It is a pretty well accepted fact that pet birds and Parrots require a varied diet, yet even some 30 years on after this discovery it is reported by avian veterinarians that malnutrition is still the underlying cause of around 75% of the medical problems they encounter.
It is now widely recommended by avian veterinarians, nutritionist and accepted by the wider pet bird keeping community that providing a formulated or pelleted diet as a base feed is the best way to start feeding your Parrot. Formulated or pelleted diets are created to provide 100% of your bird’s daily nutritional needs. Many of the top selling brands such as Kaytee, Pretty Bird and ZuPreem all produce a range of these diets. They come in many different shapes, sizes, colours and flavours to ensure mealtimes are stimulating, something the Lafeber Company has perfected with their NutriBerries range, feeding birds a complete diet no longer has to be boring as it is perhaps perceived.
A good portion of your bird’s daily diet should be made up with vegetables, especially those high in Vitamin A (essential for good vision, and known for aiding the immune system). The remaining diet should be made up from nuts, seeds and high nutrition fruits with the occasional treat (treats include sunflowers and peanuts). There are an abundance of seed based diets on the market for pet birds and Parrots. As with most products, trusted brands are a great place to start; they offer high quality ingredients (usually cleaned to remove dust), contain mainly only the edible parts (reducing waste) and tend to be low in sunflower seed and peanuts (which are high in fats and are considered junk food). An example would be the Pretty Bird Jungle Munchies or premium range of seeds diets. There are many prepared nuts and dried fruits available, they can be added to your bird’sfood bowl to increase variety or offered as a treat. Dried fruits actually contain virtually the same nutritional content as fresh fruits, plus they have a longer shelf life.
One other food source is soaking or sprouting seeds/pulses. The Tidymix Pulse & Rice Soaking Mix is a good example of this kind of diet. So as you can see there are many different foods you can add use to give your Parrot's diet lots of variety. Tell us your bird's favourite foods in the comments.