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Feeding Your Bird


Feeding Your Bird

Feeding Your Bird

Information supplied by Dr. Ed Layt BVSc., M.A.C.V.S (Avian Health) of Wishart Road Veterinary Surgery for The Pet Directory

Because there are many species of pet birds, there is no single diet that can be used. 

Some are seedeaters, some are nectar feeders (eg lorikeets) while some eat mainly fruit. So it is important to establish exactly what your bird can and will eat. The main mistake bird-keepers make is not feeding a balanced diet. For example, vets often see cockatoos fed solely on sunflower seed, leading to obesity, fatty tumours and liver disorders. Poor nutrition is responsible for many common problems, such as moulting disorders, respiratory disease, growth abnormalities, poor reproduction and egg binding, and poor immune system. Rather than go into detail on protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamin and mineral levels in diets, an owner needs to know how to feed the pet bird. Most pet outlets sell bird seed in the correct ratio of various seeds, but if this is fed as the sole diet, birds will develop vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and protein will be too low.

There are two ways to achieve a balanced diet in seed-eating birds:
• Offer seed for 10-20 minutes twice a day or overnight then take it away and leave fresh vegetables (carrot, broccoli, silverbeet and spinach) and fruits (apple, pawpaw) and native plants such as grevillea, bottlebrush, and gumnuts in the cage all day. Lettuce is poor in nutrients and avocado and cabbage may be too toxic.
• Feed commercially prepared pellets or diets which are fully balanced in nutrients.

If birds absolutely refuse to eat new foods, at least ensure that a daily vitamin supplement is given, and try offering a hand-rearing food along with the seed. Several factors to consider:
• Birds often fail to recognise new foods as something they can eat. Texture, shape and size of foods are more important to a bird than smell or taste (unlike cats and dogs). So new foods need to be introduced gradually and at a place where the bird expects food to be.
• Birds have different food requirements for breeding, moulting, growing and feeding young.
• The main diet problem seen in seedeaters is Vitamin A deficiency, from having an all seed diet. This leads to many diseases commonly seen in pet birds.
• Calcium is a very important mineral to birds and should always be available in some form eg. Cuttlefish, liquid drops in drinking water or calcium blocks.
• Grit and water must be available at all times.
• Always note if birds are eating daily. A sick bird will often pretend to eat and will stay at the food bowl without actually eating its food.

With a good diet and a clean cage, at least 50% of bird diseases seen by us can be prevented.

Birds Don't Just Eat Seed

Information supplied by Dr Adrian Gallagher BVSc MACVSc (Avian Health) of Brisbane Bird Vet for The Pet Directory

So what should Birds eat?
 Seed, pellets or something else? 

Did you know that more birds are seen by vets with dietary related diseases than any infectious disease? It is a fact that no bird lives on a dry seed diet in the wild. So why do we think that dry seed is a natural diet for them?

We have been feeding birds a seed diet since we first domesticated them because grain was all that we had stored to feed them on.

In the wild, parrots and finches are vegetable eaters, always preferring to eat green ripening seeds and green leafy material. The nutrients in green seed can be digested and absorbed well by our birds. Dry seed is virtually a carbohydrate and fat source. Just like fried chips for us. No wonder they love it! Birds get a variety of metabolic diseases and many nutritional deficiencies when on a solely seed based diet.

So what do we feed them?

An ideal diet is a varied diet with pellets and a selection of fruit, vegetables and wild foods offered daily. Seeds can be offered as part of a fresh food and pellet diet. It can also be used to assist training or as a treat. Think of seed as just one part of a varied diet of natural foods.

Your bird may not be initially happy converting to a nutritious diet that includes pelleted and fresh foods but please persist.

"A CORRECT DIET CAN DOUBLE THE LIFESPAN OF YOUR BIRD"

It is beneficial for all birds to have a health examination before changing their diet to ensure that there are no underlying disease issues. In fact, we recommend annual healthy bird examinations.

 

Hints For Providing A Balanced Diet For Your Bird

As published in NSW & ACT Edition of The Pet Directory by Michael Cannon BVSc, MACVSc, Grad Dip Ed

Offering a balanced diet is critical for your bird’s health

Birds are some of the most difficult animals to feed properly. The ideal would be to mimic the exact diet that birds have in the wild, but this is so variable and very few of the natural dietary components are available. Poor nutrition is still a common problem in birds.

Galah

Seed: Diets based on seed, particularly seed mixes, are the most common diet provided to birds. The problem is that they are not nutritionally balanced. Seed is very high in fat, very low in important components such as calcium, other important minerals as well as all the necessary vitamins. So a bird raised on a diet with a high seed component will eventually become ill because of the diet. The main feature is that it is a slow process and may take years to be apparent, so it is not normally attributed to the diet, because there have been no changes.

