Main dishes are the kind of food your bird needs every day. They should consist of fresh fruits and vegetables. They should also change content on a very regular basis. You wouldn’t want to eat the same food for every meal and neither would your parrot. As mentioned on the main “Feeding” page, your bird will probably eat many different kinds of foods, but these pages will be concentrating on the types of foods they should have in conjunction with pellets. These are: Salads, Mashes & Sprouts. Each one can be creatively varied enough to keep your bird experiencing new foods all the time.

Kitchen Sink

Thanks to: Lissa in Massachusetts

Soak a bag of 16 bean soup mix overnight OR 1/2 cup each of 5 or 6 different types of beans...lentil, split or whole yellow or green beans, garbanzos ( a huge favorite here) hominy, navy, pink beans, let your imagination be your guide. Put these on to boil with PLENTY of water covering them along with a cup of natural brown rice ( I use River Brand). Let this boil gently for about 1/2 hour..longer is okay if your birds like their beans really mushy... it’s up to you. 

Now get the largest pan you can find. Drain the rice/bean mix and add 1 bag of frozen peas, 1 bag of broccoli florets, and 1 bag of carrots, corn & green beans. Also add two boxes of a favorite chopped green..you can also omit the broccoli here in favor of frozen chopped. Greens include mustard, spinach, kale, etc.

Hot peppers, if available can be added now - about a pound will do. You can chop them if you want or leave them whole depending on how big your bird is. Don’t forget to add a bag or two of wild blueberries, or cranberries, or both! I usually freeze in two day portions.

 

Mash Recipe

Thanks to Shauna Roberts from The Gabriel Foundation

For more information please visit us at Feedingfeathers.

Background: This is what I have been feeding my flock, although only for 9 yrs (as of 1997), ever since a cockatoo was diagnosed with a kidney problem and so far it has worked great. Others in the flock have come with malnutrition, plucking, liver problems, immune deficiencies. Blood work has been done often along with exams which sometimes have included radiographs to keep an eye on certain health conditions. So far my flocks health has remained good or improved.

Good and bad news about this recipe. The bad news is that the recipe amounts are up to you. The good news is that the recipe amounts are up to you. Not having exact amounts given may seem complicated or confusing at first but because flock size and food amount needs vary, this recipe gives you the freedom of coming up with a plan to suit your needs. This mash recipe varies from others in that the foods are fresher, because produce is added daily, rather than cooked in with grains and legumes.

Grains : Combine as many whole grains as you like but make sure you choose at least 3: millet, quinoa, amaranth, oats (whole, not rolled or cut), hulless barley (not pearled), spelt or kamut, teff, brown rice, wild rice, buckwheat. I combine at least 3 grains each time, often more and I always include either amaranth, quinoa or both and keep any rice in small amounts. Grains are then soaked and sprouted OR soaked for at least 8 hours and lightly cooked by heating until they almost boil, covering and turning off the heat. I often cook grains during the coldest winter months.
Guideline example recipe: Combine the chosen grains to equal 2 cups.

Legumes: Add a combination of adzuki, mung, sprouting peas and lentils. Soak them overnight at least 8 hours and then cook by rinsing, adding fresh water, bring to full boil. Boil for 10 minutes uncovered then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. If your sprout legumes be sure to wait for tails to be at least 1/4" long on the lentils and the other legumes tails to reach about 1/2" in length. These legumes are used because they are easier to digest than other varieties. Sprouting takes about 3 days. If you sprout, you can sprout them with the grains. I recommend using an Easy Sprouter. It is important for digestibility that legumes either be cooked for fully sprouted.
Guideline example recipe : Combine legumes to equal 1 cup.

Mix the legumes and grains a little differently each time but always have approximately 2 parts grains to 1 part of legume in order to have a complete the amino acid profile, which results in a complete protein. When combined , grains and legumes offer a complete protein that is easily digestible, more so than animal protein.
Guideline example recipe : combine grains and legumes to equal 3 cups.

You now have your recipe base to which you'll add any chosen fresh produce (veggies and fruit), daily for your bird (if need be you can also add organic frozen vegetables or fruit). The grain/legume mixture can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days or if you make larger batches it can be frozen. To make it convenient you can freeze in 1-2 days serving sizes and thaw in the fridge for 24 hours before you plan to serve.

Once the legume/grain mix is done...and cooled if it has been cooked, add at least 3-6 organic vegetables and 2-3 fruits. The legume/grain mixture should be approximately 50-65% of the meal. The combined greens and veggies should make up 30%-45%, and 5-10% can be fruit and other additions.

Choose veggies from different categories to help you cover nutritional bases, and be sure to vary these some each time if possible, and offer seasonal foods. Choose at lease one or more from EACH of the 3 categories, until you have at least 6 choices.


