The 10 Things
you should know about Feeding your Birds.
The
correct diet is essential to the well being, breeding success and longevity of
your pet bird. Not only should you
feed your bird the correct diet, but you also need to avoid feeding those
ingredients which may be harmful. Here are ten things that every bird owner
needs to know about his/her bird’s diet.
1. Feed a Balanced Diet
All nutritionists and bird keepers should strive to feed their birds what is widely known as a balanced diet. In nutritional terms we consider all food items that are consumed on a daily basis to be a part of the daily diet. A balanced diet will provide the bird with all of the required nutrients, together with sufficient energy to metabolise those nutrients each day. It should not contain gross excesses of any nutrient and it should be free of biological contaminants (e.g. bacteria) and anti-nutritional toxins. If a bird consumes a balanced diet, it bird will remain healthy and productive throughout its natural life span.
2.
Birds Consume Nutrients - not Ingredients
All animals require a diet which provides them with adequate levels of
available nutrients at the cellular level. They do not require specific
ingredients to provide these nutrients; rather they require ingredients that
contain adequate levels of the important nutrients.
It is true that different species of bird have unique
adaptations to allow them to fill a specific ecological niche in the wild.
This means that the manner in which they eat and digest their diets will
differ between species, but the manner in which the nutrients are absorbed and
metabolised is to all intents and purposes the same.
Some species differences are known to exist, for example certain forest
dwelling birds like toucans and mynahs metabolise iron in the normal way buy are
not able to excrete and surpluses in the normal way.
This will cause theses birds to develop iron storage disease developing
if these birds are fed the incorrect diet.
3. 3. The Diet Contains only Nutrients and Energy
All diets contain only two things, nutrients and energy.
Some 30 – 40 nutrients are now know to be important in avian nutrition,
but this number increases as the science of nutrition evolves.
These nutrients include components of protein the amino acids, vitamins,
minerals and some essential fats. The
nutrients are principally used in the maintenance of body tissue, for growth,
for reproduction purposes (egg formation) and for maintaining a robust immune
system. Many of these nutrients are
deemed to be ‘essential’ as the bird cannot synthesise them from any
precursors so they must be provided in the diet.
This gives rise to a situation where a diet can be perfect in all but one
aspect, but because of a single missing nutrient the bird may not able digest
the diet efficiently and breeding success and immunity will be affected.
The converse of this situation also occurs.
If a diet contains a surplus of an nutrient it may cause the birds to
avoid eating the diet. Also, a
surplus of one nutrient often impedes the absorption and/or utilisation of
another nutrient. In short, in both of the situations described above, the diet
is not balanced.
As with any system, the body requires energy to fuel the multitude of
biochemical reactions that take place within it.
Birds are not able to create their own energy via photosynthesis, so they
are entirely dependent upon the energy provided in the diet.
This energy is supplied principally by the starches and sugars contained
in plant material, particularly grains and seeds.
These are known as carbohydrates. In
addition, energy is supplied by the
fats and oils contained in the diet, which contain about 2.5 times as much
energy per gram as
carbohydrates do. If a diet
does not contain enough energy, the bird is simply not able to use the nutrients
contained in the diet.
4. 4. Seed Based Diets may not be Appropriate
Most parrots
will preferentially consume seeds if a variety of foods are offered. Seeds are
high in energy in the form of both carbohydrates and fat, and low in most of the
nutrients necessary for good health. The meat of a sunflower seed contains in
excess of 40% oil! Parrots that eat only seed will suffer from malnutrition and
nutritional deficiencies, even though they may look healthy, and may even be
overweight! Feeding a diet high in
fat may cause problems with calcium absorption.
Budgies and
cockatiels do eat primarily seeds, grass seeds and small amounts of other types
of vegetation in the wild, and they will do remarkably well on a diet that would
be dangerous for other species of parrot. However, feeding seed only diets to
any type of parrot or soft bill is not to be recommended.
There is
little to be gained from feeding a whole range of different type of seeds.
It is true that the birds do like the variety, but there are only very
small differences between the nutritive values of millet or manna seeds for
example. Safflower and sunflower are also similar. They both contain high levels
of fat, and not much else in nutritional terms.
Safflower is a more bitter tasting seed, so most birds will consume fewer
of them as opposed to sunflower seeds. Safflower is also more expensive so
feeding diets high in safflower will achieve little more than reducing the
amount of sunflower would.
Often, bird
owners think that they are providing a better diet by purchasing fortified seed
mixes or by adding one of the many supplements available to the diet.
Unfortunately, the vitamins and minerals are impregnated into the seed hulls,
which are discarded when the bird eats the seed. When complete diets, dried
fruits and nuts are also included, the complete diet (pellets) is often rejected
by the bird, in favour of the seeds in the mix. As nutritious as the pellets may
be, they do the bird no good on the cage floor. Fruits are a part of a good
avian diet, however, they usually contain an improper calcium to phosphorus
ratio and contain lots of sugar, so vegetables are more nutritious to feed than
fruit.
5. 5. Feed a Complete Diet
It is mostly not necessary to give a bird eating a complete diet a
vitamin or mineral supplement as complete diets contain amount to adequate
amounts of vitamins and minerals for the healthy psittacine. People don't
realise it, but it is possible to over-supplement a bird with vitamins and/or
minerals, resulting in toxicosis and/or organ damage. The overconsumption of
protein can also have a negative effect on birds’ health and fertility.
In short, it is possible to kill our birds with kindness.
6.
6.
How to Balance a Diet
Balancing a diet at home is not straight forward.