Commercial Diets: A lot of detailed research into avian nutrition has been done over the past 25 years, so there is now a range of commercially formulated diets (pelleted or extruded) on the Australian market, developed just for birds. These are a good replacement for the seed component of the diet, as they have lower fat levels and some of the minerals and vitamins that seed lacks. However they are not a complete diet and so you need to feed your bird more than just these commercial diets.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are also important for birds. Just as people need this as a vital component of their diet, birds need them as well. You need to introduce your bird to vegetables and fruit when they are young or you will have problems converting them later in life.
How much of each: Commercial diets and or seed should be approximately 50-60% of the diet. Fruit, vegetables and treats (such as sprouted seed) should be 40-50% of the diet – with the emphasis being on more vegetables than fruit and treats.

Vegetables to offer: spinach, silverbeet, beetroot, endive, Chinese cabbages (e.g Bok Choy) , celery, parsley, thistle, dandelion, Australian native grasses, broccoli, corn, capsicum (bell peppers), tomato, carrot, peas, snow peas, beans, pumpkin, sweet potato.
Fruit: apple, peaches, pears, plums, apricot, honeydew melon, rockmelon, mango, paw-paw, grapes, cherries, mandarin, orange, nectarines, figs, raisins, sultanas, currants, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi fruit, loquat.

Your Bird's Food Pantry

Sprouted Seeds: alfalfa, mung beans, cress or sprout the seedmix you normally use. These need to be fresh and clean. You need to be very careful that there is no contamination of sprouted seeds. Smell them and they should have a fresh sweet odour. If they are sour of you are suspicious they may not be good – throw them away.

Do not rush any dietary changes. 

Converting your bird to a healthier diet should be a slow, gradual process that is monitored closely with the help of your veterinarian.

 

Poisonous Plants - Do Not Feed Your Birds These Plants

Information supplied by Dr Ross A. McKenzie BVSc, MVSc, DVSc for The Pet Directory

Based on Australian Plants

Poisoning of pet birds by plants is rare. This is reflected in the very small amount of information on this subject in veterinary scientific journals and reference books. Most information comes from North America, but applies to Australia because often the same plants are grown here. This article lists only those plants that occur in Australia. 

Experimental results are available from feeding experiments with canaries and budgerigars. The results for budgerigars could reasonably be applied to other parrots as well. The researchers doing this work concluded that canaries appear to be more susceptible to plant poisoning than budgerigars, but under normal circumstances they are less likely to chew plants. N.B. Do not assume that plants not listed here are safe to feed to pet birds. Information available is incomplete.

The Pet Directory Bird Article - Poisonous Plants - Do Not Feed to Birds!

Identifying plants is essential for worthwhile investigation of suspect poisonings. Using the botanical (scientific) name of a plant is the best method to obtain accurate information about its poisonous properties. Common names can vary between localities and can apply to more than one plant, causing confusion. So having a plant you suspect of toxicity identified by a botanist is the essential first step to its investigation. You will need to give the botanist a specimen of the plant with flowers, fruits or both attached to it to have the best chance of identification. Botanists providing plant identification services to the public work in state herbariums in each Australian state. These herbariums operate within state government departments responsible for environmental protection or conservation and are often located in capital city botanic gardens. See your telephone directory or locate your nearest herbarium through the links on the Australia’s Virtual Herbarium home page at: www.chah.gov.au/avh.html

The Pet Directory Bird Article - Poisonous Plants - Do Not Feed to Birds!

Plants occurring in Australia - known to poison pet birds
Plants known to be fatal to pet birds:
• Avocado (Persea americana). Avocado flesh in relatively small amounts has fatally poisoned canaries, budgerigars and cockatiels (quarians) and should not be fed to any pet bird. Toxicity has been confirmed by controlled experiment (Shropshire et al. 1992). Persin, the toxin present, interferes with heart function. Poisoned birds often die within 24 hours.
• Dumb cane (Dieffenbachia spp.). Leaves are fatally poisonous to canaries (Arai et al. 1992).
• Oleander (Nerium oleander). Leaves are fatally poisonous to budgerigars and canaries (Arai et al. 1992, Shropshire et al. 1992)
• Lupins (Lupinus spp.). Leaves are fatally poisonous to canaries (Arai et al. 1992).
• Yews (Taxus spp.). Leaves and fruit are fatally poisonous to budgerigars and canaries (Arai et al. 1992, Shropshire et al.1992).

Lesser risks:
• Azaleas, rhododendrons (Rhododendron spp.). Leaves are poisonous to budgerigars (Shropshire et al. 1992).
• Black locust or False acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia). Autumn growth leaves are poisonous to budgerigars and canaries, causing difficulty breathing, chewing movements and vomiting before recovery (Arai et al. 1992, Shropshire et al. 1992).
• Clematis spp. Young leaves are poisonous to budgerigars, causing vomiting (Shropshire et al. 1992).
• Philodendron spp. Leaves are poisonous to budgerigars
(Shropshire et al. 1992).
• Privet (Ligustrum vulgare). Leaves are poisonous to canaries
(Arai et al. 1992).
• Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). Autumn leaves are poisonous to budgerigars, causing depression and vomiting before recovery (Shropshire et al. 1992).

