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Nutrition and Diet

 

Proper nutrition is critically important to birds. Without a well balanced and varied diet, birds may live only a small fraction of their life potential, have aggressive or nervous behaviors, show malnutrition in it's poor feather quality, overgrown, weak or broken beak and general overall appearance of non-well-being.

Unfortunately, avian nutrition is a relatively new field, and no-one truly knows what the ideal diet is for parrots. All we can do as responsible bird owners is provide as varied, fresh and chemical free diet as possible. 

The best diet according to current research includes a large amount of fresh foods, a high quality fresh seed mix, healthy human table foods and pellets. A varied and fresh diet can brighten feather quality after feather replacement and fruitful preening, increase a bird's energy levels, increase the bird's sense of well-being, talking frequency and improve attitude and happiness levels. 

                              

 

 

 

Whether you feed one bird eight or a flock, there are ways to convince them to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables. Many people find that as they improve their bird's diet, they also improve their own. 

The leading cause of most parrot illnesses is poor diet and lack of sufficient and proportionate vitamins and minerals. Many parrots present with diet related liver, kidney and other organ damage, all avoidable with a better, more varied and fresh diet. Many parrot owners believe that sunflower seeds and peanuts, a pellet only, or seed only diet is all that is required to feed a parrot. Most of these parrots are lucky to reach half or a quarter of their potential life spans and are often afflicted with avoidable health problems or behavior issues.

Key Benefits to an Improved Diet

bulletA rise in energy levels, an increased sense of playfulness and well-being, higher talking frequency, preening and bathing 
bulletIncrease in Preening, post-molt plumage will show brighter colors, feathers will be stronger and without stress bands, feather picking may decrease or stop, beaks will grow stronger and more resilient, possible reduction in beak trimming needs 
bulletA bird is much more likely to live a longer happier life, avoiding health problems and diseases related to malnutrition, high fat and inappropriate diet, reaching the long life potential almost all parrots can reasonably expect.

The Challenge

Because parrots are instinctively suspicious of new things, or haven't learned that there are other foods than merely seeds, they can be extremely resistant to change. Our companion parrots rely on us to provide for them what is safe, nutritious and good to eat so we must not fail them. However, many parrots resist their owner's best efforts to convert them to a more healthy diet. There are many methods we can use to help your bird discover a wonderful world of new and delicious foods!

We are here to help you convert your parrot to a healthier way of eating.  

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