snoepgoed123 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 So I know a limited amount of nuts is ok in a greys diet... I have been giving Archimedes 1 walnut a week, that he has to figure out how to get out himself (I do start it for him) but I figured... why not add some pistachios (my favorite nut) to the mix... the nuts are practically exposed... I saw them yesterday at bird paradise... so I got a little sample... maybe like 15 nuts or so... well today I gave him one... after mouthing the nut for around 5 minutes he finally cracked it open... well smarty pants decides the shell is more exciting than the nut... pretty much played with the shell pieces for 15 minutes and disregarded the nut... oh well.... kinda jealous though... that nut smelled *really* good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Nuts are Greyt finger food for parrots. They can have 1/2 walnut, 1 almond, a couple of pistachio a day. The more active your fid is, the more (up to a point) nuts they can have.They are loaded with EFA (essential fatty acids).We will talk more about them later. Thanks, Jayd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 My gang love pistachios and I purchase them salt-free for them because they are so low in fat. Expensive but healthy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snoepgoed123 Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 wow, Jayd, I didn't realize they could have up to half a walnut a day... I don't wanna get Archimedes too dependent on nuts, but thats great news that I could just halve the nut and give it to him to hollow out. Luvparrots... if you want cheap pistachios go to trader joe's... they have raw/roasted/salted/unsalted/shell/unshelled for like $5ish... I wish Archimedes would have liked the nut more, and the shell less... but eh... what can you do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Stewart will not eat nuts of any kind. I still offer them to him and i think he takes them from me to be polite, then he just drops it to the bottom. He had a VERY bad beak trim before i got him and figured he just couldn't crack them, but like yours, once in a blue moon he will crack a peanut and gnaw on the shell for a bit. Since January i have not seen him eat a nut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Stewart will not eat nuts of any kind. I still offer them to him and i think he takes them from me to be polite, then he just drops it to the bottom. He had a VERY bad beak trim before i got him and figured he just couldn't crack them, but like yours, once in a blue moon he will crack a peanut and gnaw on the shell for a bit. Since January i have not seen him eat a nut. Keep working on the nuts. It's not the best to feed peanuts in the shell to parrots, they can have a, mold that can harm or kill them, get a souffle cup [2oz] and put a piece of walnut or almond in it and squeeze it into a ball, it's a greyt forrage toy and a good way to give a treat...Thanks Jayd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willotree Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 is it okay to give salt free organic sunflowers seeds to Willo once or twice a week. i have bought salt free mixed organic nuts ,along with peanuts still in their shell on petsolution.com. but her favorite is sunflower seeds. Willo just turned 4 months yesterday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 (edited) is it okay to give salt free organic sunflowers seeds to Willo once or twice a week. i have bought salt free mixed organic nuts ,along with peanuts still in their shell on petsolution.com. but her favorite is sunflower seeds. Willo just turned 4 months yesterday! Yes, a parrot [the size of a medium Grey] can have up to 3 tbs of striped [not black oil] sunflower seeds [in shell] a day! As far as peanuts in the shell goes, I just won't give them no matter where they come from.[this is only my opinion]. Thanks Jayd Edited April 12, 2012 by Jayd corrected spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Josey eats most nuts except for sunflower seeds, if they are in her bowl of a morning then they will still be there by the end of the day, guess its just as well she doesn't eat them, she will eat walnuts and pecans, not much on almonds or pistachios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kave70 Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 So glad I read this thread. Sam has been having 3 almonds a day. Time to wean that down. We're still working on veggies. I've offered every day for almost 10 months now and he still only eats a carrot, now and again. I will keep offering though- I'm definitely more stubborn than he is :-) Karen and Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Wow, i never knew that about the peanuts since they come in the parrot seed. I always pull them out when i fill their bowl and use one a night as their nite-nite bedtime treat. I got a yellow squash yesterday and i looked at for a while trying to figure out how to give it to them. Lol Do i steam it, do i give it raw? I don't eat them so had no clue. I gave up and said well if they are in the wild they couldn't cook it, so raw it is. I sliced them like chips and handed to them. Stewart threw his but Oliver loved it! I do have a noodle question. Olivers previous owner said he loved noodles, Ramone (ms?). The flavor packet is loaded with salt and he won't eat it without it. I used half the package but then rinsed the noodles before giving it to him and he ate like a pig. Is this ok in moderation? (he is in need of gaining some weight) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywings Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 You can flavor those noodles with a veggie juice like Carrot, or a little Apple cider vinegar, or a little Coconut oil &mashed sweet potato, a little Red Palm oil and Ginger, add some sprouted grains , mung beans, shredded veggies or fruits a tiny bit of shredded cheese or a dollop of yogurt. You get the idea-imagination in the birdy kitchen. Hint-let him see you eat a little first and make those yummy lip smacking sounds to get him interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 That is usually one of the best ways to get them to try something is to let them see you eat it because usually when they see us eating something they want it too, kind of like monkey see monkey do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Wow, i