How do you make, a high quality daily bird food?

[Guest]

I want to home cook a nutritionally complete diet for my birds. (Conures) I know seed sucks, and pellets are ok (Harrisons is best) but if I can find a way to make a good meal for my birds I would prefer that, and its healthier for them (synthetic vitamins are incomplete). Can anyone point me in the direction of a recipe or two?

[Greywings]

If you will look back into this section of the blog you will find many healthy recipes for Chop, Birdy bread, Mash, Omlettes, Crackers and much more.

[SRSeedBurners]

Also if you're on Facebook, lookup 'The Parrot's Pantry' group and join. 12,000+ members and more ideas than your bird could choke down in a lifetime.

[Greywings]

Oh that reminds me that there is another great group on Yahoo, groups.yahoo.com/group/FeedingFeathers

[Muse]

Also if you're on Facebook, lookup 'The Parrot's Pantry' group and join. 12,000+ members and more ideas than your bird could choke down in a lifetime.

 

Be VERY careful with those people. The admins are a vicious group and they quickly delete posts and ban anyone that does not agree with them 100%. I joined because Patricia Sund was affiliated with them but found out the hard way that the admins are on some kind of power trip. Several of them attacked me because I DARED to question feeding pellets that include ingredients that are not fit for human consumption. They deleted the thread and booted me from the group without so much as an IM explaining what was going on. Best to find the ideas somewhere else. Patricia has many of the recipes on her blog.

[Muse]

I want to home cook a nutritionally complete diet for my birds. (Conures) I know seed sucks, and pellets are ok (Harrisons is best) but if I can find a way to make a good meal for my birds I would prefer that, and its healthier for them (synthetic vitamins are incomplete). Can anyone point me in the direction of a recipe or two?

 

We have embarked on a natural feeding program here. We wean all birds off pellets. Pellets are simply the same "awful" seeds that everyone warns against feeding except they have been cooked, ground, slurried, pressed, extruded or otherwise mechanically regurgitated with synthetic vitamins added in because much of what goes in to the pellets is not very nutritious to begin with and it is even less so after processing. Most major brands of pellets contain a chemical called menadione. It is listed under several compound names but all will have menadione somewhere in the name. It is a cheap "source of vitamin K activity" - not even true vitamin K. It's action as such is a subject of much debate. I first "met" menadione years ago when researching dog and cat foods after reading Ann Martin's book "Foods Pets Die For." After Marden died due to something he ate, I began to examine every particle of every food the birds ate. Imagine my surprise when I found this hepatotoxic (liver toxic), banned-for-human-use chemical in my babies pellets!

 

Like every other well meaning bird owner, we at first *offered* the birds pellets. We had ZuPreem, at first, but the Greys hated it. The little birds got Roudybush and seemed okay with it. (Both of these contain menadione and have since been completely discontinued). We later tried Harrisons, which does not contain menadione, but my problem with Harrisons is the very first ingredient is "ground shelled sunflower seeds." Really? Bwuh? Sunflower seeds = major component of "seed diet" - the one that has been vilified by vets and bird experts around the world!?!? The fourth ingredient on the list is shelled peanuts. We don't feed peanuts (or field corn) because of the risk of Aspergillus contamination. The other major brands of pellets that do not have menadione are Goldenfeast Golden'obles and TOP pellets. Those are the only two I might even consider feeding. And Golden'obles have soy beans as the second ingredient which is something many experts say contributes to hormone issues. (I am still undecided on that one).

 

We make our own dry mixes here, along with feeding certain Goldenfeast mixes that do not contain peanuts. I like the Central American Preservation Blend II, but I strongly suspect the papaya and some of the other fruit contains sulfites. (I don't relish a migraine enough to test that theory by eating it). The birds seem okay with it with it. For our own mix, we dehydrate peppers (sweet peppers and hot peppers), greens, fruits, and veggies. We add nuts, higher proportions of the lower fat nuts like organic pistachios unsalted in shells, and almonds in the shell. We also add a small amount of pine nuts in the shell to the 'big bird' mix (small birds like conures can't crack these).

