut butter and blend the vegetables more coarse until I could ad chunks of veggies and leave out the peanut butter. My birds still like the veggies at least a little cooked, but now they eat them by themselves.

Living with parrots means to constantly learn about nutrition, parrot food and behavior. It is great that there are people around who help us with it. One of them is Barbara Heidenreich. Even if you think you have heard and seen here already, there is always more to learn.

That’s why I am glad to pass on that she will do a workshop for PEAC San Diego. If there is a possibility, have her come to your house and work with your birds. It is worth it.

Here is the link with more information:

http://www.peac.org/docs/Heidenreich_reg_and_bio.pdf

Do you have birds that don’t want to eat veggies?

Many birds lack vitamin A, which also helps the body to absorb calcium. Therefore I like to provide plenty of beta-carotene in my parrot food. Luckily, there are more and more powdered organic vegetables on the market. The one I use often is carrot powder, which I mix into birdie bread or sprinkle it over the fresh food my parrots get in the morning. So, the birds which don’t eat much of the veggies get at least some of the nutrients which carrots provide.

Photo: Murphy, who owns Crystal Hutton Smith and let her take this photo.

Milk Thistle is an herb, which can be very powerful, when it comes to liver problems. In Germany the hospitals give it to patients who consumed the death cap mushroom. The research done over the last 40 years in Europe found the active ingredient Silymarin to help the liver to produce new cells and protect them from harm. Many herbalists here use it as an antidote for all kind of poisonings. Some parrot owners used them in cases of fatty liver in birds. And a vet should always be consulted, when your bird is sick. When your vet tested for liver problems, you might want to consult with him/her about the option of using silymarin. Or you find a holistic vet who can help you with the right herbs.

But this powerful herb is also a treat for birds. I have not seen one parrot, which does not love the seeds. They are part of my regular parrot food. My birds get a few times a week ½ of an ounce. For the parrots milk thistle seeds are a treat and I know they keep their liver healthy.

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.