How To Get Your Bird To Eat Healthy, Fresh Foods

How To Get Your Bird To Eat Healthy, Fresh Foods

Gourmet Diets For Birds

People are living longer than ever these days thanks to improved medicine, cleaner living and healthier eating.   Our pets are living longer, too, with the help of fresh foods. Just look at the number of gourmet and state-of-the-art dog foods available-- and the number of brands is increasing yearly. The more that we learn about parrot nutrition, the more foods that become available. Owners pay premium prices for these top-shelf diets and are happy to do so because a number of premium diets offer health benefits.

There is no reason you bird(s) shouldn't enjoy the same treatment. Fresh foods for parrot are healthy. And, if you aren't doing so already, make one of the premium commercial bird foods a major component of your bird's diet, cutting way back on seed, which offers inadequate nutrition and too much fat. With some persistence you can get your bird to become accustomed to a commercial diet by mixing it with some of its favorite soft foods and limiting access to seed. Commercial bird food by Harrison's, Roudybush and Goldenfeast are among the brands most used by bird owners.

Safe, Fresh Foods For Parrots

Don't forget the fresh food. Spring is the time for a produce explosion at local and farmer's markets. Organic produce is all the rage right now, with most supermarkets increasing their selections and enlarging their specifically designated organic food islands. Not only are these foods grown without growth hormones and insecticides, but they are also quite affordable and contain the antioxidants, amino-acids, vitamins and minerals your bird needs.

The winter's scant fruit and veggie offerings give way in spring and summer to delicious seasonal berries like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Standard melon varieties like watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew and casaba become increasingly available, as do tropical fruits such as papayas, bananas, mangos, star fruits, kiwis and passion fruits. Figs, plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines, grapes and pineapples are other sweet choices.

The selection of vegetables also increases in the spring.  Sweet corn, sugar snap peas, string beans, bell peppers, summer squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, carrots, radishes and a wide assortment of fresh greens like mustard, kale, collard, arugula, and radiccio are plentiful.

Don't forget other ways to get variety and nutrition into your bird's diet. Some of the foods available year-round are important, too. Soaked and cooked rice and bean mixes using white and brown rice, black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, kidney beans, lima beans, northern beans and corn can serve as the base of these diets, and they can be supplemented with fresh sprouts right before feeding, which will add a nutrient boost to any avian diet.

How To Change Your Birds Diet

 

 

When switching your bird over to a better diet, don't completely replace its old diet with new food items all at once. Do it gradually because birds have to learn that what they're being fed is safe.  This takes time.

Introduce something new each day and keep track of your bird's preference among a range of foods. Here is a list of foods to avoid. Seed, if fed at all, should be a small portion of the diet (less than 15%).

Nuts should be a small portion of the diet, especially for macaws and large hookbills that need higher fat content in their diet. An almond in the shell or hazelnut can make a fun and entertaining edible toy for some of the larger hookbills.

A high-quality cold-pressed pellet, like TOPS bran4 can form another 30% of the diet. Fruits, although delicious and relished by most birds, should not be overfed. Apples seem to be a universal favorite. They should be cut in small morsels and supplemented with any of the aforementioned fruits to make up about 15%-20% of the diet. Finally, a mixture of shredded dark greens and vegetables mixed with a rice and bean mixture should form the final 35%-40% of the diet.

Your bird will learn to love the variety and will be healthier than ever before. For a choice of premium commercial diets, visit http://www.birdsupplies.com/bird-food/.

Share your "Feeding Your Bird Well" journey in a comment below.

 

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1 comment

ekpenyong ita

ekpenyong ita

good day,

please list out some of the foods and drugs a parrot can eat to make the feather grow fast . thanks .

good day,

please list out some of the foods and drugs a parrot can eat to make the feather grow fast . thanks .

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