What Food Can I Feed My Parrot?
The parrots’ diet is one of the factors that will keep our pet healthy. We must pay attention to what food we give to our parrot so that it maintains good health. An inappropriate and deficient diet can generate problems in the normal development of the animal, such as diseases or inappropriate behaviors.
The correct diet is one designed in a balanced way, which provides all the necessary nutrients according to the species, age and activity. Do you want to know what foods you can give your parrot? We will tell you!
Extruded feed for parrots
One of the options to feed a parrot is through an extruded feed directed to its species. In the market we can find a great variety of feed, in different formats, in order to choose the one that suits us best. As with all feed, it is important to pay attention to its composition, to detail exactly what ingredients it contains and to avoid by-products.
Feed is a simple, comfortable and easy way to feed a parrot. However, they must be used to it since they were little because, otherwise, they tend to reject it and even stop eating. Like all new foods, it is advisable to offer it gradually.
Real food for parrots
On the contrary, if we want our parrot to have a diet more similar to the one it would have in its natural environment, you must be attentive to the composition. The parrot should have two feeders available, one for fruits and vegetables, and one for cereal seeds.
The seeds will account for 50% of the food, the vegetables 45% and the fruit 2.5%. The remaining 2.5% will be food supplements such as nuts, calcium (cuttlefish bone or calcium blocks for parrots) and grit (small stones that help digestion of the seeds). Remember to avoid prohibited foods for parrots.
Cereal seeds
- Packaged seed mix for parrots birds, with a minimum of pipes.
- Or you can buy it in bulk and make the mix, which should contain:
- Son
- Peeled oats
- Birdseed
- Turnip seeds
Sunflower seeds are very poor in vitamins and minerals, and contain too much fat and protein. Although they are the preferred food of parrots, we must try to reduce their quantity, despite the fact that our bird decides to stop eating or throw away the rest of the food.
Vegetables
The vegetables must be fresh, clean and cut. There is a great variety of vegetables that we can give to a parrot, as long as we add them little by little and identify which ones they like the most:
- Spinach
- Endive
- Carrot
- Pumpkin
- Green peas
- Boiled potatoes
- Green beans
- Lentils (hydrated)
- Chickpeas (hydrated)
- Broccoli
- Artichoke
- Cauliflower
- Tomatoes
- Green, red, yellow and orange bell peppers
- Chard
- Endive
- Carrot
- Radish
- Celery
Fruits
You should give a minimum of three different types of fruit, clean and chopped each day:
- Apple
- Pear
- Tangerine
- Orange
- Apricot
- Blueberry
- Strawberry
- Grapefruit
- Watermelon
- Kiwi
- Pineapple
- Papaya
- Khaki
- Grenades
- Mango
- Cherry
- Grape
- Cantaloupe
- Banana
- Peach
- Medlar
Frequent mistakes in parrot feeding
Occasionally, we can make mistakes when feeding our parrot and, therefore, it rejects the food that we offer it. Some of these failures are:
- The food bowl is dirty. Contrary to what it may seem, parrots are very clean animals and they do not like to eat from dirty bowls. Just as we maintain the hygiene of the cage, the feeder must always be clean, free of stale food and feces.
- If you leave the same food for more than a day, it will no longer be attractive to the parrot. Also, it may be rusty and taste bad.
- Some parrots only eat seeds. A diet based exclusively on this type of food is not healthy. It can be challenging, but it is vitally important to change this habit into a parrot.
- Parrots often leave the shells of the seeds in the bowl, which can appear to us that it is full. It is important to remove shells from food and change the seed bowl daily.
