Healthy Parrot Foods: Study Compares Pellets, Produce, Seed

[findi]

Hi All,
When I first began work as a Bird Keeper at the Bronx Zoo, much of my time was spent cooking eggs and horsemeat, rearing and capturing insects, chopping produce and otherwise preparing the diets for thousands of birds (please see the article linked below for more information on feeding zoo birds). The introduction of nutritionally-sound pellets and chows for birds ranging from parrots to cassowaries forever changed how birds in both zoos and private homes are fed. A recent study of Parrot foods and nutrition has shed some new light on caring for these exotic pets.
But while it may be convenient to know exactly what nutrients our pets are consuming, many parrots look upon commercial pellets with disdain. And because pellets can be consumed far more quickly that seeds, parrots that do accept them are left with extra “free time” to fill; boredom becomes a problem unless additional enrichment opportunities are provided. Much of the research concerning standardized bird diets has focused on species typically kept in zoos. However, one recent study examined diets commonly fed to Amazon Parrots. Its results, I believe, have important implications for owners of all types of parrots. Read article here http://bit.ly/ZX96Aw
Please also check out my posts on Twitter http://bit.ly/13pzqCu

Thanks, Frank
My Bio, with photos of animals I’ve been lucky enough to work with http://bitly.com/LC8Lbp
Face Book http://on.fb.me/KckP1m

[BrettB]

Thanks Frank, that is an interesting article

Here is a http://macawproject.org/download/Bright ... 0diets.pdf link to the full article for anyone interested (I hope this is ok)

There were several points I found particularly noteworthy. Firstly, that given the opportunity the parrots consumed an excess of high fat foods (safflower and sunflower seeds mostly). I guess that makes them no smarter than humans, but it does tend to shoot holes in the theory that birds will selectively eat what they need. Here at AFF, we know that finches are smarted than parrots, but obesity remains an issue, particularly for some species.

Sodium levels remained lower in the diets offered than the recommended level of 0.15%–0.2%, but the recommendations are based
predominantly on poultry studies, and there is no evidence that parrots require such high levels. In fact, many wild parrots apparently
survive on diets with sodium levels much lower than those recommended in the literature.

This quote is from the discussion and highlights the problems of making nutritional "ideals" based on data from different species.
So, should we take all this with a grain of salt ?

Cheers
Brett

[findi]

Hi Brett,

Thanks for the article...things go awry in captivity, re selective feeding in all. many birds (and other animals) are "primed" to gorge on certain foods which may only be available rarely (as with us, possibly, re meat in earlier times)..this works fine in nature, but explains why so many animals become obese in zoos, private collections. Extrapolating from studies of other species is often difficult, but sometimes it is the best we can do. There are journals devoted to zoo animal nutrition, not published on line but I keep tabs. pet nutrition articles must be weighed for bias, of course, but some very good ones out there as well. i'll stay alert for more, thx again, Frank