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06 Jan 2018

Why You Should Never Feed Seeds To Pet Birds

Posted By : Guest

Veterinarians will tell you that the majority of diseases seen in pet parrots today all have the same underlying problem, a poor diet. An all-seed diet is highly likely to result in a myriad of health problems and shorten your bird’s lifespan significantly. Although many pet stores will try to convince you otherwise, a healthy, balanced diet for parrots is not providing a fresh bowl of seeds every morning. In fact, a diet consisting of only seeds is a pretty certain way to shorten your parrots’ life. Let’s look at why this is so, and what we can do to ensure our parrots live a long and healthy life!

Budgie enjoys healthy meal of broccoli, corn, peppers and Roudybush Crumbles

Pet Parrots Aren’t Wild

The first thing to know about parrots in the wild is that they are usually always flying vast distances in order to find food. Their diet usually consists of things such as plants, fruits, grains, flowers, insects and seed. These allow the parrots to sustain a high-energy diet in order to keep venturing out and finding more food. Parrots may eat some types of seed in the wild, but not usually the types that are found in commercial seed mixes. Due to the fact parrots eat such a wide variety of foods it would be a tough feat to reproduce what they eat. In comparison to our pet parrots, they do not fly these massive amounts of distance in order to get their food, they depend on us to give it to them. Without the same exercise we can’t feed our pets the same as wild parrots because they will become overweight and have associated health problems.

Don’t Birds Eat Seed?

None of the seeds you see in pet stores are part of your parrot’s natural diet in the wild. Many of these seeds seem to produce a “high” shortly after they are eaten and depression when they are not available. The seed we give our birds are deficient in vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Seed is also lacking in proteins and the little proteins they do contain are of poor quality and the bird doesn’t get much out of it. The difficultly with seed is that it is incomplete with everything the bird needs in a diet. This proves to be bad if parrots are given a seed only diet.

Seed is often high in fat which is a reason it can become so problematic. Sunflower seeds are a whopping 53% fat. To put that into perspective, lets compare that to a mars bar which is 17% fat and McDonalds fries which are 14%. No wonder birds love sunflower seeds so much, they are a bird’s version of chocolate! When parrots eat seed, they crack open the husk and eat the small embryo inside.

Many brands of bird seed claim a fully balanced diet because the seeds have been mixed with vitamin and mineral supplement. However, this supplement is just a coating on the outside of the seeds, which your bird throws on the floor. Approximately 18–69% of a seed mixture is husks, so a fair chunk of your money is going towards something the bird won’t eat and a mess that you have to clean up!

On top of that, you are still left with a bird that is missing out on the nutrition it requires. Usually what parrots do is that they pick out exactly what they like (the fatty seed) and leave what they don’t want behind. This eventually leads to the very common problem of obesity in parrots. With high fats and over eating accompanied by the deficient vitamins, minerals and amino acids, parrots fed on a seed only diet will not develop and grow as they should which leads to shorter lifespan and an overall unhealthy lifestyle. It does not matter if seeds are labelled “All Organic”or “All Natural” because they are a danger to your pet parrot. Their time as a primary diet component for conscientious pet owners has passed.

Health Implications Of All-Seed Diet

A poor diet is the leading cause of health problems in companion birds. Seeds are deficient in vitamin A, D and K (and E if stored for a long time). They are also deficient in minerals such as calcium, manganese, iron and zinc. Depending on where the seed was grown, it may also be deficient in iodine or selenium. Lets have a look at just a few of the most common health implications that are encountered when feeding a pet bird an all-seed diet:

Obesity and fatty liver disease: The high intake of fat causes fat to be deposited in the liver, impairing its function. This can result in difficulty breathing, discoloured feathers and an overgrown beak and claws. The liver is responsible for many important tasks including producing clotting factors that stop bleeding. If a bird with poor liver function bleeds, for example, due to a broken feather, the bleeding may not stop and your bird could die as a result. This is also important if your bird requires surgery, as a vet might refuse to perform surgery due to the risk of uncontrolled bleeding. As the diseases progresses, the liver loses its ability to detoxify the blood, resulting in a build up of toxins and neurological signs such as seizures. Ultimately, this is a fatal disease.
Hypovitaminosis A: Low vitamin A is a very common disease seen in birds on all-seed diets. Vitamin A is important for healthy skin, vision, growth and maintaining a healthy respiratory and gastrointestinal tract. A bird deficient in vitamin A may have overgrown skin on their feet, leading to foot infections. They may also have crusted nostrils and form slimy, white plaques inside their mouth, making it difficult for them to breath.
Low Calcium and Vitamin D: Pet birds are especially at risk if they are housed indoors. They do not receive enough sunlight to make sufficient vitamin D themselves, so instead rely on only dietary intake. Unfortunately seeds are low in both vitamin D and calcium, predisposing the bird to diseases such as rickets (young birds), osteoporosis (breeding birds) and egg binding. When there is not enough calcium available in the body, it is removed from the bones, causing them to become thin. This heightens the risk of fractures, which may necessitate euthanasia.
Iodine Deficiency and Goitre: An iodine deficiency may result in enlargement of the thyroid glands (goitre). Budgies are especially prone to this disease. Thyroid glands are located near the windpipe, hence, their enlargement can make breathing difficult and cause a change of voice. An audible wheezing sound may be heard when the bird breathing and it may extend its neck in attempt to make the task of breathing easier. The lump may also obstruct the oesophagus, which can lead to crop dilation and vomiting.

These are just a few of the health problems that may occur as a result of feeding seeds as a major portion of the diet. Unfortunately, many of these issues propagate each other causing the bird to suffer multiple illnesses.

So What Should I Feed My Bird?

Instead of seeds, formulated diets such as pellets should form the bulk of the menu. Pellets are usually formulated with the essential nutrients parrots needs in order to develop and live a full life without complications. Most pellet formulations come with extensive research into what exactly needs to be included in the pellet. Pellets are also 100% edible and no wastage which is a great advantage over seed as seed has about 40% wastage.

Not all bird pellet foods are good quality. Roudybush formulated pellet diets are considered worldwide to be the best because it does not contain any sugars, colourants or chemical preservatives. Roudybush pellets provides your bird with the best possible nutrition without the added cost or hassle of supplements.

However the one downfall with all pellet diets is that they are usually made for the general population of birds and don’t target specific species needs, but they do a great job of hitting all the main requirements. With a lot of bigger parrots wanting to hold their food while they eat, pellets are a great delivery method that seed just can’t provide.

Best Diet For Your Bird

One of the most basic things that most people miss is the need for variety in a bird’s diet. A bird needs a varied diet of its main diet with fruits, vegetables and grains, the more variety you give the bird the more it will be able to meet its nutritional needs. The main diet for our pet birds should be around 70% – 80% pellets with 20% – 30% fruits and vegetables. Having such a balance diet leads to the bird staying healthy, living longer, better colours, better feather condition, and quality breeding results tied with being more active.

Birds are depended entirely on what we give them so it is crucial that we get it right the first time and not put our birds through the unneeded stress of an incomplete diet. Diets change as the bird does, some pellets are formulated for the different nutritional needs of the bird for breeding, daily maintenance, feeding or neither, so it is best to know what your bird needs and when.

Sadly, many bird owners today still feed a diet comprising only or mainly of seeds. The health problems associated with feeding birds an all-seed diet are life threatening and impair the bird’s quality of life significantly. Although transferring birds over to a formulated diet can be difficult, it is well worth the effort and could save you and your parrot a lot of heart-ache and vet bills down the line. It’s time we changed the typical diet of pet parrots and parakeets around the world and started providing our feathered friends with the best possible chance at a long and healthy life.