chris@unislc.uucp (Chris DelPrete) (10/25/90)
I found this information on Compuserve, made the suggested
mash and fed it to my three cockatiels ... with success!
Two of them will eat the mash and ignore seed altogether.
Anyway ... here is the article. I also have some stuff on
amino acid contents .... anyone out there in netland interested?
-- Chris DelPrete
BTW - my one-winged cockatiel is on Septra and getting better.
She is also on a much better diet (see below). Thanks for all
the response!
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Diet for pet parrots. By Catherine A. Toft
A seed-and-water diet is completely inadequate for so-called "seed-
eating" pet birds, including all members of the parrot family. Despite
what many books and manuals say, parrots (including cockatiels and
parakeets) should eat nearly everything you do including meat--
everything that is healthy that is. Junk food and food that is too fat,
sweet or salty isn't good for them. Alcohol, caffiene, chocolate, rubarb
and parts of avocado are known to be toxic to birds and should never be
offered to them.
Seeds provide between 10 and 15% protein, depending on the mix. The
trouble with seeds is that one, two or three important amino acids are
missing (depending on species), and so the protein is incomplete (see
the health food literature and articles such as in Bird World, January-
February 1989, "Protein For Your Bird's Optimal Health" by Liz Andreoli
or National Cockatiel Magazine, March-April 1989, "Balancing the
Vegetarian Diet" by Trudy T. Rosenthal). While seed mixes may provide
balanced amino acids in theory, birds will pick out what they like and
thus not obtain complete proteins.
Also, ripe seeds are too fat. Some seeds range up to 30% fat (sun
flower, safflower and peanuts). Millet and canary seed contain the
lowest fat, less than 5%, and contain a good balance of amino acids
(although these seeds still lack one or two essential amino acids).
Birds need 10-15% protein for maintenance and 17 to 21 % protein for
breeding (conditioning and feeding young), with a minimum (about 4%)
fat. The human equivalent of the ripe-seed-only diet would be a solid
diet of, say, doughnuts.
Large parrots such as amazons and cockatoos can be healthy for about
only 4 years on a seed-only diet , and then they begin to get diseases
related to malnutrition (see the Bird World Basic Amazon Parrot
Handbook). The average age of cockatoos in captivity is said to be
about 3 or 4 years, although they have a longevity of over 70 years, and
this is partly due to high mortality. A number of well known avian
veterinarians, now say that a majority of health problems in pet birds
are diet-related. You get the picture.
A pellet-staple diet is best to have them on, for your convenience, but
in addition most bird-people insist that intelligent birds like parrots
need the same dietary diversions that we do. If at all possible, you
should have your bird join you for meals every day and eat what you do.
This can be in addition to having pellets in their cages. You should
also offer them a wide variety of fresh foods, fruits, vegetables,
boiled or microwaved eggs, soaked monkey pellets and other nutritious
treats. Try to make a game out of the food you present them; offer many of
these treats as you would toys.
Also, at the end see a recipe for a rice mash that is pretty
much a balanced diet by itself. Any of the soft food can be used to get
powered vitamin-mineral-amino acid mixtures down them (such as Nekton).
It's best not to add these mixtures to their water, no matter what the
instructions say, because these birds don't drink that much water and
the supplement encourages bacterial growth.
So you owe it to your bird's health and longevity to get it off an all-
seed diet AS SOON AS YOU CAN. This, however, may be such a discouraging
and time-consuming task that you quickly give up. DON'T GIVE UP. The
initial trouble is worth it. Once the birds are converted, their new
diet becomes such a part of your routine that it is very convenient and
enjoyable for you and your birds. In fact, having my Amazon join me for
supper has improved MY diet. I figure whatever I can't feed him, I
shouldn't be eating.
Conversion to non-seed food.
Here are some suggestions about how to get your birds off seeds.
With luck, your birds will be natural gluttons. However, many birds
like seeds so much and they are so un-hungry from lack of real exercise
(parrots in the wild fly many miles each day) that they would rather
starve than eat anything but seeds. Actually, that's usually not true,
but the difficult bird will engage in REAL psychological warfare; their
determination can be much greater than yours, believe me. Here are some
steps that should work with nearly all birds.
A. Feed your birds only twice a day, all they can eat for 15
minutes. Believe it or not, this is enough. This way, the birds are
hungry and they know that the new stuff you are putting in front of them
must be food. Many vets now recommend this.
B. Offer soft foods in the morning and leave only soft & fresh
foods and pellets in their cages during the day when you're gone. At
night, give them some seeds, especially at first. They will eat enough
to keep them from starving. Eventually, they may forget about the
seeds. I find that most birds will reject pellets at first but not soft
foods. However, soft foods don't ruin their appetites like seeds, so
eventually they start to nibble on pellets.
C. Sprout their seeds. Sprouted seeds are much better nutritionally
than ripe, dry seeds. Also, in the summer, plant their seeds, and
harvest the new crop of green, pre-ripe seeds, which are also better
nutritionally.
D. Offer all possible kinds of pellets. They might like some
better than others and eventually they'll get used to them and eat any
kind.
E. First present the pellets as a special treat; pretend to eat it
yourself and act like you're not sure that you're going to let them have
a bite. If you haven't tried this reverse psychology, you'll be amazed
at how well it works.
