Nutrition in Birds

Most pet owners still think "seeds" when it comes to food for their birds. Unfortunately, feeding only seeds to your bird is a kin to eating nothing but potato chips and candy yourself. Seeds are deficient in Vitamin A, calcium, protein and other nutrients. A good diet for birds is 70-90% an extruded or pelleted diet, and the remaining 10-30% should be healthy table foods, fruits and vegetables, and seeds and nuts.

Pelleted diets are pretty complete and balanced, the equivalent of dry cat and dog foods. The nutritional needs of pet birds are not completely understood, so feeding the additional table foods, nets, etc., ensures that the bird will get complete nutrition.

Good bird breeders wean their baby birds onto pelleted diets, not seeds, because they know that nutrition is the key to having a long-lived adult bird.

"Premium" seed mixes that contain fruit, nuts, seeds and nuggets are actually a step backwards in nutrition because birds tend to pick out only the parts they like and leave the rest. For the best health of your bird, give his favorite foods as rewards during training and make the pellets his main source of nutrition. To transition to a healthier diet, you can use products that incorporate pellets along with seed into treat sticks or berries so that the bird will have exposure to the pellets while eating the seeds. Other manufacturers have created treats that look like human snack foods, so a bird that has been used to junk food may be willing to try the look-alike healthy treat.

Allergies, obesity, poor feather condition, respiratory infections, cancer, arthritis- all of these can come from or be worsened by poor diets. A lot of research goes into creating a high quality pet food and you ay pay more for that. The payoff is a healthier, longer-lived pet.

Give Me Beans

Beans are one of the best foods you can give to your birds. They contain nutrients that can reduce the risk of heart disease and certain cancers, as well as being great sources of protein, B vitamins and fiber. Beans have so much protein that they can be used as a meat substitute in human diets, and protein is the most sorely lacking nutrient in seed diets commonly fed to birds.

Pinto beans, black beans, red beans and kidney beans are powerhouses of nutrients. A cup of any of these has 16 gm of protein and 14 gm of fiber, compared with only 2 gm of protein and 1 gm of fiber in green beans. Beans are low in saturated fat and have no cholesterol. This is important for birds because many live as long a life span as humans and are just as prone to arteriosclerosis and heart disease as we are. Beans also contain potassium, magnesium and calcium.

You can feed beans to birds dry or cooked, or mush them in with seeds or other treats fyour bird likes. If you open a can of beans for your bird, you can freeze them in small batches and thaw them out one batch at a time so the open can won't spoil in your refrigerator.