Feeding leftovers from pet parrots

[the-bird-man]

i have 4 parrots 1 congo and 1 timneh african greys, 1 meyers and 1 senegal and all are rescues and yes i love the parrots from africa lol. parrots can wast a lot of food so i do not like throwing money down the drain so i feed it to the chickens. i could tell you story such as when i was on the phone with my boss at the time and my timneh yelled out in my voice that my boss was a stupid "c word" if you know what i mean, well i nearly was fired because the boss thought it was me calling her it! so yeah if you come to my house you will hear some language lol oh and my parrots also sing drinking songs lol

 

[yinepu]

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mine curses me when I don't give him the food he wants.. if he demands melon and i give him blueberries he will look at me and say "you're an a**" (and that's him being polite)
he's also addicted to TV.. and is a movie critic.. if he doesn't like what's on he will demand that I change the channel

he has me very well trained.. lol

 

[the-bird-man]

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mine curses me when I don't give him the food he wants.. if he demands melon and i give him blueberries he will look at me and say "you're an a**" (and that's him being polite)
he's also addicted to TV.. and is a movie critic.. if he doesn't like what's on he will demand that I change the channel

he has me very well trained.. lol

lol they are too smart! my guys love tv too and their favorite show is the late late show with craig ferguson

i do not think people realize how smart parrots are. i hope we are not too far off topic? i just do not want to hijack the thread

 

[yinepu]

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No hijack.. just a slight diversion...

Mine can be very picky about his food.. so my chickens have ended up with bird seed, pellets, chicken bones, left over fruit (that he refused to eat cause i gave him something he didn't ask for).. pizza crust (though very rarely.. he loves his stuffed crust pizza).. pasta.. and the list goes on

even though he is picky and temperamental.. the chickens get the benefits from what he throws down in the bottom of his cage. can't see throwing it in the garbage when they can go through it and pick out what they want

 

[ShanCarl1971]

lorain's fids :

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Hi, I also have a parrots- a B & G Macaw, and a Love bird, I change their bowl of pellets on a daily basis--good to know that I can give it to the chicks when they get older. I hate throwing food away since it so expensive. But the parrots eat better when it's a fresh bowl of food. I use Zupreem pellets.

I use ZuPreem too ...... fruit flavor ...... It is SO expensive, so it's nice to be able to use what they waste!! They each have colors they won't eat, which changes weekly it seems!! The weeks that they all seem to dislike the same colors, my chickens get a LOT!!! LOL It bothered me at first to give the chickens the stuff that the parrots throw in the floor, but then I watched how they eat, and saw all the dirt they eat, I stopped worrying about it!! My floor is MUCH cleaner than the ground they throw their food around on!! I throw a lot less away since I've had chickens, both bird food and human food! Makes me feel so much better!! I HATE to waste!​

 

[the-bird-man]

be careful about the colored pellets because some birds develop reactions to them and start to pluck like crazy. so when you can i find its best to go with the natural ones

also do any of you use red palm oil? it is super good for them and it is also a big food source for greys in the wild

 

[Okie Amazon]

I have fed LaFebers for years and years; very happy with them. Tried the Purina pellets they came out with about 15 years ago; first molt after the switch I was HORRIFIED! Poor Tabasco looked like a dried out ragged bum. Back to LaFebers and healthy, shiny feathers were back with the next molt.

 

[ShanCarl1971]

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Same with any other animal getting something new. I'm always mindful of those things whenever I give ANY of my animals something new. I raised exotic birds for 17 years, and I do know that the natural pellets are best, but sometimes I feel that the extra enjoyment for the birds is worth a "less than the best" decision. I wouldn't want to eat the same, boring, tasteless food all the time. (and by "all the time", I don't mean that's all they eat ...... they eat all kinds of stuff) Sometimes, the best decision is what makes them happy!! And the chickens, by volume, get very little ...... 20 chickens eating the "leftovers" from 4 parrots, after I've "recycled" the colors between them....LOL

 

[Moonkit]

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That's awesome! You need to see if you can video that!

 

[Biblioberta]

Thank you so much to all who replied to my question about feeding leftover parrot food to the chickens! I am thrilled to know that it is ok. As many of you mentioned the parrot food is so expensive and I feel I waste so much of it. I love my indoor flock (timneh, brown headed, Senegal, and greater sulfur crested cockatoo) as well as my outdoor flock! My 88 year old father calls me the "crazy bird lady."

. That's ok with me because my birds make me happy! Love hearing the stories about your inside flocks...thanks for sharing!!!