Salar

As far as i know, nuts and seeds, whole grains, legumes and even fruits and vegatables such as Broccoli and banana for example are sources of protein. Just make sure you feed the proper amounts... This is what i've read from birdsnways and avianweb websites and altered my grey's diet to exclude any animal-derived foods (which actually make a very small part of their usual diet). They need Protein and Calcium but can be obtained from vegan sources as well. Will copy/paste important parts for you here: "Good Calcium Sources: Beet Greens Broccoli Leaves Broccoli Stem Cabbage (outside green leaves) Celery Chard Chinese Cabbage Collards (cooked) Dandelion Greens Endive Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Dark Green Leaf Mustard Greens Orange or Tangerine Parsley Spinach Turnip Greens Watercress Watermelon Yellow Wax Beans Moderate Calcium Sources:Apples Blackberries Blueberries Cabbage (inside white leaves) Cantaloupe Carrots Green Beans Guavas Okra Pears Raspberries Rutabaga Squash Strawberries Turnips Yams Poor Calcium Sources: Apricots Asparagus Bananas Beets Broccoli Flowers Brussels Sprouts Cauliflower Cherries (pitted) Corn Cucumber Eggplant Grapes Lettuce (head, iceberg) Mushrooms Parsnips Peaches Peas Pineapple Plums Pumpkin Radish Sweet Potato Tomato" "Even though most dark leafy greens are rich in calcium, broccoli, rapini, turnip greens, collard greens and mustard greens are better sources than spinach, chard and beet greens because of the high oxalic acid content that blocks absorption of the calcium in spinach, chard, and beet greens. Calcium-rich vegetable / fruits and greens are: bok choy, kale, parsley, mustard greens, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, dandelion greens, apricots, figs, endive, okra, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), pinto beans and kidney beans. Please note that large raw beans - such as Anasazi, Black, Fava, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, and Soy - can cause toxicities when fed raw, causing digestive upsets for people and potentially for birds. Some experts recommend that large beans should be cooked to make them safe and digestible. Others counter that soaking beans for 24 hours starts the germinating process and that soaking makes the beans safe and digestible. For those who do not want to take any risks, it's best to cook large beans thoroughly before feeding to your birds. These beans are not recommended for general sprouting purposes. Certain uncooked dried beans contain enzyme inhibitors, are indigestible , and may cause visceral gout in birds. These enzyme inhibitors may prevent or decrease the utilization in the body of substances, such as trypsin and chymotrypsin, to produce nutritional deficiencies. Beans that can interfere with proteolytic enzymes are lima, kidney and soybeans. Cooking these beans for at least 2 hours destroys these enzyme inhibitors. Other dried beans do not appear to contain these enzyme inhibitors or, if present, are in low concentrations. To be on the safe side, it's best to cook ALL varieties of beans. Other food sources of calcium: Baked eggshells, crushed and sprinkled over the food, oatmeal, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, and tahini -- "nut butter" made of sesame seeds Soaked and germinated "oil" seeds, like niger and rape seeds, are rich in protein and carbohydrates; while "starch" seeds, such as canary and millets, are rich in carbohydrates, but lower in protein. To restore the balance between Omega-6 and Omega-3 essential fatty acids in your African Grey’s diet, you may want to include Flaxseeds every day. Eating whole flaxseed rather than flaxseed oils because you get the whole package: the protein, fiber, minerals and phytochemicals along with the omega-3. Flaxseeds are also the best source of the phytochemical lignan. Lignan is documented to have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-cancer properties" links: http://www.avianweb.com/africangreydiet.htm http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww22eii.htm After all, i'm not sure if your parrot is an African gray or not. There are some differences from a specie to another....

Thank you Birdnut and judygram, That's appreciated. Yes, he currently IS happy and doing just fine. I actually though having a partner of his own kind would make things better for him. I, by no means, want him take part in any kind of breeding program (there's none after all). What i said about the petshop thing was that after i find that ONE bird for him, buy the second and bring them both home. However your point, Judygram, about deseases is absolutely right since as i said those poor birds are all wild-cut and thus...Who knows what they might carry....

Hey Eshana, really glad to read your post. Same here (I'm already vegan though). Don't think it's something crusial. It's partly for chewing's sake (bone), Calcium (egg's shell) and Protein (white meat) BUT they are not something your bird can not recieve from plant sources. In the wild, they just occasionally eat insects or something so animal protein dose not play a considerable role in a parrot's life (unliek dogs which i find it meaningless to be fed a vegan diet of course) which can not be obtained from non-animal sources. Just remember to provide him a balanced rich diet (Not because you're not feeding him flesh! It's a must for all greys). We can discuss it in more details if you like. My grey's diet contains no animal products: no white meat, no eggs, no honey.... It's a real pleasure to meet a veg[etari]an fellow.

First, i apologize if there's already a thread to discuss this. I have a wild-caught Grey who's around 5 years old. Don't know the sex, don't know the axact age but the visual estimations say he's likely to be under 5 years old. We get along very well, he's flighted, seems to be happy and really loves me but the fact that i've sentensed him to a life-long imprisonmet has always bothered me from the very first day....I bought him the biggest cage i could find and whenever i'm home, he's out. Have also made my room bird-safe so he can enjoy hours of outside-the-cage time daily... He dosen't seem to be mature yet and have never been hormonal but i've been seriously thinkig about getting him a partner. After all, since they are very social creatures it'll definately make him happy and i know our relationship will weaken and so on but all i want is to... Let's say: ease my feeling of guilt, put it straight forward! Now, the problem is, How? That's how i've been told to plan: Take him to a pet shop and let him choose or bring birds home to see if they get along. This is awkward, i know...But remember: I have no chance of getting a captive-breed grey, they're all wild-caught and therefore not even sexed!!

Hello guys and gals. There's this grey who's been ignored by it's (don't know if if it's a he or a she) previous owner untill it started to show signs of Feather plucking and well the owner decided to get rid of it! Long story short, a guy bought this poor bird so that he can help it heal but since then, in spite of all the attempts, the bird is getting worse... The vet believes it is psycholigical/behavioural... The bird is getting a good diet, sun light, enough toys, time out of cage, attention and so on...Thus still continues to pull out it's feathers...So that the chest is almost naked... Is there any other tecnique left we can try to help the bird get out of this misery other than using that so called "elizabeth collar"?