never knew that about the peanuts since they come in the parrot seed. I always pull them out when i fill their bowl and use one a night as their nite-nite bedtime treat. I got a yellow squash yesterday and i looked at for a while trying to figure out how to give it to them. Lol Do i steam it, do i give it raw? I don't eat them so had no clue. I gave up and said well if they are in the wild they couldn't cook it, so raw it is. I sliced them like chips and handed to them. Stewart threw his but Oliver loved it! I do have a noodle question. Olivers previous owner said he loved noodles, Ramone (ms?). The flavor packet is loaded with salt and he won't eat it without it. I used half the package but then rinsed the noodles before giving it to him and he ate like a pig. Is this ok in moderation? (he is in need of gaining some weight) Hi, this is a greyt thread!!...Some of our fids like the squash raw and some like it cooked and then you have days when they look at you like "what the heck are you feeding me???" LOL...you can take the squash and slice it and boil it until soft or feed it raw like you are doing. The sweet potatoes that I serve are boiled without skins until they are soft and can be mashed like a soft mashed potatoes. Some parrots eat them raw but I have never tried that with ours. Hope this helps....oh and Joey loves his Wacky Macs pasta raw (comes in rotini shapes and has four different flavors). The others like their orzo cooked. Maggie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Ahhhh, this is the info i like! I have read all the things i should be feeding them, and like i said, i look at these veggies dumbfounded. I like seeing what i can do with them! I have tried many receipes from that thread, but beyond that its either raw or steamed. I am going to try juice in the noodles tonight! Yeah! Thanks for the ideas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Heehee, my mom hated dinner time. I was the the snotty kid who wouldn't try anything new. I ate Mrs Grass noodle soup, still do. My husbands groom cake had a can of Spaggetti as a topper, with good luck written on it. There is alot out there i haven't tried but having these birds, i am atleast bringing it home and offering it to them! ( i didn't throw the food at my mom though like they do to me!) There was one night i had baked a piece of fish and steamed carrots and broccoli for the boys, my husband came home and was excited about the dinner he "thought" i had made for all of us. (I only had one piece of fish! He ended up taking me out for dinner, that could have my evil plan!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murfchck Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Lol, i will. I am going to try the squash dish you suggested! For the birds of course... Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amali Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Regarding sweet potato - I've read a couple places that feeding raw is actually bad for parrots: Sweet Potato Sweet potato shows trypsin inhibitor activity. That means it contains an enzyme inhibitor that blocks the action of trypsin, an enzyme that digests proteins. The trypsin inhibitor prevents the digestion of protein. Sweet potatoes with higher protein levels have more of the trypsin inhibitor. This makes raw sweet potato difficult to digest. The trypsin inhibitor is deactivated by cooking. One way the raw food diet helps people is by supplying food enzymes. Food enzymes do part of the work of digesting the raw food. Enzyme inhibitors increase the amount of work that your body needs to do to digest foods. Enzyme inhibitors force your body to produce more digestive enzymes. This uses up resources that could be used to produce detoxifying enzymes. When animals are regularly fed enzyme inhibitors in research, they become sick. Sweet potato should not be eaten raw. •Toxic substances and antinutritional factors: Sweet Potato FAO.org and this Sweet potato Sweet potato contains raffinose, one of the sugars responsible for flatulence. Three of the sugars which occur in plant tissues, raffinose, stachyose and verbascose are not digested in the upper digestive tract, and so are fermented by colon bacteria to yield the flatus gases, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The level of raffinose present depends on the cultivar. In some parts of Africa the cultivars used are considered too sweet and cause flatulence (Palmer, 1982), Lin et al. (1985) have established that sweet potato shows trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) ranging from 90 percent inhibition in some varieties to 20 percent in others. There is a significant correlation between the trypsin inhibitor content and the protein content of the sweet potato variety. Heating to 90°C for several minutes inactivates trypsin inhibitors. Lawrence and Walker (1976) have implicated TIA in sweet potato as a contributory factor in the disease enteritis necroticans. This seems doubtful since sweet potato is not usually eaten raw and the activity of the trypsin inhibitor present is destroyed by heat. In response to injury, or exposure to infectious agents, in reaction to physiological stimulation or on exposure of wounded tissue to fungal contamination, sweet potato will produce certain metabolites. Some of these compounds, especially the furano-terpenoids are known to be toxic (Uritani, 1967). Fungal contamination of sweet potato tubers by Ceratocystis fimbriata and several Fusarium species leads to the production of ipomeamarone, a hepatoxin, while other metabolites like 4-ipomeanol are pulmonary toxins. Baking destroys only 40 percent of these toxins. Catalano et al. (1977) reported that peeling blemished or diseased sweet potatoes from 3 to 10 mm beyond the infested area is sufficient to remove most of the toxin. I try to avoid boiling vegetables at all as it tends to decrease nutritional value some. I scrub sweet potatoes, wrap in foil, bake at 350-400 for about an hour. Let cool, remove skin, and give a tablespoon or two. You can also add a little cinnamon to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 (edited) Thank you, Sweet potato should always be cook, you can slice it in half, fill half way with water and microwave. Never feed the eyes of white potatoes, and very little of them at all. As for boiling, steaming/ boiling actually converts and increases the value of some veggies.