Parrot Food Pyramid

[Bea]

We've all seen a food pyramid for what our diets are supposed to consist of, but here's one for our parrots! :D Cockatiels aren't canopy feeders, so we would use the right hand side as a guideline for a healthy tiel diet.

http://www.holisticbirds.com/images2/fpL.gif

[CockatielTom]

Cool Parrot Food Pyramid Bea!

[atvchick95]

so according to that Birds are allowed hamburger?? but how would you cook it for them, it's got so much grease even when you use water to make hamburgers

I've wondered what other meat other than Chicken birds could eat though

[Bea]

Any meat that you might feed a bird would want to be super lean and probably organic too, a hamburger is junk food which is in the 0% category. Personally i wouldn't want to feed my birds meat when they can get all the nutrients they need from other foods. :p

[Laura]

Its amazing the things you can find :D the pyramid is really helpful its gives eveyrone an idea of how much they should be having ;)

[xxxSpikexxx]

Wow great find :D thanks :)

[Aly]

EXCELLENT thread Bea! 5 stars. I do allow mine to have a bit of fish (cooked with no fat)-they do love it but they only get it about twice a month or so. I don't eat any other meat myself so that's the only meat they get..I'm glad to see the rest is in pretty much the order I give them. I do need to work on giving them more leafy greens but I've been very afraid of doing so since they're have been many recalls on them (salmonella). I haven't even bought any for myself.

[nic bike]

cool pyramid my birds don't get any meat too because im a vegetarian:p

[Rosie]

That's really helpful, thanks for posting it. :)

[Aly]

cool pyramid my birds don't get any meat too because im a vegetarian:p


I guess I can't call myself that..the term I found it pesco-vegetarian...:rolleyes:

[nic bike]

ye ive heard of a pescatarion my friends one.

[birdieness]

i do feed some meat but its chicken and turkey. They quite like it. its not all that often aswell. Thats a great chart tho

[Bea]

I think the important bit is that they're getting the protien from some of those sources, you don't have to include meat. ;) My guys don't get meat, cause i'm a vegetarian and would have a problem with my birds eating it.

[DeBree420]

i call vegetarians who sometimes eat white meat 'flexatarians' cos they are flexible vegetarians... :p
my babies get egg and biscuit treat and mealworms for their protien...

[Aly]

i call vegetarians who sometimes eat white meat 'flexatarians' cos they are flexible vegetarians... :p
my babies get egg and biscuit treat and mealworms for their protien...


I am in by no means flexible when it comes to eating meat (chicken, pork, beef..etc) or anything made with animal fat..etc.. I just have fish about twice a month at my parents.
Back to birdies, Bea is right though, they are alot of things they can have to meet their protein requirtments without eating actual meat.

[Blackcat]

Cooked Legumes and beans???
I opened up a can of red beans to add to some soup today and was wondering if my Smokey boy could have one or not ... thought i would ask all you experts ?? What do you think ? I tend to us a lot of precooked canned rinsed beans and chick peas etc ... Could my boy have some too when I open them fresh ???
cheers for any replys
Black=^..^=

[Bea]

Canned beans and veggies usually have salt added to them, which absorbs into the food. For beans and lentils you can buy soup mixes which you have to soak over night and then cook, those are really easy and good for birds. :)

[xxxSpikexxx]

I got a coconut and I was wondering if I should wash/scrub it or something before giving it to Spike. It says it was grown naturally in the dominican republic.

[Aly]

I got a coconut and I was wondering if I should wash/scrub it or something before giving it to Spike. It says it was grown naturally in the dominican republic.

I washed the outside, cracked it, popped the fruit out and baked the shells for a bit.. It helps kill any bacteria that might be on there.

[xxxSpikexxx]

ok thanks I think, I will see if my Mom will let me bake the shells for a bit. Would three minutes be ok? at 325f?

[Sophia]

I was wondering how long you bake them aswell ?

BTW- great parrot pyramid Bea :D

[Aly]

I put them in when they were wet I think at about 350F for 5 mins or so. Until they're dry. It may vary.I didn't exactly time it.

[xxxSpikexxx]

I put mine in for 10 mins at 325f when wet. And good news Spike loves everything to do with coconut :D

[Aly]

That's good Spike!

[allen]

great info bea i never feed my tiels meat at all

[Bea]

I don't feed mine meat either, i don't feed myself any for that matter. :p As long as they are getting protein from something in their diet (pellets, beans, lentils, egg, etc) then there's no problem.

[nic bike]

I haven't fed it to mine either if i can survive with out i'm sure they can and there are lots of of other bird safe high protein foods available!!

[HAJiME]

I wouldn't wanna give mine meat even if they did want it because I would expect their poop to suddenly get stinky... and one of the birdy benefits is non stinky poop.

