Macaws

Contrary to popular belief seeds, fruit, grit and cuttlefish bone do not constitute an adequate diet for pet parrots. In the wild parrots eat far more fresh, moist and nutritious food than dry seed. If African Grey parrots are to be really healthy such foods must be supplemented with a complete diet [ pellets] vitamins and minerals. They also benefit from regular calcium. Overweight parrots will lose weight safely if given extra protein so long as they do not kidney problems. Feeding seed based diets without proper additives is like filling your car with petrol but never topping up with oil or changing the spark plugs. It will run for a time but the performance slowly deteriorates and eventually the car stops. Or the parrot gets ill.

The Blue and Gold Macaw on the left has started to pluck his feathers and immediate corrective action can arrest and hopefully in time reverse the condition

Macaws at 14weeks to 26 weeks. Now is the time to Harness train your Macaw [ Harness £16 ] gives him the extra freedom to go outdoors, in the car, walk in the woods or even shopping [ it is recommended that you should be there ]. By putting him onto a quality diet now it can stop problems occurring later.

We see a lot of Macaws showing signs of malnutrition indicated by a protruding breast bone however slight this is it should give cause for concern and a change to one of the high protein complete diets is recommended. Lethargy can also be a major problem. Boredom and self mutilation manifested in feather plucking. Solution toys which provide mental stimulation and the foraging instinct, rope and wood construction i.e.. Large Block toys and Joy's Toys ex-large, arch swings and sisal and cotton curls. See online shop for details. An ideal diet for Macaws is as below.

Speak to John for prescribed levels of Calcivet and Daily Ess Vitamins.

To order diet packs click here and visit our on-line shop - look for Foods and then Diet Packs. Free "Your Pet Parrot" with every order on PDF file via your e-mail

Note:The complete diet i.e. pellets must be kept dry and not mixed with the seed, fruit and veg. as the moisture may cause fungal growth in warm weather. Parrot will invariably eat the seed, fruit and veg before the pellets therefore the less seed fed the more pellets are eaten and remember the pellets provide the balanced diet. Any additional food given by the owner will detract from the parrots balanced diet and will not help in the overall health of your pet. Don't feed table scraps!

Your Parrot will stay completely healthy on a pellet diet alone, at Parrotcare we believe in adding further mental stimulation.That is why we recommend fruit, vegetables and seed be included in the diet to encourage the foraging instincts a bird requires in the wild and also add variety to anotherwise mentally manotinus diet.Plus by mixing the seed with the juicy fruits it provides the ideal medium to add calcium and vitamins. Even a Parrot previously refusing fruit & veg will find it impossible to avoid in the mixture if they want to eat those inviting seeds.