The Pet Directory Bird Article - Poisonous Plants - Do Not Feed to Birds!

Plants occurring in Australia and possibly toxic to pet birds

No definite cases of poisoning of pet birds by these plants have been published, but information from poisoning of poultry, the presence of similar toxins to those in the known poisonous plants above, or both, suggest that these plants should not be eaten by pet birds. You should note that failure to produce poisoning by experimentally feeding a plant does not rule out possible toxicity under other circumstances.

Plants containing toxins affecting heart function:
• Coffee senna (Senna occidentalis). Seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Cruel plant, white moth plant (Araujia sericifera). Seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea). Experimental feeding of leaf did
not poison budgerigars (Shropshire et al. 1992).
• Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis). Experimental feeding of leaf did not poison budgerigars (Shropshire et al. 1992).
• Mexican poppy (Argemone spp.). Seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Milkweeds (Ascelpias spp., Gomphocarpus spp.). Leaves (LaBonde 1996).
• Mother-of-millions, live-leaf (Bryophyllum spp., Kalanchoe spp.).
Flowers and leaves (LaBonde 1996).
• Plakkies, pig’s ears (Cotyledon orbiculata). Leaves (McBarron 1977).

Plants containing irritant toxins:
• Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Experimental feeding of leaf did not poison budgerigars (Shropshire et al. 1992).
• Castor oil plant (Ricinus communis). Seeds (LaBonde 1996).
• Elephant’s ear, cunjevoi, taro (Alocasia spp., Xanthosma spp., Colocasia esculenta). Leaves (LaBonde 1996).
• Rosary pea, precatory bean (Abrus precatorius). Seeds (LaBonde 1996).
• Nightshades (Solanum spp.). Fruits, green potato tubers (McBarron 1977).
• Spurges (Euphorbia spp.). Leaves (McBarron 1977).
• White cedar (Melia azedarach). Fruit (McBarron 1977).

Plants containing toxins affecting the nervous system:
• Hemlock (Conium maculatum). Leaves (McBarron 1977).
• Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) (LaBonde 1996).
• Thornapples (Datura spp.). Seeds (McBarron 1977).

The Pet Directory Bird Article - Poisonous Plants - Do Not Feed to Birds!

Plants containing other toxins:
• Bishop’s weed, meadow sweet (Ammi majus). Leaves and seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Cestrum spp. Leaves (McBarron 1977).
• Mexican tea (Chenopodium ambrosioides). Seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Rattlepods (Crotalaria spp.). Seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Ruby saltbush (Enchylaena tomentosa). Leaves (McBarron 1977).
• Linseed (Linum usitatissimum). Seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Mother-in-law’s tongue (Sansevieria sp.) Leaves have been suspected to poison finches (McBarron 1977).
• Pepperina, pepper trees (Schinus spp.). Fruits (McBarron 1977).
• Vetch (Vicia sativa). Seeds (McBarron 1977).
• Crown vetch (Coronilla varia) (Gfeller & Messonnier 2004).
• Walnut (Juglans nigra) shells (Gfeller & Messonnier 2004).

 

Keeping Bugs Out Of Your Seed Drum

If you talk to different aviculturists, they will describe many different strategies and insecticides that will help control the weevils and bugs that like to invade your seed storage drum.

None of these is perfect and all will have a breakdown from time to time. The trick is to find a combination that works well in your situation but has a low chance of harming your birds. I have described below a list of repellants, storage conditions and treatments that you can experiment with to see which is most useful to you. These are all environmentally friendly treatments as the use of most insecticides can cause problems for your birds.

Repellants
Sticks of Spearmint Chewing-gum, Coriander, Dill, Cinnamon Sticks, Bay leaves, Fenugreek, Tumeric roots, lemon peel and black pepper have all been used as repellants.

Remember, these products do not kill the weevils – they make it less attractive to the weevils, so you need to experiment with placing varying amounts of these products in a holding container, attached to the underside of the lid, to work out how much is best for your situation.

The holding container needs to have many holes that will allow the aroma from the product to escape and build up in the air throughout the storage container.

Storage conditions
Grains stored at 4oC have no pests or weevils. While this extreme temperature is not available in most houses, if you can place the storage bin in as cold and dry conditions as possible you will minimize the weevils numbers and limit their breeding. The best storage containers have a screw lid with a rubber washer that seals and stops the weevils from crawling around the grooves to enter the container.

Heating
Heating the seed to 60oC for 30 minutes in an oven will also destroy any weevils, but this is time consuming and expensive so it is rarely done. The seed needs to be evenly distributed in a baking pan so the seed is equally exposed to the heat. After treatment, the seed must packed in tightly sealed packages until used.

 


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