Diet Information for owners of Psittacine birds

Nutrition

Your bird's diet is one of the most important aspects of its overall care. Contrary to popular belief, a bird will not eat a balanced diet if given free choice. Since our knowledge of the nutritional needs of each species is not complete and because of the apparent "fussiness" of some birds, meeting a birds nutritional requirements is not straight forward.

Pelleted Diet; Complete pelleted or crmbled diets are available for pet birds. The current trend is toward formulations based on the bird's age, size, health and lifestyle needs. Formulated diets should be used under the advice of an avian veterinarian to ensure the correct formulation is being used. converting a seed-eating bird to a formulated diet must be done with care, as new items in the cage may not be recognised as food. In most cases the 'best' diets currently available are 'Harrison's lifestyle diets'-a group of formulas imported especially from America are available from the Clockhouse Veterinary Hospital. Although pelleted diets look expensive remember that with pellets 'what you see is what you eat' whilst over 60% of a sunflower diet ends up as husks on the carpet.

Alternatively a more 'natural' diet can be fed as below;

Seed: Approximately 60% of a bird's diet should be whole grains and grain products of which seed is a component. No 'all seed' diet is a complete diet and birds on seed alone will be malnourished. When feeding seed choose a variety of freshly harvested seeds. Avoid seed that looks or smells mouldy or musty. Other grain items include cooked brown rice, oats and oatmeal, dry corn, barley wheat and whole grain bread. Avoid diets with over 20% sunflower seeds.

Fresh vegetables: Vegetables contain essential vitamins and minerals and should comprise approximately 10% of the diet. Dark leafy green or yellow vegetables are the richest sources of vegetables such as broccoli, peas, carrots, beans and corn on the cob should be offered.

Fresh Fruits: Fruits should be offered in limited quantities (less then 5%) in order to prevent over comsumption by the bird. Fruits to try include apples, oranges, grapes, or melons.

Protein:Mature legumes (eg cooked beans or peas) may be offered in amounts up to 25% of the diet and offer a valuable source of protein. High ft legumes such as peanuts should be limited. Small amounts of fish, beef, chicken or cooked eggs may also be offered.