Bird Health | The Adventures of Kacy The Conure Parrot

Chocolate is Toxic to Parrots

I was on my way returning home, passing by a void deck where I saw an old chinese man with a Green Ringneck Parakeet. It wasn’t the Green Ringneck Parakeet that caught my attention, but was actually the old man’s actions.

The old man was actually feeding the Ringneck Parakeet with some iced milo (a kind of chocolate beverage). I was alarmed.

I decided to go forward and confront the old man.

“Are you feeding the parrot with iced milo?” I asked the old man politely in mandarin.

The old man smiled and replied in mandarin, “Yes! He (Green Ringneck Parakeet) loves it! It is his favorite drink.” I wasn’t smiling, instead I was worried when I heard this.

“Uncle, please don’t feed him (Green Ringneck Parakeet) with milo. Milo contains chocolate, anything that contains chocolate is toxic to parrots!” I explained to him in mandarin.

The old man rebuked me in mandarin, “I’ve been feeding him all the time with small serving and it won’t cause any harm! Anyway he’s not dead yet!”

The old man was peeved. He ignored my advice and continued to feed the Ringneck Parakeet with iced milo.

I didn’t persist and left the place in the end. This incident left me deeply pondering whether is the old man being stubborn, being ignorant or being selfish?

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Deficiency of Vitamin A in Parrots

Vitamin A deficiency is a common problem in parrots on an all seed diet. Parrots generally have high dietary needs for Vitamin A.

Inadequate Vitamin A in a parrot diet can lead to various health problems and affect mortality. Thus it is extremely crucial to introduce parrots to healthier foods that are high in Vitamin A.

Kacy, the Black Capped Conure eating carrot

Kacy, my Black Capped Conure loves carrots! I am really glad that she enjoys healthy fruits and vegetables, probably because I started introducing a wide variety of healthy foods to her when she’s at a young age.

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Kacy The Conure Likes Watermelon

Mum will always prepares and serves up fresh fruits after dinner for the family. Today, we had watermelon that Mum bought from the hypermart this morning. Kacy, the Black Capped Conure got a small serving of the watermelon too.

Kacy The Black Capped Conure enjoying a small serving of Watermelon

She simply loves it! She actually gobbled up her serving within minutes!

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Are Sunflower Seeds Bad for Parrots

Sunflower seeds have earned a bad reputation in the aviculture world. These seeds are labeled as fattening, and often blamed as the leading cause to serious health problems (like Nutritional Disorders, Fatty Liver Disease, Thyroid Dysplasia and Obesity) in parrots.

Kacy, the Black Capped Conure enjoying a sunflower seed

We often get advises from experienced aviculturists, telling us to avoid feeding sunflower seeds to our parrots, because these are unhealthy and lacks in nutritional value. Are sunflower seeds really bad for parrots?

I decided to find about the nutritional fact of sunflower seeds. I was totally dumb-founded with my findings.

Do you know sunflower seeds are excellent sources of various vitamins and minerals?

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Kacy the Conure Enjoys the Sun

It had been raining for days. The skies of early mornings were always covered with dark clouds. Kacy, the Black Capped Conure and I could hardly remember when was the last time we get to see bright sunshine in the morning?

On the Friday morning, bright sunshine greeted us through the windows. The gloomy mornings were finally over. We were really enchanted.

Kacy was exceptionally in high spirit! She dashed to the spot where the sun were actively shining at. And there she was enjoying the sun, having a full morning of indoor sunbathing.

Kacy completely enjoyed every minute every second under the sun!

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What I Hate About Commercial Seed Mixes

Previously I wrote about ethoxyquin found on some of the commercial seed mixes that can posed dangers to parrots’ health. Although there are some commercial seed mixes are free from ethoxyquin, naturally preserved and truly organic, but they still have one thing in common that I hated most.

Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower Seeds! Well not the sunflower seeds that rose the hatred but just that commercial seed mixes are flooded with too many sunflower seeds. The picture of the big pack of sunflower seeds, are actually sunflower seeds extracted from 1.5kg of quality commercial seed mixes and I stored them in Zip-lock bags as treats for future training purposes.

Reasonably amount of sunflower seeds can be healthy in providing the required vitamin E and fatty acids that are essential to parrots. Anything that are excessive or too much can be unhealthy. We all know that parrots are programmed to love seeds especially SUNFLOWER seeds. Parrots just “worship” them.

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What is Ethoxyquin?

Do you read the label of the commercial food for your parrot before buying them? To date, most commercial pet food (including commercial seed mixes and pellets) available in the pet store are preserved with a chemical antioxidant called Ethoxyquin. Are you aware of it?

Some of you might have heard about Ethoxyquin, but many still remain ignorant. They are unaware about it and do not know the adverse effects of it on parrot’s health.

So what is Ethoxyquin?

Posted in Parrot Health & Diet | Comments (1)

Is Garlic Safe for Parrots

I used to offer my Senegal Parrot, Kermit small servings of chopped garlic cloves and he enjoys it just like I do. As we all know garlic contains anti fungal properties and is often use as a natural remedy to treat yeast and fungal infection. Since garlic is used as a natural antibiotic, by offering our parrots with garlic can help prevent any fungal infection.

Until recently, I happened to come across a report on a health magazine indicating the possible impact to human health when over-consuming garlic. After reading it, this bring to my concern pondering whether is it safe to offer parrot garlic clove?

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