Tofu as regular part of diet

[darth_mint]

Tofu is a common food where I live and I've been offering Nicky small amounts of it, steamed with sliced meat to add flavour and extra nutrition (he doesn't get the meat though) He loves it and eats every bit! Now I'm thinking about making it a regular part of his diet.

 

Nutritional facts:

Tofu contains mainly protein, large amounts of calcium and iron, has low fat and calories, no preservatives (the company that makes most of the tofu available locally uses none, I'm not sure about others)

 

For some reason, tofu's cheaper and easier to get here than raw soya beans

[lovemyGreys]

Tofu, also known as soya curd, is a soft cheese-like food made by curdling soya milk with a coagulant. If i was you i would feed in moderation,i wouldnt personally included it as a regular part of Nicky's diet.You can feed meat to your grey in moderation also

[darth_mint]

Hmm...I just remembered that tofu is said to contain a lot of oestrogen compounds...wouldn't want Nicky to lay an egg after a few years of eating tofu :whistle:

[judygram]

I don't think that would happen Darth but the thought made me laugh so thanks for that:laugh:

[Suzzique]

Soy is really not good for birds. It can leach calcium from thier systoms. So a little piece once in a great while is ok but not as a regular part of dayly diet.

[darth_mint]

Ack! I never knew that. Here I was thinking it would actually make a good calcium supplement :pinch:

[judygram]

Thanks Suzanne for clearing that up for us, I didn't know that either, but like always I learn something new here every day.

[lovemyGreys]

Tofu is a soy based product. Parrots who have hormonal tendencies should not be offered soy products. Soybeans contain natural forms of estrogen which can enhance hormone levels. If your parrot has plucking/picking habits, we recommend discontinuing all soy products.

[Suzzique]

Yeah while it's ok for us it is not true for our birds! Beleave it or not spinich does the same thing to birds that soy does. So again it's ok once in a while but not any kind of dayly.

 

I have a great book that has helped a lot. It's called Feeding Your Pet Bird by Petra M Burgmann. I got mine used off of Amazon for $.01 plus shipping so a total of $4. I don't know if they still have any that cheep but I know they should have some under a $1.