 

I found a recipe on this forum for crackers, and I plan to make and crumble these into bits and mix them in the upcoming batch. I have also added dry pasta, dehydrated COOKED beans, and spices like crumbled CEYLON (not Cassia) cinnamon sticks. Ceylon is the soft stick cinnamon which is true cinnamon. Cassia is the hard bark type and contains much more coumarin which is hepatotoxic in rats and can have an anti-coagulant effect. We also add star anise, juniper berries, and granola (homemade). I have added other things as I can find them, varying the mix each time, but trying to make sure the birds "eat the rainbow" - that is get a steady diet of a varied selection of different colors of veggies and fruits. This helps to insure an adequate vitamin intake as fruits and veggies of similar colors often contain the same types of nutrients. For instance, dark green leafy veggies are a good (natural) source of Vitamin K.

 

In addition to the dry mix which is free fed, we offer fresh food every day. We vary the items but again try to "eat the rainbow" to give a wide spectrum of nutrients. The birds usually get egg every week, whether scrambled, omelet with veggies or seeds, or hard boiled. Hard boiled is served with the shell. We also make sure they get fruit. Our birds are all flighted and get at least a few hours every day in the playroom so they need the sugars for energy. Non-flighted or less active birds may require less fruit or carbohydrates. I also cook for them. They love grain bakes. I usually make mine with fruit as this seems to be favored over savory flavors. I mix pastas, ancient grains like quinoa and amaranth, and organic wild rice. I add in berries, or diced apples and often some diced pecans and walnuts. They are easy to make because you simply dump the ingredients in a casserole dish, add water to cover, and bake until the water is absorbed and the ingredients are done. (Props to Patricia Sund for this idea).

 

I also bake birdie breads and muffins. The last were banana nut modified to be bird healthy. Sometimes I even eat these. I substitute half and half palm fruit oil and coconut oil. The palm fruit oil taste takes a bit of getting used to, but the up side is it is incredibly healthy!

 

In addition, we also give snacks. I pop organic popcorn in a mix of half red palm fruit oil and half extra-virgin coconut oil or just red palm oil. It really LOOKS like movie theater butter popcorn - the red palm fruit oil is so bright yellow. No salt! I used to love salty popcorn but have gotten so used to eating it with the birds that I have discovered I like it better their way.

 

I discussed the non-pellet diet thoroughly with our avian vet and have her blessing. She also suggested giving the Greys figs. She said they have a lot of what Greys need. We now have two fig trees, one laden with fruit. I always look for the NON-sulfured ones (mostly because I cannot eat the sulfites as they trigger migraines for me). Our vet is a certified veterinary acupuncturist and herbalist, and I trust her judgment. I would not undertake such a radical change in their diets without getting her input.

 

As for seed "sucking", it's not seed per se. Parrots in the wild eat seeds. Most wild birds eat seeds. It's just giving a captive bird seeds as the major constituent of their diet, along with little else, that causes problems. Just like humans eating pizza - a slice of pizza per week won't hurt a bit. But if you eat pizza for every meal, you'd have some serious health issues. And the same holds true for almost any single type of food. For us or our parrots.

 

I too believe synthetic vitamins are incomplete at best, and possibly harmful at worst.

 

Here is a good site to get recipes from. I tried chop in many iterations, but realized my birds would not eat it once frozen and then thawed. But many of the guidelines and good ideas for feeding ingredients are there, regardless of how to choose to serve them.

 

http://parrotnation.com/

 

Good luck and have fun cooking for and eating with your birds!

[Greywings]

Excellent ideas you have put to use, lucky birds if mine read this they will show up at your door. If you have any disasters in your area that affect what is available for feed your birds will be willing to eat what is available rather than holding out for a specific item they are conditioned to recognize as food. Kudos for being pellet free!