Vegetables:

Category 1 - Orange veggies (choose at least 1 or more in this category): pumpkin, carrots, acorn or butternut squash, red pepper (keep peppers to a minimum due to their solanine content which inhibits calcium absorption).

Category 2 - Dark Leafy greens (choose 2 or more in this category): kale, dandelion greens, mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens (you may also want to occasionally add beet greens, spinach or chard, even though their calcium, iron, magnesium content is limited due to their oxalic acid content, if your bird has kidney problems, high oxalic foods should be avoided)
Note: Frozen greens can be used if need be. If you only have a few small birds and limited budget you might consider purchasing a tub or bag of mixed leafy baby greens and make yourself a salad too!

Category 3 - Other veggies ( 2 or more veggies to mix into the grain/legume mixture) : broccoli, celery, cucumber, romaine or other dark leafy lettuce, jicama, peas, zucchini, green beans, tomatoes, red or green pepper, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, bokchoy, carrot tops, cactus leaf, okra, kohlrabi, spaghetti squash, cauliflower, radish, chayote squash, zucchini, brussel sprouts, escarole, endive, corn, beet root.
Note: Frozen vegetables are acceptible, only don't make it all about corn, peas and corn. Consider broccoli and other choices. Edamame (green soy) cooked, can be offered about 2-3 times a week as one of the veggies if you like.

Guideline for serving EXAMPLE-If you are serving 1 cup of grains/legumes mixture to your birds that day, then you'll want to add approximately 1/2 cup or less of vegetables from the above 3 categories.
Grains/legumes making up 50%-65% of total recipe, the rest of the serving is minced produce.

Fruits (choose 1-2 in season) (Generally about 10% of the total serving): papaya, mango, strawberries, blueberries, pomegranate, blackberries, raspberries, kiwi, oranges, cantaloupe or other melon, nectarine, cherries, apricot, grapefruit, banana, pears, apple, figs, pineapple, lemon, lime.

When adding foods that birds aren't crazy about, chop them very fine, mincing them. You may even chop food in a food processor to help introduce it to your flock. If your bird picks through food, which can easily result in an unbalanced diet, finely chopping foods is highly recommended.

Additions: You may also want to **occasionally** add to the mash to spice it up a bit, a little broken up organic whole grain pasta, shavings of wheat grass, cooked egg (1/4-1/2 teaspoon per bird 1-2 times per week, do NOT include the eggshell), non fat organic yogurt (1/4-1/2 teaspoon per bird a few times a week), sprouted grain bread crumbs, edible flowers (make sure they aren't sprayed), a small piece of finely minced piece of garlic clove can be mixed in 3-5 times per week, or a dash of seasoning such as cinnamon, cayenne (do not give to birds with fatty liver), fresh grated ginger, turmeric, unsweetened
coconut or even a little fresh washed chickweed or clover from your garden.

Seed: These can also be added in small amounts if you like. Sprouted seeds are preferred. Sunflower seed, pumpkin seed, sesame, nut pieces.
It’s recommended that pumpkin seed be included at all times as source of zinc in the diet.

Add supplements . These can be added daily or added to the grain/legume base if you prefer.
Kelp- needs to be given in very minute amounts but is important to include. If you add it to the grain/legume base, add 1/4 teaspoon to 3 cups of base mixture. If you add it daily, then about the size that would fit on the end of a pencil for a small sized parrot (100 or less grams), up to 1/8 capsule for birds around 250-500g, 1/4 capsule for birds 500g-750g and 1/3 capsule for larger birds. These are approximate measures.

Green supplements: Rotate these...Powdered alfalfa and either wheat or barley grass. Alfalfa 4 or more days a week and then wheat or barley grass on the other days. These are usually purchased in capsule form that can be opened. A light sprinkling daily to provide vitamins, minerals, trace minerals. Suggested amounts daily: Less than 1/8 capsule for birds under 100 grams, 1/8 capsule for birds up to 250 g, 1/4 capsule 250-500g, 1/3 capsule 500g-750 g, 1/2 capsule 750g-100g.

If desired a product called Veggie Magma or Berry Green which contains several powdered vegetables can also be lightly dusted and mixed into mash and used in place of alfalfa, wheat grass or barley grass.
A small pinch of hemp protein powder, per bird, a few days a week if desired for extra protein and balance.

EFA's: Freshly ground Flax seed (use a coffee grinder just for this purpose) daily OR or cold pressed and dated, hemp seed oil 4-5 days per week. Approximately 1 drop of oil per 250 grams that your bird weighs. If grinding flaxseed then about 1/4 teasp. per 250 grams. For budgies you may want to use less.

Chia seed, same amounts can be offered in place of flax seed or mix them 50/50 if you like. Chia seed can be ground or mixed in as is.

