Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 3: Basic Bird Feeding
• Part 2 of 3: How to Make Your Own Poultry Mixes
• Part 3 of 3: How to enrich your bird's diet and keep it entertained
• Tips
• Warnings

You can provide your birds with the best food by making their own food. The nutritional requirements of different poultry vary, but there are many ways to provide good, tasty food to any bird without spending extra money on feed from specialty stores. Plus, making your own food will show your creativity and love for your feathered friend.

Steps

Part 1 of 3: Basic Bird Feeding

1. 1 Learn about the basic needs of your bird. Most poultry need a similar diet of grains or pellets, fruits, vegetables, and some foods that enrich the diet. However, some birds are more at risk for obesity than others, so if you understand the basic needs of your particular species, you will be able to provide the birds with the right amount and variety.
   • Gray parrots need a diet of 70% pelleted or other basic food and 30% other food (mixture of seeds, fruits, nuts, vegetables).
   • The Amazon diet can vary depending on the size and activity level of a particular bird. Experts recommend using a gram scale to carefully weigh and balance the bird and the amount of feed it needs. The Amazonian diet is roughly 30% pelleted or other staple food, 20% dry whole foods (seeds, nuts, fruits, vegetables), and 40% fresh vegetables and fruits. Amazons are more at risk of obesity than most other species, so watch your bird closely for signs of excess weight.
   • Canaries need special food for their species, consisting of a mixture of seeds, granulated food, and vegetables are also needed twice a week.
   • Cockatiel parrots need a diet of 60% pelleted or other basic feed and 40% seed mixture specially designed for this species; they also need to be given vegetables for additional nutrients. Like the Amazons, Corella parrots are more at risk of obesity than other poultry, so watch your bird closely for signs of excess weight.
   • Parrots are so energetic and active that only in very rare cases can they experience problems with being overweight. The basic diet of these birds consists of pelleted feed with alternating additions of vegetables, sprouted seeds, dried fruits and additionally enriching treats.
   • The diet of the noble green-red parrot (eclectus) should mainly consist of fresh fruits. One expert recommends 25% pelleted feed and cereal mix, and 75% fresh food, which includes cereals, legumes, fruits and vegetables.
   • A macaw parrot should consume approximately 70% pelleted or other staple food, 20% vegetables, and 10% nuts, seeds and treats. Macaws can also have problems with being overweight.
   • The kalita parrot (monk parrot) thrives on a diet of roughly the same amount of pelleted food, vegetables, and whole grain cereals or cereal treats.
2. 2 Provide your bird with a variety of nuts, fruits and vegetables. For the health of birds, as well as for the health of people, variety in food is beneficial, therefore, by preparing fresh food for your pet yourself, you can easily diversify and enrich its diet. Here's what is preferable for different species:
   • Gray parrots need more calcium than other poultry, so calcium-rich foods (such as kale, mustard, broccoli, carrots, dandelion leaves, apricots, chicory, figs, and edible hibiscus) are especially important to them. You can also use boiled egg shells, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds.
   • Amazon parrots need vitamin A-rich foods (carrots, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, papaya, bell peppers, cantaloupe and mango). Also important is the calcium found in peas, broccoli, almonds, and Brazil nuts.
   • Most canaries love greens, broccoli, chopped carrots, and peas.
   • For Corella parrots, dark green and orange vegetables are most useful. Fruit is not as attractive to them as it is to most other birds.
   • Aratinga parrots love many different fruits and vegetables, especially apples (just be sure to remove all the seeds). These birds also enjoy cooked brown rice, pasta, and boiled shredded potatoes or sweet potatoes.
   • Eclectuses love boiled legumes, whole grains, cucumbers, papaya and seeded watermelon, a variety of seasonal berries, broccoli, chicory salad, stalked celery, and other greens.
   • Macaws eat a lot of leafy vegetables and fruits in the wild, so it's a good idea to keep these natural eating habits with your pet as well. Most macaws also love oranges, apples, melons, broccoli, spinach, kale, carrots, and stalked celery.
   • Kalita parrots love bananas, grapes, apples, oranges, pears and strawberries. It is also beneficial for these birds to occasionally consume dairy products such as low-fat yogurt or cheese.
3. 3 Diversify the food you give to your birds to provide them with everything they need. Birds, like humans, need a diet rich in a variety of nutrients. Don't fall for the "tried and true" bird diets, but rather learn how to cook different food for your pet. Various foods also stimulate mental activity, which is very important for maintaining the health of these smart pets.
4. 4 Avoid feeding the birds avocados, celery (with caution), tomatoes, garlic, onions, mushrooms, coffee, and chocolate. Avocado seeds contain a substance that is toxic to birds, and garlic and onions can lead to anemia. The acid in tomatoes can cause ulcers in your poultry, and mushrooms are known to cause digestive problems or even liver failure in birds. There is nothing wrong with the substances contained in celery, but the fibers of the petioles themselves can clog the poultry crop. If you are serving celery to the bird, remove all fibrous parts. Coffee and chocolate are toxic to birds.

