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FOOD
for THOUGHT
The "proper" diet for exotic birds, whether kept as pets or as breeding pairs, is a subject of great and constant controversy among aviculturists, hobbyist breeders, veterinarians, and pet owners alike. The more "authorities" you listen to, the more likely you are to hear differing and even outright contradictory advice. The end result for the bird owner is, all too often, total
confusion. In this article, Wingsong Aviaries presents what to our minds is a reasoned approach to the subject of what to feed your bird. We hope to dispel some myths, dispense with some nonsense, and aid you in providing your bird with a diet that will help to ensure his long term health. While written with hook-billed birds in mind, much of what is said is applicable to all birds.
The diet of your caged bird should be of major concern to you. Avian veterinarians report that malnutrition plays a major role in the general ill health
of many caged birds, not only reducing their resistance to disease, lowering their
ability to cope with stress, contributing to their general unthriftiness, but also ultimately leading to their early death. Time and effort will be well spent improving your birds diet.
First of all, there is the issue of obesity.Take everything you have ever heard about
the negative effects of obesity in humans, multiply it by a factor of ten, and apply it to your bird's health. Obesity in birds is deadly. Obese birds may readily develop fatty tumors and may suffer from fatty liver disease.
If you are not sure if your bird is overweight, take
him to an experienced avian veterinarian for an exam, or have us check him out. If he is
overweight, start working on a better diet for him immediately, as well as providing him with more exercise -- more time out of the cage, a larger cage, more toys and hanging
ropes, swings, etc. Just as with humans, sufficient exercise is a major key to health and longevity.
One fact accepted by every informed authority in the
avian field is this: An all seed diet is not adequate for any bird; it is deficient in a broad range of nutrients necessary for good health. It's often not easy to convert a "seed-only" bird to a broader diet, but the bottom line is that it must be done. "Just do it!"
Having agreed upon this premise, authorities generally disagree, however, on what constitutes the best avian diet. Achieving the "perfect" diet probably impossible since true, unbiased, scientific research on avian diets is virtually non-existent. But, let's not worry about what we can't achieve; take consolation that any improvement is better than none; and move forward reasonably to a better diet for our feathered buddy.
On the market today, there is a wide variety of "pelleted" bird diets. Manufactured in a range of sizes: granules, crumbles, pellets, and nuggets for the various sized birds, these diets are advertised and labeled by many manufacturers as "complete nutrition," "complete and balanced diet," etc. And, of course, they claim years of extensive research that has been done on their product. Yet, according to the Division of Consumer Protection of the Dept. of Agriculture of the State of Delaware, no nutritional authority exists to substantiate these claims. Such labels may be false and misleading. We at Wingsong have yet to see a single independent research report on any
of these pelleted diets. In short, the manufacturers say their diets are complete and/or balanced, but there is no way of knowing whether they are or not. To a great degree the specific nutritional requirements of exotic birds remains unknown territory.
To complicate matters more for the consumer, some avian "authorities," apparently taken in by the claims of these manufacturers, perpetuate the erroneous idea that these diets are complete and are all that the birds need. Some
have told bird owners that they must feed their birds one or the other of these diets exclusively or their birds will die. Such nonsense foisted upon bird owners by would-be professionals is dangerous.
Do not misunderstand, we are not at all opposed to feeding pelleted diets. Pellets are far, far superior to an all seed diet. We just don't agree that they are the end-all-and-be-all for a birds diet since their is so little research done on either the nutritional needs of the various species, or the ability of any specific pelleted diet to meet those needs. Our recommendation: Feed pellets as part of a very varied diet.
Now, how does one get the finicky eater to try new food items. Birds are suspicious of new items that suddenly appear in their food dish. Often they'll ignore them or throw them to the bottom of the cage, without so much as tasting them. Mistakenly, bird owners often conclude that the bird doesn't like this food, when
actually he probably doesn't recognize it as edible. Depending upon how long your bird has gone without being exposed to a varied diet, you may have to be extremely persistent if you are to succeed in getting him to "munch out" on something new. At our breeding farm it had sometimes taken as long as a full year to coerce a newly acquired bird into eating a
broader diet. Cockatoos seem to be especially reluctant.
