Caique Diet Cont'd
If you are a new parrot owner, you are probably holding your head and wondering- whatever happened to good old fashioned seed? The mindset that a seed diet for pet parrots is OK has been long since disproved- an all seed diet has been linked to poor nutrition, lack of feather quality, and diseases such as fatty liver disease. No fear- we are over with the negative stuff about pellets, promise! Can I still feed my caique seed? Yes. In addition to his pellets, fresh fruits, veggies, and cooked foods. I actually encourage it. In the wild, caiques diets are made up of nuts, grains, nectars, flowers and fruits. In our homes they are drastically different- but that doesnt mean their bodies don't need the same! Parrots beaks are made for seed, and seed is a good foraging opportunity. Mine get a small amount of high quality seed nightly.
Bird-Elicious! has a caique specific diet that I encourage caique owners to check out.
Now that we have covered seed and pellets, what about the other foods? What other foods can my caique eat?
As mentioned before, caiques eat flowers in the wild. If you have a garden in your backyard, consider planting a few bird-safe flowers for your fid. Read the article-
Edible Flowers For Parrots for more information regarding this topic.
Fruits are a caique favorite, and a great source of nutrition.
Some of the fruits that caiques eat in wild include:
-Fruit from the Warimia tree
-Guava fruit
-Wild Figs
-The fruit from the Acai palm
-Hitia
Source- Caique Site
Fruits have a natural high water content, so when feeding your fid fruit, expect loose droopings and color change of the dropping for a short time after the fruit has been ingested. If your bird eats strawberries, its natural for the droppings to come out a shade of red- its the berries dye shedding itself from your birds system.
Vegetables
The possibilities are endless- so go have fun and go shopping for some food for your faby! Yams are a great caique treat and provide a gret source of vitamin A. Green leafy Kale is yummy too, and a good source of calcium. One fun way to way mix and match your veggies and fruits is to cut up small pieces and put them on a skewer for your bird to enjoy. If you need cooking ideas, check out our recipes page.
Leafy Greens
"Wild parrots spend their lives in the greenery of the rain forest canopy. Not only do they use green trees and plants for camouflage and bathing, their colorful, lofty home contains a huge variety of edible green plants. Greenery provides leaves, buds, sprouts, shoots, blossoms, and stems, as well as nuts, seeds, fruits and berries. It is thought that fibrous green foods make up the majority of the wild parrot's diet, while protein, also derived mostly from vegetable matter, and fats make up a small percentage of the total diet. Compare that to the high-fat, high-protein diet with very few green foods that most parrots in captivity consume. One can easily understand the problems of Amazons and other parrot species that are prone to obesity. Somehow, we birdkeepers have failed to emulate Mother Nature's generous buffet of green foods. Birdkeepers rely more heavily on grains and seeds and many companion parrots are lucky to get green food once a week. Their wild counterparts eat mostly green food every day of their lives. Captive parrots should be offered one or two green foods daily, and the more variety, the better." This is the opening paragraph to the article Greening Of the Parrots Diet by Carolyn Swicegood.
Some greens that you can suppliment your parrots diet with include:
* Arugula
* Barley grass
* Beet greens
* Belgian endive
* Bok choy
* Broccoli
* Chickweed
* Chicory
* Collard greens
* Dandelion
* Endive
* Sunflower greens
* Turnip greens
Sprouted Seeds
Sprouting seeds is another fantastic way to get variety into your caiques diet, as well as a good natural source of vitamins and amino acids. Sprouting your own seed is easy, and caiques love sprouts. To learn more about the benefits of sprouted seeds, go to this article, 'Sprouted Seeds, the Forgotten Food' . To learn how to sprout your own seeds Sprouting Seeds by Bobbie Brinker is a great resource for beginning sprouters. A nutritional guide on which sprouts are most beneficial is included. Looking for a sprout mix? The Sprout People offer great mixes for humans and birds alike!
Eucalyptus
Caiques love to chew on fresh branches and leaves. Fresh eucalyptus provides hours of chewing and foraging fun, as well as trace elements and minerals that are beneficial to your feathered friend. Eucalyptus makes not only good food, but good natural branches as well. Check out Euc Products for more information.
