With a flock of exotic parrots to care for, feeding them a balanced diet is a major problem when you live in a country relying mainly on imports. With ever-rising prices, parrot pellets have become unaffordable. Here are some tips on what parrots love to eat and what is safe food to give them to keep them happy and healthy.

It should be common knowledge that avocado, chocolate, coffee, tea, chips and rhododendron are NO-no’s for parrots.
Many people do not know that dry sunflower seeds and peanuts should only be given as occasional treats, because they contain mostly fat, but have no nutritional value.

Since most parrots love these, however, you can sprout seeds first. Sprouts contain enzymes, which are necessary for the birds. And they sprout easily.

But a parrot cannot live only on these. One needs to add a variety of fruit, vegetables and legumes to the mix for a proper balance of all nutrients. Whichever of these you have in your kitchen is fine. You can cut them up in bite size pieces and add them to the sprouts. When cut up, the parrot does not waste so much as when you give big chunks.
Dry legumes should be soaked for 12 hours and then boiled for 30 minutes before adding them to the mix. They contain the necessary protein. A bit of fresh ginger aids digestion of legumes and parrots love the taste of ginger. Always try to mix various colors of fruit and veggies, like carrots, beetroot, greens, pumpkin and turnips for instance. Apples are a favorite of most parrots, some also like banana. Don’t give too many grapes, because of their sugar content. The same goes for oranges.

All of my parrots get the above mix daily early in the morning and they immediately munch away on that.
Even love birds and cockatiels thrive on it. These of course must have their small dry seeds too.

Now to make sure my fid’s diet is balanced and they don’t get bored during the day and chew up whatever they can put their beaks to, they get a variety of wild pods and seeds too. A good guide is: anything that wild birds eat, parrots can eat also.
In Namibia, where I live, we are lucky to have a variety of wild growing acacia trees. Their pods, green or dry, are just ideal to keep those busy beaks happily shredding all day long.
Another advantage of wild food is that it’s organic food. Organic always is best, for humans as well as for parrots, but even more so for parrots. You may argue that organic fruit and veggies are too expensive. If you really love your pet parrot, it’s the best reason for starting your own food garden.

With the Food4Wealth method it’s embarrassingly easy to start, even if you live in town. You’ll become self-sufficient and healthier.