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Nutrition Healthy Parrot Foods
Nutritive and healthy foods are a must for your bird. Feeding a nutritionally sound diet is the most important insurance of healthy and long life for your pet bird. Many pet birds die at a young age from malnutrition or diseases that are caused due to malnutrition. A bird which is not provided healthy food may die from malnutrition causing organ failure or secondary bacterial and viral infections.
Birds are particularly sensitive to nutritional deficiencies because they have a high metabolic rate. (An animal's metabolic rate indicates how many calories it burns to maintain itself.) Birds are calorie furnaces, and on an inadequate diet they will quickly develop malnutrition and a compromised health status.
The average life of a pet parrot is not more than 10 years, while the wild parrots are known to live for about 25 years. The difference that makes up is their diet. Birds of the parrot family are hunters in the wild. They search for their food themselves and eat whatever happens to be in season or is available. Their diet includes fruits, seeds, insects and whatever else they can find.
Birds are generally fed on an all-seed diet, which is not natural or nutritious. The tradition to feed the only seed diets to pet birds started several years ago. They acted as a supplement for other nutritional needs of birds. Seeds of sunflower, safflower and peanuts are high in fat, low in calcium, protein and do not have any vitamins.
The alternative to seed diets is important for your bird. You should offer your bird a balanced diet of table foods, which is healthy for your bird. A balanced diet includes a part of each of the four major food groups. Bird can have seeds, but they should not make any more than half of the bird’s total diet. You should provide whole grains, such as wheat and grain products, like whole wheat bread, pasta and pretzels.
Feed your bird with enough dairy and poultry products which have excellent resources of calcium and protein. Birds enjoy having cheese, eggs, yogurt and chicken. Meat is also a good source of protein. The diet can also include beans and legumes. Fruits and vegetables to make the diet of a parrot balanced. They offer several significant and essential vitamins. Do not feed your bird fatty foods.
Many owners object to changing their birds' diets because they have offered a variety of foods only to have them ignored or refused by their pets. Birds are creatures of habit and are highly suspicious of new foods. Avocados are toxic to pet birds. Count on taking approximately one year to modify your bird's diet. You should offer fresh foods to your bird twice in a day for about one hour during each feed. Fresh food may spoil fast.
Feeding birds two times in a day has many advantages. The main benefit is that it makes a healthy appetite. A healthy appetite inspires the bird to try out new and more nutritious foods. Birds, who eat two times in a day remain more active.