Complete Psittacine by Eb Cravens
Over the years I have been taught a lot about nutrition by the local birds in our garden and around the neighbourhood. When I observe the cardinals or finches or mynah birds going for some seeding, flowering or fruiting plant, I naturally tend to go out and cut some of it to give to the parrot aviaries. Not only is it fresh and natural, but it adds variety to whatever I am preparing for the day in our bird kitchen.
Of course, the only way to precisely reproduce a wild diet with a captive psittacine would be to live in the bird’s native range, and allow it out daily to feed with others of its kind. Not possible, right? That being said, it is quite doable to make solid attempts at mimicking wild bird feeding tendencies with our domestic cage birds. In doing so, we must first recognise that what we are seeking is not so much a ‘wild’ diet, but a ‘natural’ diet.
Feeding a natural diet means that every effort is made to eliminate severely processed foods from the food bowl, not all such items of course since proper nourishment (with occasional relished people treats) is the ultimate goal with any parrot. However, we would strive to get rid of those processed substances that can be replaced in the nutritional regime with better raw and natural foods.