Nuts
"Parrots seem to know by instinct what we are only now discovering--that is, that nuts are one of the most nutritious gifts of nature. Most nuts are seeds or the dried fruit from trees and natural to the diet of wild parrots. Nuts are an excellent source of protein, fiber (one ounce of nuts has as much fiber as two slices of whole wheat bread), vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, biotin, riboflavin, niacin, and phytochemicals. Because of their protein content, they are listed as an alternative to meat in the USDA Food Guide Pyramid."
Favorite/common nuts include:
- Almonds
- Brazil Nuts
- Cashews
- Chestnuts
- Hazelnuts
- Hickory Nuts
- Macadamia Nuts
- Peanuts
- Pecans
- Pine Nuts
- Pistachios
- Soy 'nuts'
- Walnuts
Source - Nutrition in a Nutshell
Red Palm Oil
Could this be the missing link in avian nutrition?
Red palm oil is one of the richest sources of carotenes, specifically beta carotene, in terms of retinol (provitamin A) equivalents. Vitamin A, when derived from natural or synthetic sources, can be highly toxic taken in over dosage. Red palm oil beta carotenes, on the other hand, can be taken in their natural state in food safely, are nontoxic and provide the same benefits as pure vitamin A.
A study conducted in 1994 by Dr. May, found that this oil contains as much as 15 to 300 times as many retinol equivalents as natural sources like carrots, leafy green vegetables and tomatoes, which are considered to have significant quantities of provitamin A. "The nutritional benefits are great," says Salleh Kassim, executive director of the Chicago, Illinois office of The Malaysian Palm Oil Council of America. "(Red palm oil) also possesses natural antioxidants, anticancer properties for certain types of cancers and contains one of the highest amounts of tocotrienols and tocopherols (antioxidants that may work to prevent cancer as well as the buildup of cholesterol.)"
"Red palm oil is a very balanced oil. It has almost equal percentages of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, and has a high content of monounsaturates very similar to olive oil," says Mr. Kassim.
To feed Red Palm Oil to your birds, refrigerate and give 1/4 teaspoon two times weekly. Can be spread on bread, incorporated into recipes, such as birdie bread or scrambled eggs.
Nectar in your birds diet
Ever wonder why your caique has that long beak? In the wild, a large portion of the caiques diet consists of flowers, nectar, and fruits. The long beak is adapt at sucking the juice from the fruit, or the nectar from a flower. Many caique breeders and owners encourage supplimenting caiques diet with nectars in the form of watered down juices, ginger ale, or even formulated Lori nectors. Sally Blanchard references feeding her black headed caique, Spike, a lori nectar as part of his regular diet. John McMichael of The Caique Site, reguarly suppliments his birds with juices and ginger ale to mimic their natural diet.
Is nectar right for your bird? Some simply do not take to commercialy available nectars. Thats perfectly fine. Remember, if you do decide to suppliment your birds diet with nectar, what goes in must come out- runny poop will be normal. And consider how long the substance will sit in the cage- feed the nectar when you are home, and can remove it after half an hour so that it does not spoil and gather bacteria.
Balance
Balancing your birds food is the most important. Every website you read will have different ratios of what to feed your bird- 50, 60, 70, 80 percent pellet, so much seed, fruit, 'tablefood' etc. Once you have your bird on a pelleted diet, the rest comes easily. At least 50% of the diet should be pellets- so during the day your bird has pellets in his food dish. Easy enough, right? Then before you start your day, feed him some of your scrambled egg. In the afternoons give him some fresh fruits/veggies, and at night, give him a tablespoon or two of seed. Once you get a routine of sorts going, its easy to feed your bird everything he needs during the day. And your birds food intake balances out to be at least 60% pellets, 10-15% seed, 25% 'everything else' which is cooked foods, table foods, etc. This ratio of course varies from bird to bird and household to household. If you are concerned about your birds diet or have questions, please consult your avian veterinarian.