Generally, birds whose diets need improvement are eating seeds quite well, but little else. If they have a choice, they will satisfy their appetite on seed and ignore new foods. As a result, we can't allow them to have a choice. When introducing new foods, remove their seed from their cage. This is best done just before bedtime. First thing in the morning, put the "new food" in their cage and leave it there for the day. Give him back his seed for a couple of hours in the late afternoon or early evening. No, your bird will not starve to death during the course of one day. He will get hungry, but that's the point. You're supplying him with excellent, nutritious food. If he gets hungry enough, he will eat it. By giving him his seed back late in the day, you can rest assured that he isn't "going to bed hungry." Repeat this procedure every day.
Plan
first. Decide in advance upon a couple of fruits or vegetables (or stock up on one or another of the pelleted diets) that you can conveniently keep on hand and that will work for the suggestions we have below. Plan on offering the same two to three selections each day for at least several days until your bird has made progress in eating them. Do not, for example, offer one thing one day, a different one the next, and still a different one the third day. If you do this, your bird will just keep on being suspicious of each of these new items in turn.
Only after your bird has begun to enjoy your first new food offerings should you start introducing others. In time, your bird will lose his suspicions about new foods and will ultimately begin sampling new items almost immediately. When he reaches this point, you have truly succeeded.
Some helpful hints: Sharing your own food with your pet may work well. Take your bird out of his cage whenever you or other family members are eating. Put him on a T-stand or playgym near the dinner table. Seeing what you are eating will often
spark his curiosity. Offer him some of your food.
Another way of piquing your bird’s interest would be through the use of a “HANGING GARDEN,” a skewer for fruit and vegies that hangs in the cage like a hanging toy. This often proves more tempting than food sitting in a cup. If that doesn't seem to be working, resort to trickery; try to use foods or toys he already likes to lead him into new foods. For instance, is he already likes ABBA Green, take a small handful of frozen mixed vegetables, thaw them under warm running water, and mix them in with this dry food so that the vegies are well coated with it. Put this mix in his food cup for the day. Replace it with fresh mix twice a day. Mixed in with a favorite food in this way, your bird may be led to sample the vegies.
Does he like sunflower seed? Cook up one of the "cook and serve" foods that we have in the store and stick a few large sunflower seeds in it so that they show, but require him to pull them out. When he does, he'll get the taste
of the cook and serve mix and may be led to sample it further. (Incidentally, on the
subject of sunflower seeds: Contrary to a rumor that refuses to die, there is absolutely nothing wrong with sunflower seed as a food for your bird. It is not addicting, mood
altering, nor toxic. It is, however, like all oil seeds, fattening, and for that reason alone should be fed in limited quantities. If you own a bird that eats only sunflower seed, you must alter his diet, starting
now.)
More
trickery:Does your bird have a favorite toy? If so, some new food items can be fastened to or woven through this toy. Some toys, especially acrylics, are designed for just that
purpose. Next time you're in, ask to see them; we have several. In the meantime, is there a toy in his cage that would accommodate a celery stalk or carrot stick? Could a piece of toast cut into strips be tied into one of his rope toys? How about a bread stick? Hunks of
apple, orange, or other fruit might be wedged into the links of toys made of plastic chain. Take a look as his toy selection and let your imagination take over. (This trick can also be used in reverse: if your bird is afraid of a new toy, try attaching his favorite foods to it.)
Slip his perch through a couple of orange slices; stick a few sunflower seeds into an apple, orange, or cooked sweet potato; stuff a celery stick with
peanut butter and raisins; make a millet spray taco with a dark leafed lettuce as the
taco shell. Here again, stick with one or two items for several days at a time; don't vary it till he eats it.
Getting your bird to broaden his diet may be a challenge and take some work, but it can also be fun playing food tricks on him to entice him into a better diet.
As of this writing, the only foods we know of that one should avoid feeding to exotic birds are: avocado, egg plant, rhubarb, onion, chocolate, alcohol, and caffeine.
Our store is extremely well stocked with a huge variety of nutritious foods, including three brands of pelleted diets, all fruit mixes, all vegetable mixes, all nut mixes, and mixes that have an entire range of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Our belief has always been that the best diet for a pet bird is based on variety, variety, variety.
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