[C M]

This is a wonderful chart, thank you for posting it.

[cinnamon]

A good chart to go by and revise their diet with. On the meat subject, I have tried chicken and they won't touch it. My short term Senegal liked it but he was vicious anyway and a real meat eater when it came to human flesh so he found another home where he eats their fingers! Meat off the menu for our birds!

[vrchards]

Thanks for the Food pyramid. i have just purchase four parrot , they were of 17 days. they are very small.I am feeding milk only.

[Belinda]

wow that's awesome, I am totally printing that out and sticking it on my bulletin board

[tielfan]

I just noticed this thread for the first time lol. I think this food pyramid is really more appropriate for cockatiels, if you change the bottom layer to say grains AND SEEDS. Cockatiels are primarily seed eaters in the wild and need more seeds than veggies. I include homemade sprouts in the grains and seeds category.

http://www.avianenrichment.com/images/FoodTriangle.jpg

[xMissy-Rayne]

i call vegetarians who sometimes eat white meat 'flexatarians' cos they are flexible vegetarians... :p
my babies get egg and biscuit treat and mealworms for their protien...

I'm vegan...wonders how to reason about lacto vegetarians,given cheese has rennin/rennet most times which is a calves stomach lining? Anything other than vegan,I consider omnivore..my boyfriend will eat tofu sometimes,don't make him a vegetarian ;)- guess it's a matter of opinion.I just consider everything either carnivore,omnivore or herbivore.Though there's also scavengers...so,4 groups.

That being said...I LOVE this food pyramid!!!
& None of my pets are vegetarian unless nature intended them to be.Only meat my birds tried is eggs.Haven't tried them with any other though.They seem to love their greens,veggies,seeds& pellets!& I'm going to try sprouting for them.
I never tried mealworms with my tiels...somehow that never crossed my mind! I always have them on hand for my gecko..i'll have to try my tiels with them (:

[HAJiME]

What are "read grains" and where does one get them?

Why is it that everywhere you go you get told something different with regard to what to feed cockatiels. Mine are on a seed diet because a.) I can't find any shops which sell pellets and ordering online is expencive and b.) why feed pellets if they eat mostly seeds in the wild?

[mpayjr]

What are "read grains" and where does one get them?

Why is it that everywhere you go you get told something different with regard to what to feed cockatiels. Mine are on a seed diet because a.) I can't find any shops which sell pellets and ordering online is expencive and b.) why feed pellets if they eat mostly seeds in the wild?

"read grains" isn't a type of food. Tielfan was saying that instead of reading just grains in the bottom part of the pyramid, it should also say seeds. I had the same thought and had to read that line twice. lol. For your question on seeds, is that on the wild they not only eat seeds, they eat other foods with more beneficial nutrients. Through pellets you are able to acquire those other nutrients without the hassle of creating the same environment tiels live in. But don't get me wrong, it is still good to include those veggies and other foods, because they include many other beneficial factors that even pellets don't have.

[tielfan]

Since it's causing confusion, I changed the wording to "if you change the bottom layer to say grains AND SEEDS. "

I dare someone to come on here and ask "what are say grains".

[mpayjr]

lol. Thanks tielfan.

[HAJiME]

LOL. Sorry, I thought you might mean reed as in grass seeds or something. =/

So, what sort of Grains can you feed?? And again, where to get them?

[tielfan]

Human-quality food grains are good - things like wheat, barley, etc. Natural-foods grocery stores often have them in bulk bins where you can buy as much or as little as you want. Basically anything that looks like a seed is fine. Most of these grains are too hard for tiels in their dry state, so they'll need to be cooked, soaked, or sprouted to make them softer.

[HAJiME]

Thanks. :)

[darrensmit]

There are many recipe for the parrot like macaw, conure, cockatoo, eclectus, quaker, amazon, african grey, cockatiel, budgie, or parakeet including recipes for: beans, birdie bread, breakfast, cake, cookies, dinner, egg, fruit & vegetables, hand-feeding formula, muffins, pasta, rice, birdie pizza, pudding, custard, seed mix, treats.

[igottafeelin]

this was so helpful. I saw a funny meat post... if the birds can get everything they need from plants and such... Yet, humans can get the same nutrients from plants and such. no need to farm raise all the chickens, cows, and hogs just for us to get our protiene when we can get it from leafy greens too! Just sayin.. lol

[tielfan]

if the birds can get everything they need from plants and such...
Wild cockatiels are known to eat insects but we don't know how big a part of the diet they are. Insects are a much better protein source than plants are.

Different species have different dietary needs so you can't just assume that what's OK for one is OK for another. Hummingbirds live on a diet of insects and sucrose (the same stuff that's in table sugar) but most birds couldn't survive on a diet like that.

[morla]

That's a really good pyramid! Its very interesting! :)