F. You must continue to offer your birds new foods, although they
may reject it for days, weeks and even months. So at first, resign
yourself to wasting a lot of good food, especially the fresh stuff. I
rotate food about every other or third day. Birds like some variation
in routine but not too much. One day offer the birds something they
won't eat, alternating another day with something they do. Sometimes
after days or weeks of not touching a new food, the bird will eat it all
one day and act like it can't live without it. So don't give up.
G. Although I said not to give up, if a bird is stubborn, you should
begin to weigh it regularly. I weigh my birds once a month anyway.
During the conversion process weigh them no less than once a week. One
of my birds died because I just took away its seeds and I didn't pay
attention to its drastically declining weight (one vet told me to do
this and the instructions on pellets also have you moving too fast). It
died of a bacterial infection, but any stress compromises their immune
system.
Conversely, my Amazon seems to have gained weight during the
conversion (because I would let him eat anything he wanted if it wasn't
seeds). This is preferable, but of course eventually you will need to
be strict with your bird.
If you cannot afford an accurate scale, then you must regularly "feel"
your bird's keel (the breast bone where the flight muscles attach). You
should be able to feel it. If you can't, your bird is much too fat. However,
the keel should not be too prominent, either, or your bird is underweight. If
you begin to feel the keel at the beginning of the process, then you can note
changes. (If you have never handled your bird like that, you should begin to
get it used to such handling, anyway. When and if your bird is sick, you will
have to medicate it yourself, and if the bird is used to handling, this will
be less stressful).
I cannot stress how important it is that you keep track of your bird's
weight in some way; doing so may save its life at some point.
Maintenance diet.
Once they're off seeds, you have to be continually conscious about
what you feed them and continually checking what they are really eating.
However, it's still less trouble than you put into your own diet and
meal-planning. Half of the stuff in my kitchen is for them, including
not only food but dishes. When you feed fresh food, you need to do
their dishes every day along with yours. (And clean their cages, if
they like to throw food around). Browse a good health food store;
there's a lot of great bird food there.
Here's my birds' diet:
A. Staples.
1. Pellets:
Roudybush, especially for cockatiels
Purina chow (pellet sizes differ for different sized birds)
Scenic bird food "
Lake's Buffet
Zupreme monkey chow, soaked
2. Rice mash with vitamin supplement
B. Fresh protein sources:
Eggs, scrambled and cooked in the microwave (not too long)
Lean, well-cooked meat and fish at the dinner table
Tofu and cheese, although these are VERY fatty
Dried tofu, available at health food stores
C. Fruits and vegetables (note: cockatiels and budgies don't like
fruits); your imagination is your only limit. Organicly grown is best,
because birds may concentrate pesticides more quickly, with their higher
metabolims.
Broccoli Kale
Corn Endive
Carrots Raw Spinach
Squash Apples
Sweet Potato (not Yams) Bananas
Peas Lima Beans
D. Recipe for a "mash diet"
2 cups brown rice
1 cup quinoa*
1 cup amaranth*
1 -2 cups dry monkey chow or high protein pellet such as Scenic
2 cups mixed corn, green beans, cooked dry beans, and orange vegetables
(carrots or squash), or some combination
AND/OR several jars of strained baby food vegetables
1/4-1/2 cup mixed hulled millet (optional)
1/4 cup wheat germ (optional)
Cook rice, quinoa, amaranth and other grains (usually 1:1.5 or 2 parts
water). Use a food processor or blender to break up dry monkey chow or
pellets into small particles or powder. Cook vegetables, except
carrots, until just tender (don't overcook). Mix all ingredients in a
large bowl. Store in freezer in ziplock-type plastic bags. To thaw a
daily portion, microwave for 1-3 minute at 50% power. Add mineral and
vitamin supplements, and chopped cooked egg, just before feeding.
*Notes on the ingredients: Browse a good health food store for grains.
Quinoa and amaranth are interesting grains because they are high in
amino acids (lysine, methionine, cystine) that other grains typically
lack. But any diverse mixture of grains should suffice. You might want
to make the mix slightly different each time.
Dry dog food can be substituted for monkey chow or high protein
pellets, however, the problem with dog food is that it is high in fat
(cat food is even higher). Purina puppy chow is a good dry dog food
because it has a high protein (20%) to fat (9%) ratio.
Putting seeds in the recipe is optional; they are there to provide
interest for the birds and to encourage them to convert to the mixture. ooblick@intercon.com (Mikki Barry) (10/27/90)
Beware any advice for high protein foods for birds! New studies suggest that anything over 16-17%, even for breeding birds, is too high and results in uric acid levels that the bird can't assimilate. This causes a phenomenon that looks like calcification of the organs. Also, do NOT feed dog food to birds. I used to, and it is a big mistake. Dog food is made with dogs in mind (logic, eh?) and thus there are no checks against high levels of protein, including e-coli. Birds have no natural defenses against these bacteria. Dogs, who as we know, eat anything they find, have a high immunity level against the stuff. THEY have no problem. Also, beware of monkey chow. Soaked monkey chow is a breeding ground for bacteria. It is not a good idea to let monkey chow soak for a long time then feed it to birds. There are many people who will tell you that animal protein is also not good for psittacines. Use your judgement, tempered with some common sense. Mikki Barry Natural Intelligence Aviaries