Parrot Nutrition and Toxic Food
Bird Health, Pesticides and the Parrot Diet
Parrot nutrition and diet are important considerations for pet bird health. Like humans, pet parrots can be affected by pesticides, or develop preferences for “junk” food. Pesticides can cause physical illness in pet parrots, as well as feather plucking and other behavioral issues. Avoiding toxic food, especially food loaded with pesticides, can greatly improve your pet parrot’s health.
Parrot Nutrition and Pesticides
Unless you buy organically grown produce, most fruits and vegetables contain pesticides. Pesticides aren’t healthy in a human or parrot diet. Parrots are more sensitive to pesticides than humans, and feeding foods high in pesticides can result in health complications.
You’ll find articles online that insist you should only feed parrots organically grown food free of pesticides. Unfortunately, few bird owners have the luxury of providing an all-organic diet for themselves, let alone their birds. So in reality, many parrots are fed a diet from their local grocery store.
While you may not be able to feed pet parrots diets free of pesticides, you can avoid vegetables and fruits that have the highest levels of pesticides. The following ten foods contain the most pesticides:
- Apples
- Apricots
- Celery
- Chilean grapes
- Cucumbers
- Green and red bell peppers
- Green beans
- Mexican cantaloupe
- Peaches
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- U.S. cherries
These foods should be avoided if you’re concerned about pesticides and parrot diet. Of course, organically grown fruits and vegetables are much safer. Even organically grown foods can contain traces of pesticides, due to toxins in the environment.
On the positive side, the following fruits and vegetables have the lowest levels of pesticides and are often fed to parrots:
- Bananas
- Broccoli
- Brussel sprouts
- Cauliflower
- Corn
- Plums (not the pits)
- Sweet potatoes
- U.S. grapes
- Watermelon.
Sources of Parrot Safe Food
While few parrot owners can provide a completely organically-grown diet, there are ways to improve parrot nutrition (and your own) by increasing the amount of organically grown foods.
Shopping at a farmer’s market is a good way to find organically grown produce. Be aware, however, that market produce isn’t automatically free of pesticides. Look for local food that’s in season, and ask if it’s organically grown.
Growing your own food is a great way to avoid pesticides. Carrots, spinach, beans and peppers are fairly easy to grow, and home grown almost always tastes better than store-bought. Peppers and hot peppers can even be grown inside in pots, although they do better outside.
Sprouting seed is another way to provide pet parrots with a nutritional food that’s free of toxins. In terms of parrot nutrition, a sprouted seed is at its most nutritious when the seed first sprouts. Mung beans, wheat berries and lentils all sprout readily, and you don’t need fancy equipment to start sprouting.
Resources
South Texas Aviary. (n.d.). Are You Poisoning Your Bird?
Swicegood, C. (1999). Sprouting for Healthier Birds.