If you like you can alternate with unrefined organic palm oil on other days but keep in mind giving red palm oil has not been studied and there are no truly known benefits of giving it to parrots at this time. A tiny bit for smaller birds. Approximately 1/8 teaspoon for birds 250-500 grams. Up to 1/4 teasp. for birds up to 1,000 grams. Palm oil appears to provide some of the best antioxidant protection containing natural beta-carotene as well as alpha and gamma carotene's and lycopene.

Another oil to consider adding at times may be sea buckthorn.

A squirt of organic ACV (apple cider vinegar) if desired:approximately 1/4 teasp birds up to 250g, 1/2 teasp up to 500g etc.
If needed, a quality acidophilus (probiotic) can be mixed in.

All rights reserved. No part of this recipe may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without permission from the author. For an explanation of copyrights as well as myths visit this link.

 

Layered Fresh Food Mix and Diet Conversion

An excellent discussion of parrot nutrition, as well as this and other recipes are available on the DVD "Feeding Our Parrots Well with Pamela Clark, CVT and Kris Porter" which is available for purchase at: www.parrotenrichment.com.

By Pamela Clark, CPBC

(Last revised 02/08)

This diet has several advantages, not the least of which is that I can feed fresh foods to any number of parrots, while only chopping fruits and vegetables once a week. I originally learned this method from Jamie McLeod in Summerland, California and have modified it through the years.

Once a week, prepare a layered salad mix as follows, and place this into individual plastic containers. For one parrot, you might make three quart-sized containers. For 10 parrots, you might make four gallon-sized containers. For 30 parrots, you might make seven two-gallon containers. It may take some playing around with this before you find the right combination of numbers and sizes of containers to create just enough layered salad to last for 7 days.

Lay out your containers and wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly, drying them before use. Greens should be dried in a salad spinner. To wash vegetables use the Oxyfresh Cleaning Gele or any vegetable wash sold for that purpose. 

After washing and drying, chop and place into your containers the fruits and vegetables as indicated below:

Layer 1 (bottom layer) - chopped greens, which are varied each week. Options include collard greens, parsley, mustard greens, Swiss chard, kale and dandelion greens. (If you have only one parrot, or a few parrots, just choose one type of greens, but vary this weekly.) 

Layer 2 - chopped (1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes) vegetables, including any of the following: Brussels sprouts, zucchini and other summer squash, jicama, red or green peppers, fresh hot peppers, chayote squash, green beans, fresh peas, cucumber, celery, anise root, etc. If making this for only one to three parrots, you will find that the amount of variety you can include each week in this layer will be limited. Try to include at least five different vegetables in this layer and alternate these each week. 

Layer 3 - chopped broccoli and carrots

Layer 4 - a mixture of chopped apples, oranges and whole grapes

Layer 5 - frozen mixed vegetables.

The containers are then covered tightly and placed in the refrigerator (don't freeze).

Issues of freshness: this mix stays fresh in these tubs for up to seven days for three reasons. First, layered salads stay fresher longer. Second, the orange juice from the chopped oranges filters down and slightly acidifies the mix. Third, the frozen mixed vegetables placed on top super-cool the mix immediately. Lastly, the ingredients have been well-washed and dried to exclude excess moisture. 

Use: Each morning or as often as you need to, empty out one container into a large mixing bowl, and add other items that would not hold up or stay fresh in the layered mix. Staple items to add each time:

Cooked beans 
You can cook a combination of dried beans, then freeze these in appropriately-sized baggies to defrost prior to adding to the mix.
To cook dried beans, soak these overnight in water to cover. Drain them and rinse them thoroughly the next morning. Then, cover them again with fresh water, bring to a full boil and simmer for 15 to 25 minutes until tender, but not mushy. Allow to cool, then drain and freeze.
If creating this mix for one to three parrots, freeze beans in snack-sized baggies. If creating this mix for three to seven parrots, use sandwich-sized baggies. If creating this mix for over seven to 12 parrots, use quart-sized baggies.
You can also simply add canned beans. If you choose this option, vary the type you add from week to week to increase variety.

Cooked grains
A rice cooker is a wonderful appliance for parrot owners. Any grain can be easily and quickly cooked in a rice cooker. Grains to purchase from your local health food store include: quinoa, brown rice, oat groats, wheat berries, hulled barley, and rye berries.
These can be cooked individually or in combination with each other and then frozen in similar fashion to the beans, in the same quantities indicated above. 
Adding cooked beans and grains together in the salad is important, since their combination will provide a protein source. 

Other fruit in season (blueberries, peaches, plums, kiwi fruits, cranberries, melon, etc).

A small amount of a high-quality, clean seed mix – this should make up no more than 5% of the total mix when finished.