It is possible to use small amounts of many ingredients in the hope that
you will overcome any shortfall in the nutrient content of one ingredient by a
surplus in another. However, the
‘shotgun’ approach often fails to provide the correct protein quality, and
will almost certainly not provide the correct levels of vitamins and minerals.
Balancing a diet is not simple even for a professional nutritionist.
Not only are the nutrient requirements of each individual bird specific,
(they are determined by its size, its breeding status and a number of other
factors), but the nutrient content of the available ingredients can vary
dramatically. Even the use of
sophisticated feed formulation software does not help overcome these problems.
By ensuring that a fair proportion of a birds diet comprises a complete
and balanced component will go a long way to ensuring that each individual bird
consumes adequate levels of each nutrient.
7. 7. Avoid Toxic Ingredients
Many of the ingredients that are commonly used in birds diets either
contain toxins or are toxic themselves. For example, all legumes (peas and
beans) contain a range of toxic substances that can only be inactivated by
cooking. These often form a
major part in the protein supply of bird diets and can’t be ignored.
There follows a whole list of ingredients that should never be fed to pet
birds.
·
Chocolate is
toxic to birds. It is digested in such a way that the resultant digested
products are toxic. Bittersweet, baker's chocolate and dark chocolates are more
toxic than milk chocolate. Chocolate, in any form, should never be fed to birds.
Signs of chocolate toxicosis may include disorientation, hyperactivity,
vomiting, diarrhea, irregular heartbeat, seizures, dark coloured droppings and
death.
·
Some types of
avocados are toxic to birds. The skin, meat or pit may contain toxins, so it is
best to not feed avocados at all.
·
Caffeine is
also toxic to birds. No products containing caffeine should be offered to birds
(including coffee, tea and cold drinks).
·
Excessive
consumption of table salt (sodium chloride) can cause increased thirst,
increased water consumption, increased urination, depression, neurological
excitement, tremors, un-coordination and death. Avoid feeding your birds chips
or salted peanuts.
·
Alcoholic
beverages can lead to un-coordination and death. Birds should never be allowed
access to any products containing ethanol (alcohol).
·
Some seeds and
pips may be toxic to birds. Apple seeds contain cyanide. It is safest to remove
all seeds from an apple before offering it for feeding. Cherries, plums,
apricots and peaches are safe to feed, but the pips contain seeds that produce
cyanogenic glycosides (which release free cyanide). They should not be consumed,
but if they are, by mistake, the rapid transit time of the gastrointestinal
tract of birds, coupled with the type of stomach that they have, seems to
protect the birds from intoxication.
·
Parsley has
been reported to be toxic to birds. It has only been shown to cause
photosensitivity to sunlight in ducks and ostriches.
·
Milk sugar is
called lactose. Birds simply lack the enzyme lactase and cannot digest milk
products containing lactose. They will develop diarrhoea when the lactose
content of the diet exceeds 10%.
·
Oxalate
(oxalic acid) is an organic acid that efficiently binds calcium and other trace
minerals, making them unavailable to the bird. The highest levels of oxalates
are found in tea, spinach and rhubarb. High levels of oxalates can cause
vomiting, diarrhoea, poor blood clotting and convulsions. Lower levels can
result in decreased growth, poor bone mineralization and kidney stones.
·
Monkey
biscuits designed for New World primates (those from Central and South America)
have very high levels of vitamin D in them, because
·
Beta-carotene
is a non-toxic form of a precursor of vitamin A. Yellow maize is rich in this
substance but other seeds are notoriously deficient in vitamin A precursors.
When ingested, the body turns what it needs into vitamin A and the rest passes
out of the body unchanged. Synthetic Vitamin A, as supplied in most supplements,
does not pass through the body, but rather is stored in the liver. Small amounts
can also be found in the kidneys, lungs, adrenal glands and blood.
When birds are over supplemented, Vitamin A levels in the various organs
increase to the point where toxiocsis may occur.
·
Dog food
traditionally contains protein of animal origin.
They are thus high in iron. Feeding
dog food to passarines will result in iron storage disease developeing.
8. 8. Hand Rearing
Manufacturers
of hand-feeding diets have spent a tremendous amount of time researching the
ingredients that are best suited to baby birds, as
well as what the ideal nutrient
profile of the diet should be. Anything
that is added to a hand-rearing diet, be it baby food, baby cereal, or other
ingredients, will cause the energy to nutrient ratio to be altered. When this
occurs, digestion may slow, resulting in what is commonly called "slow
crop" or "sour crop." Vitamins and minerals are already
incorporated into the formula, so additional amounts are neither necessary nor
advisable. It is always best to feed the formula exactly as the label
instructions recommend. Should you add more water than specified you can
significantly dilute the diet and the baby bird will simply not be able to
consume enough nutrients on a daily basis. It
is essential that fresh formula be used and that all feeding equipment is
sterile.
9. 9. Food Preparation and Presentation
In order to bet the best out of life for both yourself and your bird, their diet need to be properly prepared and presented. This begins with using clean bowls and utensils. In addition, all fresh fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed before being offered to your birds. Potentially harmful bacteria and other microorganisms may be found on the surface of fresh produce. Once the items have been chopped up, these bacteria are able to multiply rapidly and spread through the food. Secondly, when using a prepared component of the diet, follow the manufactures recommendations on how to use the product. Do not add additional nutrient supplements unless advised to do so by a nutritionist and/or veterinarian. The final point has to do with the preparation of fruits and vegetables. Ensure that you cut these into small bite sized chunks (a food processor works well). If birds are fed large slices, they tend to pick them up, take a couple of bites and then drop the remainder on the floor.
10.
Water is King