Feeding Dry Seed and Sprout Article
RBC UPDATE:
We get many emails and messages asking about feeding seeds to their pets and or breeder parrots. Our first response is, we do not feed much so-called SEED to our birds, Well, let me completely explain what i mean. We feed lots of seed, but it is sprouted seed, not much dry seeds are fed to our breeders. Most parrot mixtures or seed mixtures are high in fats, not much nutrition. But when seed is sprouted it completely changes the nutritional value, ITS ALIVE, and when it swells and sprouts it goes through a bio change within the seed germ. We feed sprouts daily and we feed over 100 pounds of seeds, lentils, peas (sprouted) within a week. Sunflower,safflower,oats,groats,canary seed, wheat, lentils, many types of peas and much more, I am not going to get into how to sprout here, as that is a learned activity and one should be careful as sprouts can be dangerous if not done right, mold ,fungus can grow within the sprouting seeds and will be dangerous, So, if you are going to sprout, trial and error is good, but please read on how to do it somewhere, there is good info on the internet, But practice and get a good working technique before trying to feed it to your birds.
Also when i said we do not really feed SEED, well, from time to time, i walk around the farm in the evening and give about a ounce of seeds or so of washed and drained seeds and grains to many species, especially African greys as they really need the extra fats and oils.
We have to be very careful on amazons as they have a tendency to get overweight and fat. I always wash the seed, by using a colander and then rinse with cool water and then let them stay in the colander for a hour or 2 and then let dry on a large screen or one can just place them on a cloth for a short time, they do dry quickly. We wash them to remove the dust and debris. But the real problem with many people, many think they can just open a bag of parrot seed and feed it and it’s a good diet, well, its not. When people tell me that their birds do not look unhealthy as they are not skinny, my main response is , if they looked lean and slim, then that would be more natural than fat. As in the natural world of parrots they do not sit in cages waiting for someone to fill their bowls, they search for miles and miles for food each day to just stay alive, and they are not fat, far from it, most birds in the wild are very slender and muscular from all the flying and the foods they find have to be high nutrient density. The wild Birds do eat lots of grains, and seed particles but most times the seeds are swollen and sprouting, Sprouted seeds are full of life, much different from dead dry seeds found in bag of parrot food.
So try some new high nutrient foods for your birds, you will see a big difference in breeding, better attitude in pets, and improved feather condition in all birds in a very short time, Many times feather pickers will stop picking after a few short weeks of feeding a regime with added sprouted LIVE foods instead of dry seed and or a diet of just pellets or a too large percentage of pellets overall.
thanks, Mike Richard, RBC Director. Royal Bird Company
We own and operate one of the largest, selective and most successful breeding farms on the east coast USA. today.
We are professional responsible breeders and we continue to educate people how to properly maintain their birds
For diet info visit our PARROT DIETS section