Keep in mind appropriate proportions when creating this mix. I suggest the following: Cooked beans 20-25%, cooked or sprouted grains 20%, raw pasta 2%, fruit no more than 20%, greens 5%, vegetables at least 30% of the mix, seed mix 2% to 5%. 

Other items that can be added occasionally for variety include:
Sprouts
I purchase seeds from my health food store and make my own mix, which includes: shelled, raw sunflower seeds, raw buckwheat, French green lentils, sesame seeds, wheat berries, hulled barley, rye berries, and mung beans. These are all about the same size, so sprout at the same time.
I also occasionally sprout garbanzo beans and popcorn, both of which require a longer sprouting time.
The best sprouting equipment is the “Easy-Sprout” system, which can be ordered from www.sproutamo.com. 
Uncooked whole wheat pasta
Flax seeds
A sprinkle of pine nuts or walnut pieces
Firm tofu, diced into squares
Corn on the cob slices, quartered
Cooked and diced beets
Dried goji berries (available from the health food store and high in nutritional value)
Scenic Diet Hand Weaning pellets or other pelleted diet (This can be a successful way to introduce pellets to a parrot who won’t eat them.)

Once everything is mixed together, the salad is ready for feeding. I feed a level cup of this to each parrot, along with some type of “extra” – perhaps a nut in the shell or a piece of birdie bread. The remainder of the mix is then placed back into the container and refrigerated for the next feeding. Once mixed together in this way, the salad should be used completely within one to two days. I arrange things so that one tub, after mixing, will be used for three feedings. Since I feed this two times a day, each tub then lasts a day and a half. Don’t be tempted to use a mix longer than two days because it will not stay fresh longer than this.

This recipe can be adapted for any number of birds with a little creativity, by changing either the number or size of the containers used or both. It may take some playing around to find the right-sized containers, as well as the right amount of veggies and fruits to include, in terms of variety – but it will be well worth it. I promise you!

Feeding this salad has several advantages:
It includes a variety of live, raw foods that provide nutrients that are usually destroyed when foods are processed or cooked. 
There’s no need to chop fresh fruits and vegetables every day. 
The mixture maintains a similar uniform appearance, no matter what you put into it. This helps with the introduction of seasonal foods, such as blueberries that a parrot might otherwise reject simply because he isn’t visually familiar with them. 

A huge amount of variety can be achieved. The types of vegetables and greens can be varied each week. Vary the pasta shapes. Substitute other types of citrus for the oranges. Use different types of seed mixes.

This mix is exciting for our parrots, and allows them a true foraging experience. By always seeking to include a wide variety of foods in this mix, we cultivate in them a joy and excitement about eating. It helps to foster great eating habits.

Further, if well-prepared, this mix can be left in the cage for several hours, which isn’t true for cooked foods. 

And lastly, seed junkies can easily by converted to a fresh food diet using this mix and a methodical approach, which I have outlined below.

Converting a hard-core seed junkie to a fresh food diet:

1. Begin with four dishes in the cage – (1) pellets of choice (no dyes or preservatives hopefully), (2) a high quality seed mix, (3) water and (4) the fresh food mix into which you have mixed seed. The latter may not be eaten for several weeks. Don’t be discouraged by this. Serve the fresh food mix twice a day, in the morning and in the late afternoon or evening, for the sole purpose of creating a pattern of feeding and allowing the bird to get used to looking at it. Note: the fresh food mix should have a ratio of 50% seed and 50% fresh foods from the recipe above (pellets optional). Try not to provide table food or “treats” between these two feeding times.

2. The day you see the bird exploring the fresh food mix in order to eat the seed out of it, you make the following change: In the morning, you remove the seed dish and have only three dishes in the cage – (1) pellets, (2) water and (3) the fresh mix. In the evening, you again feed the fresh food mix, but give the seed dish back. We don't want a bird undergoing diet conversion to be hungry. A hungry, anxious bird does not make behavioral changes gracefully.

3. The day you see the bird with a piece of fresh food in his mouth, or observe that he has eaten some of it, you eliminate the seed dish completely from his cage and from this point onward you won’t be feeding seed at all, except as part of the fresh food mix. From that point onward, you provide only three dishes – (1) water, (2) pellets, and (3) the fresh mix that is 50% seed and 50% fresh foods.

4. A month later, and on each succeeding month, you decrease the amount of seed in the mix until it is down to only 5 % of the mix. So, for instance, if you remove the seed dish on February 1, then on March 1, you will begin to feed a mix that is 40% seed and 60% fresh mix. On April 1, you will begin to feed 30% seed and 70% fresh foods. And so on.

5. Be sure to purchase a gram scale and weight your parrot regularly, especially when undertaking any diet conversion. Contact your veterinarian if weight loss occurs.