Care and Feeding of Pet Birds

The most common mistake people make when caring for their pet birds is to feed too much dry seed. Dry seed is high in fat and low in protein, vitamins and minerals that are essential for the health of your bird. A poor diet can lead to multiple health problems such as

Obesity

Poor feather growth

Respiratory Disease

Fatty Liver

Vitamin A deficiency

Diabetes.

A range of fresh fruits, vegetables, grasses and native plants should be available and provided fresh each day. It is important to remove any old or spoiled foods. Vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, corn, carrots including tops, peas, capsicum, baby spinach leaves, celery leaves, radish and fruit such as apples (cores removed), strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi fruit, peaches and pears

Clean fresh water should always be available and changed daily. Avocados – The skin and pit has been known to cause cardiac distress and may lead to eventual heart failure.

Onions – Small amounts of onions appear to be acceptable, but excessive consumption of onions causes vomiting, diarrhoea and digestive problems so best to play it safe and keep onions away from your pet.

Chocolate – Affects the digestive system causing vomiting and diarrhoea. It also affects the central nervous system causing seizures and death Rhubarb – While the leaves are highly toxic to birds, the stalks of the rhubarb are edible and can safely be given to birds

Apple seeds – Contain trace amounts of cyanide. The fruit of the apple is fine as long as it is washed thoroughly to remove any pesticides that may be on the skin.

Mushrooms - Are a type of fungus and may cause digestive upset in birds. Some varieties have may cause liver failure.

Tomato leaves – The leaves, vines and stems are highly toxic to birds. Probably best to avoid tomatoes altogether due to the high acidic content

Caffeine – Causes cardiac malfunction and is associate with increased heartbeat, arrhythmia, hyper activity and cardiac arrest.

FOODS THAT ARE TOXIC TO BIRDS: Food and water containers should be situated in a position where they are least likely to be contaminated by faeces. These containers should be cleaned daily and kept as free as possible from foreign matter.

Birds such as budgies, canaries, cockatiels, galahs, finches, peach faces, rosellas are all seed eating birds whose diet must include fresh fruit and vegetables. Lorikeets however are not seed eaters and in the wild they feed on nectar and pollen of native flowers such as bottlebrush and grevilleas. They have a unique brush-like tongue which enables them to do this. Their diet is quite special and it is important to provide a similar diet to keep them healthy. There are commercial formulated diets available which are specifically designed for lorikeets which are supplemented with fresh fruit and vegetables such as carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin, apples, berries, grapes, pears, mango, sweet corn etc.