Part 2 of 3: How to Make Your Own Poultry Mixes

1. 1 Benefits of mushy mixtures. As noted above, pelleted feed is an important part of the diet of every bird species. Part of the popularity of pellets is due to the fact that they are a source of good nutrition and have fewer useless constituents than, for example, seeds. Birds are quick-witted creatures: they choose their favorite seeds from a mixture, which often leads to deficiencies in certain nutrients. When choosing the rest of the diet of your bird, you should be guided by similar principles. Homemade mixes are a supplement to commercially available pellets and are particularly popular with parrot owners. Birds are naturally best suited to eating raw food. Gummy mixes are a source of complex carbohydrates, fats, and protein that your pet needs to consume raw. Since it is a mixture, your bird will have no choice but to eat everything along with all the nutrients.
2. 2 Choose from the ingredients below. Record the proportions of the cooked food to balance the nutrients in the mixture.
   • 25% cooked variety of beans, such as mung beans, adzuki beans, or chickpeas
   • 25% cooked cereals, including quinoa and amaranth
   • 25% calcium-rich greens (kale, beet leaves, mustard, collard greens, or dandelion leaves)
   • 15% fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin A, such as boiled sweet potatoes or squash, carrots, papaya and mango
   • Other 10%: Any bird-friendly vegetables or fruits you find in the store
3. 3 Place all the food you want in a blender or food processor and chop a little. It is necessary that small pieces of food remain in the mixture.
4. 4 Feed your birds. Medium-sized parrots typically consume about ¼ cup of the mixture per day; for smaller or larger birds, you should give less or more mixture accordingly.
5. 5 Make a long-term meal plan and cook with extra food. Making a mixture is not so quick, especially if it contains many types of food, but if you cook and freeze several servings at once, you will save your time and effort.
   • Calculate how much mixture your bird needs each day and freeze the portions to make defrosting easier.
   • Make defrosting your bird food one of your daily chores so you don't end up alone with a hungry parrot and a piece of ice that you forgot to defrost one day.

Part 3 of 3: How to enrich your bird's diet and keep it entertained

1. 1 Use food to stimulate mental activity. Try one of the following recipes for adding supplements to the diet that will, among other things, keep your bird puzzled and have fun.
   • Punch a hole in the rice cake and hang it from the string. Parrots love to "peck" their way through such delicacies.
   • Fill a paper bag with nuts, food pellets, pasta, and / or dried fruit. Tie the bag with a piece of string or tape and hang it in your pet's cage. Particularly energetic miners may like to work their way to the treat through two bags.
   • Combine chopped hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, chopped pears and apples, muesli and add honey and peanut butter until the mixture becomes sticky. Fill a clean pinecone with this mixture and roll in millet. Hang the treat in the bird's cage. This kind of entertaining food is especially popular with budgerigars.
2. 2 See which food your bird will particularly enjoy. Like humans, birds have food preferences, and your pet is also attracted to a particular flavor and consistency of food. The list of bird treats recipes is almost endless, but it's helpful to pick a few. Use your observations to make homemade treats that will delight your pet the most.
3. 3 Try to outwit the fastidious eater by changing the shape or temperature of the food. If the bird refuses to eat raw vegetables, try boiled ones. Give nutritious food in different ways. Many birds enjoy peeling fruits and vegetables themselves, so try giving them peas in a pod, a round of orange, or a peeled apple.
4. 4 Make cereal treats for birds that love them. Quinoa treats are a great source of bird nutrients. Pet lovers have compiled several recipes for special bread for parrots - search the Internet for the one that suits you.
5. 5 Make smoothies and other fruit treats if your bird has a sweet tooth. Whisk the fruit puree with ice or fruit juice. Regular baby puree is also a good ingredient.
6. 6 Make a nut, seed, and dried fruit treat that can satisfy several of your pet's needs. Try this recipe: Combine 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds, 1 cup of hazelnuts and peanuts, 1/2 cup of dried fruit, and 1 tablespoon of dried corn kernels. Store in a tightly closed container in a cool, dry place.

Tips

• Human food, such as pasta and whole grains, can be fed from time to time as treats to most birds. Check with your veterinarian if you have questions or concerns about eating your bird.
• Always keep your bird size in mind when preparing treats or yummy toys. In order not to throw away the excess, reduce the amount of products in the recipe as needed to prepare the required amount of food.

Warnings

• Many birds need grains for a complete diet, but a grain-only diet is no longer considered healthy. Your pet needs a wide variety of nutrients for a fulfilling life and excellent health.
• Carefully monitor the condition of the bird, even if you change its diet a little. Check with your veterinarian if you have any concerns about your feathered friend's health.