Parrot Diet | The Adventures of Kacy The Conure Parrot

Kacy Stole a Bite of My Breakfast

I can’t believe that it has been almost 3 months since my last post. I have been really busy with my new job. Sometimes I really feel bad that I can’t spend much quality time with Kacy. Gladly today, I was able to spend some great time with Kacy the whole morning.

While I was preparing some soft boiled eggs for breakfast just now, Kacy actually climbed onto the kitchen counter-top to take a sneak glance at what I am doing.

The moment when I went to grab a teaspoon and to dispose the empty shells, Kacy stole a bite of my soft-boiled egg.

Kacy the Black Capped Conure steal a bite of the soft boiled egg!

Kacy seems to like the taste and texture of the soft-boiled egg. She’s really enjoys “her” (or perhaps my) breakfast! *Giggle*

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Chocolate is Toxic to Parrots

I was on my way returning home, passing by a void deck where I saw an old chinese man with a Green Ringneck Parakeet. It wasn’t the Green Ringneck Parakeet that caught my attention, but was actually the old man’s actions.

The old man was actually feeding the Ringneck Parakeet with some iced milo (a kind of chocolate beverage). I was alarmed.

I decided to go forward and confront the old man.

“Are you feeding the parrot with iced milo?” I asked the old man politely in mandarin.

The old man smiled and replied in mandarin, “Yes! He (Green Ringneck Parakeet) loves it! It is his favorite drink.” I wasn’t smiling, instead I was worried when I heard this.

“Uncle, please don’t feed him (Green Ringneck Parakeet) with milo. Milo contains chocolate, anything that contains chocolate is toxic to parrots!” I explained to him in mandarin.

The old man rebuked me in mandarin, “I’ve been feeding him all the time with small serving and it won’t cause any harm! Anyway he’s not dead yet!”

The old man was peeved. He ignored my advice and continued to feed the Ringneck Parakeet with iced milo.

I didn’t persist and left the place in the end. This incident left me deeply pondering whether is the old man being stubborn, being ignorant or being selfish?

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What’s For Breakfast Today?

Breakfast menu for parrots don’t have to be monotonous. Breakfast for parrots not necessary have to be the usual organic pellets or seed mixes.

Kacy, my lovely Black Capped Conure had a whole grain bread toast for breakfast today! She truly enjoyed her hearty breakfast for the day.

Kacy The Black Capped Conure having toast bread for breakfast

Mum and I don’t really put our precious Black Capped Conure, Kacy on a strict monotonous diet.

We have been providing her with foods like cornflakes, cereals, oatmeal biscuit, whole grain bread and scrambled eggs for breakfast. And, she loves them all!

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Deficiency of Vitamin A in Parrots

Vitamin A deficiency is a common problem in parrots on an all seed diet. Parrots generally have high dietary needs for Vitamin A.

Inadequate Vitamin A in a parrot diet can lead to various health problems and affect mortality. Thus it is extremely crucial to introduce parrots to healthier foods that are high in Vitamin A.

Kacy, the Black Capped Conure eating carrot

Kacy, my Black Capped Conure loves carrots! I am really glad that she enjoys healthy fruits and vegetables, probably because I started introducing a wide variety of healthy foods to her when she’s at a young age.

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Kacy’s Exotic Taste Buds

What makes Kacy so unique, neither because of her appearance, her special stints nor her unusual habits. It’s because she also has very unusual “exotic” taste buds!

Other than he usual favourites, sunflower, apples and pears, she craves for noodles and bee hoon (also known as rice vermicelli or rice noodles)! That’s definitely very unusual cravings for parrots, even Kermit and Kiki aren’t any die hard fans for noodles or rice vermicelli!

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Wonders of Apple Cider Vinegar

Many might have heard before about Apple Cider Vinegar (also known as ACV for short) using as a home remedy to cure most ailment. It’s definitely true. ACV is far more effective than any other folk remedies.

A bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar for my parrot

Having to know about the benefits of ACV to the human health, I’ve decided to include ACV as a weekly maintenance to my Senegal Parrot, Kermit. Furthermore, ACV is made of natural ingredient and contains vitamins and minerals. Thus it can be a possible option as a health tonic for the companion parrot.

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What I Hate About Commercial Seed Mixes

Previously I wrote about ethoxyquin found on some of the commercial seed mixes that can posed dangers to parrots’ health. Although there are some commercial seed mixes are free from ethoxyquin, naturally preserved and truly organic, but they still have one thing in common that I hated most.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower Seeds! Well not the sunflower seeds that rose the hatred but just that commercial seed mixes are flooded with too many sunflower seeds. The picture of the big pack of sunflower seeds, are actually sunflower seeds extracted from 1.5kg of quality commercial seed mixes and I stored them in Zip-lock bags as treats for future training purposes.

Reasonably amount of sunflower seeds can be healthy in providing the required vitamin E and fatty acids that are essential to parrots. Anything that are excessive or too much can be unhealthy. We all know that parrots are programmed to love seeds especially SUNFLOWER seeds. Parrots just “worship” them.

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What is Ethoxyquin?

Do you read the label of the commercial food for your parrot before buying them? To date, most commercial pet food (including commercial seed mixes and pellets) available in the pet store are preserved with a chemical antioxidant called Ethoxyquin. Are you aware of it?

Some of you might have heard about Ethoxyquin, but many still remain ignorant. They are unaware about it and do not know the adverse effects of it on parrot’s health.

So what is Ethoxyquin?

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