My parrot can shell a peanut - but what other kinds of nuts are good for them?

Question

I'll take any Parrot diet advice you can give. I think she might be bored with her food - although she eats it all. She has peanuts, apples, and Zupreme and Avian Gold parrot food. She's a sun conure.

Answer 1

Nuts are wonderful for your Sun Conure! Try shelled almonds (fabulous for birds) and Pistachio nuts in the shell. Shelled walnuts are good as well.
You might want to ease up on the peanuts. When you do feed peanuts, make sure it's a rare treat and that they are unsalted and "Human Grade" peanuts.

I don't feed mine the commercial seed mix any at all really. If you are feeding pellets, you are giving him a balanced seed diet. Pellets are partially made from seed.
Seed is not really a huge percentage of a Parrot's diet in the wild. The reason most people tend to feed seed is because when the boats containing the first wild-caught birds first arrived here, they were being fed seed. Of course they do eat some seed, but on the boats, seed is dry and doesn't spoil. It was an economical and convenient way to feed the birds during shipping.
The seeds I feed my birds are the healthy ones: Flax, hemp and rape seed. These 3 are the winners in the seed world.
My Parrots don't even like sunflower seed...a standard part of your run of the mill seed mix.
For more information, please see these links:

http://www.holisticbirds.com/hbn02/febma...

http://www.bharatbhasha.com/pets.php/468...

Please lean heavily on fresh or frozen vegetables (heavy on the dark orange and dark green), rice, pasta, beans, yams or sweet potatoes, nuts, and occasionally you can give them scrambled eggs, yogurt, a piece of chicken, and cheese as a treat.
Fruit is good a few times a week. Easy on the grapes..apple is good banana, canteloupe, as well as cranberry...
Think about purchasing some flax seed oil from a health food store and a few drops on his veggies helps a lot.
An additional calcium supplement and a vitamin supplement is extrmemly helpful: "Pro-Vita" or "Blair's Super Preen" nutritional supplement sprinkled onto their veggies will really make a difference.
The number one reason for companion parrot fatalitites is malnutrition.
The bigger variety you offer to your birds, that is, the wider array of veggies they get, the more healthy they will be. I puchase frozen mixed veggie bags (no sauce) and mix them all together so that when my Greys are fed, they are offered about 20 different veggies. I blend in the healthy seed, cooked rice, add a bean glop mix from boiled beans, put in some nuts, and it's "Tails Up"! I don't hear a thing for a half an hour...they're too busy eating.
There are hundreds of recipes on the web you can find that will assist you in keeping your guy in great shape, but you really have to know what to feed to keep them in good condition. Keep reading and and researching.
I hope I've helped.

Try doing some training with her.
Positive Reinforcement Training.
Here are some websites:

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/behavior/...

http://www.naturalencounters.com/parrot....

http://www.parrotconnection.org/reading_...

Barbara Heidenreich's "Good Bird" Magazine is excellent:

http://www.goodbirdinc.com/

Do your homework, study the techniques and you will be well on your way to teaching them all kinds of things. I have a Grey that does about 20 tricks including shooting hoops with a basketball and putting rings on a peg. Once you learn how, it's easy to train them.
But you have to train yourself and learn how to do it before you see any results.
You get back what you train and reinforce. Training is a form of communication...you ask her to do something and bam...she does it. this means she understands you in a rudimentary sort of way.
Start easy...step up, turn around, wave bye bye, etc.
Use that tool in front of you...your computer. It is the greatest self-teaching tool in the world!
You will have a wonderful time teaching your little Conure, they are fabulous birds!

Answer 2

Be careful with sunflower seeds and parrots they addictive. If they get too attached to eating sunflower seeds they'll start refusing other foods and not get proper nutrition. We give our parrot all kinds of fruits more than nuts. The big NO's are avacado tomato raw potato and chocolate other than that be creative. They also like people food like breads good luck

Answer 3

Sunflower seeds are good...most nuts that are cracked are also good choices. Try giving her a pea or a bit of carrot, even a grape or raisin or other dry fruits. It's pretty hard to believe your parrot is bored of peanuts. Most parrots love them.

Answer 4

Parrots love almost any nuts....pecans, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, but all should be fed in moderation due to the high fat content and they should all be raw and natural with no added salt. Sunflowers are very high in fat and should just be fed as a special treat. Sun Conures are small parrots, so you will need to feed the very hard nuts shelled.

Also, when feeding peanuts, make sure you are feeding fresh peanuts that are sold for human consumption. Some peanuts sold for parrot food can harbor deadly molds that are toxic to birds. (aflatoxins)

Below is the excerpt about nuts, peanuts, peanut butter and alfatoxins

Nuts should be fed in moderation, Peanuts can carry aflatoxins, which are toxins produced by molds, and are colorless, tasteless and odorless. Aflatoxins can cause liver damage, can cause cancer, and can cause immunosuppression. Peanut butter is, however, safe to feed as batches are tested by the USDA to ensure that the aflatoxins level is within "acceptable" limits. However, "health food store" peanut butter often has dangerously high aflatoxins levels, as it is usually made right there in the store, and the government does no testing of "home-made" peanut butter. Tests of peanut butter from gourmet and health food stores often had much higher levels of aflatoxins than commercially produced peanut butter.

The pellets you are feeding her are great. You should also make sure she has plenty of fresh or frozen vegetables. Some good raw or steamed veggies to offer are sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and tomatoes. Some people will say no tomatoes, but I feed my six parrots tomatoes and I know a lot of people who also feed them. The tomato fruit itself is edible...the leaves are poisonous. Parrots also love corn, but it has little nutritional value, so feed it in small quantities. There are all kinds of greens that are good for parrots and most love them.

Offer fruits just a few times a week. Some fruits are high in sugar and you should feed them as a treat...such as grapes. Brown rice, enriched pastas and cooked dried beans such as pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans are also good.

You can even feed about a tbs. of a good parrot seed in the evenings as a treat, but the majority of her diet should be a good brand of bird pellets and veggies.

Parrots have individual taste preferences. My greys love steamed brocolli and carrots, but hate them raw. Just experiment and remember, if a food is considered good for you, it is also good for them.

No processed foods, no sweets, no avocado, no onions, no caffeine and no chocolate.

Sun Conures are beautiful birds!

Answer 5

Some parrots prefer Dee's Nuts. But I guess it depends on the parrot.

Answer 6

All nuts in moderation, the same for sunflower seeds. It sounds like your bird is on an excellent diet now. You could add fresh greens and fruit in small amounts. No avocados, chocolate or alcohol.

Answer 7

That is called a Quaker Parrot. I used to have one. Make sure you work daily with the bird handling it or it will get to where it will bit you every time you try to get him out. Good luck.

Answer 8

Yep, go easy on the nuts, but in general yr supplying a good diet. My birds really like spaghetti ... pull a strand when you make it, let it cool, cut it in half or quarters and hang it down from the top of the cage.

Answer 9

The the next time it snows, up your karma and also shovel your neighbor's sidewalk too.

Answer 10

My macaw loves pecans, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, but we feed them in moderation due to the high fat content and they are always wahed and dried before she gets them. We also only offer raw, unsalted nuts.