[iE:carrot's, Broccoli] Garbanzo inhibits as does spinach, but they can be fed in small amounts weekly. Swiss Chard and Spinach have a lot of sodium as does canned veggies, frozen veggies are better and they retain their nutrient longer...Thanks Jay Edited April 19, 2012 by Jayd spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 If you haven't eaten yellow squash you are missing out. Here is a wonderful dish good for parrots and parronts to share. Ingredients 1 each yellow squash (aka summer squash or crook neck squash) and 1 green zucchini. Get them about equal in diameter. 1/2 to 3/4 cup diced frozen carrots Balsamic vinaigrette dressing recipe below warm cooked rice of any kind or orzo pasta Cut the squash and zucchini into rounds about 1/4 inch thick. Place vegies in a pan with a light coating of oil and 2 tbsp of water. Cook over medium heat, adding more water a tbsp at a time as necessary, until the center starts to soften. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the dressing and cook until tender but not mushy. You'll see the center white flesh of the squash change to an opaque white as it nears being done. For parronts you can add rings of steamed onions. Remove from heat and place vegies and dressing mix atop of warm rice. Balsamic vinaigrette dressing Ingredients: 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon light brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt (I don't like salty foods and use 1/4 tsp) 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil Preparation: To make the vinaigrette, in a medium bowl whisk balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, brown sugar, salt, and pepper until mixed. Gradually whisk in the olive oil until smooth. Store in covered container in the refrigerator and shake well to mix before using. Edited to add you might want to drain the vegies on a paper towel to remove any excess dressing and give your fid the rice/orzo plain. This really tastes good, I'm sorry but to be healthy for our parrots we need to make a couple of changes. The easiest would be to just not serve them the Balsamic vinaigrette dressing and replace the White rice with brown or wild rice. Balsamic vinegar isn't a vinegar, it's not fermented and is made from grape skin, this along with the added brown sugar, rice,pasta etc, before and after the digestive process raises the sugar level extremely high. A added danger is the salt. Some ingredients such as salt accumulates in the parrots system, a parrot has no way to remove, in time, salt, sugar can cause a mulatude of health related problems such as heart problems and possibly death. Sometime add up just how much salt and sugar we feed our parrot, this includes Carb's that converts to sugar. Remember, a slice of most breads equal 2 tsp of sugar! We all cheat and give no-no's to our parrots, but in the case of wingys wonderful recipe, we can slightly alter it for our fids...Thanks Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Balsamic vinegar isn't a vinegar, it's not fermented and is made from grape skin Most "commercial grade" balsamic vinegar is actually made from white vinegar with sugar, color and thickener. The "fancier" stuff is typically cooked grape skins with white vinegar added (plus color and sugar). True balsamic isn't always easy to find in the US... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Most "commercial grade" balsamic vinegar is actually made from white vinegar with sugar, color and thickener. The "fancier" stuff is typically cooked grape skins with white vinegar added (plus color and sugar). True balsamic isn't always easy to find in the US... Once again your partly right, Balsamic vinegar isn't vinegar, nor is it apple cider vinegar, the subject was sugar conversion..A couple of members have said, what's a little going to hurt? Enough to cause problem or death in the future is all. Example, you Doug know that peanuts in the shell can cause possible illness or death, the simple solution, stop feeding it if for no other reason then peace of mind..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Once again your partly right, Balsamic vinegar isn't vinegar, nor is it apple cider vinegar, the subject was sugar conversion..A couple of members have said, what's a little going to hurt? Enough to cause problem or death in the future is all. Example, you Doug know that peanuts in the shell can cause possible illness or death, the simple solution, stop feeding it if for no other reason then peace of mind..... Please forgive me, but I don't understand what you're trying to tell me. Most regular (off-the-shelf) balsamic vinegar is TRUE vinegar - it is just white vinegar with additives. Even most the so-called balsamic vinegar of Modena contains a lot of white vinegar. Read the labels... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayd Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Please forgive me, but I don't understand what you're trying to tell me. Most regular (off-the-shelf) balsamic vinegar is TRUE vinegar - it is just white vinegar with additives. Even most the so-called balsamic vinegar of Modena contains a lot of white vinegar. Read the labels... This will be my last reply on the subject. Research Doug, not the label. 2nd, research something about what parrots eat that can possibly convert to to much sugar. If you wish to continue to support things that might[?] cause harm to our parrots, please do so, I'll no longer try to offer my help. There are so many more important things that needs to be discussed on the forum then who can I discredit today..... I'm going to do 1 or 2 more posts, 1 about Red Palm Oil, then I'll limit my posts to posting a photo or something that will not offend anyone. Sincerely Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 ??? Have I even once advocated using balsamic vinegar with the greys? I was questioning your statement. Which was incorrect. (I know that no-one is allowed to question the all-knowing moderators, but never-the-less.) It doesn't make any difference, though, whether I am correct. It is immaterial. The original topic of this thread was long gone so I didn't think there was any harm in discussing this. I'll shut up. Matter of fact, I'm out of this forum for a while. It is too exhausting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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