Feeding your macaw people food.

Cas27

New member
Jul 27, 2017
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NewJersey
Parrots
Blue and gold macaw,green wing Macaw,goffins cockatoo,Congo African grey
Hi, I'm about 4-5 months in with my 8 year old male blue and gold now he started out scared and mean when I got him which I understood he was with the same family all his life then a new family more birds he's come around a lot.
I feed him a fruit nut veggie pellet mix but he really loves people food so much his pupils dial ate and he talks up a storm while eating. This morning all my birds got pancakes he loved them. This guy talks so well I can't believe it I thought macaws didn't talk very good I can't tell. Yesterday I was beak wrestling with my Congo grey he looked right at me and said stop it he used it in context.
 
It fully depends on the 'People Food!'

If it wasn't around in the 1800's; Do not feed it to your Parrot! It's also a great idea for Humans.
 
Diet is a crucial part of maintaining companion parrot health! The old adage of "we are what we eat" is especially true with birds. They can, like teenage humans, seemingly thrive for a while on unhealthy foods. At some point the lack of essential nutrition catches up and will manifest in so many ways.

Macaws do best with a diet rich in fresh vegetables, fruits, and some nuts. They need a bit more fat than the average parrot and this can be delivered with walnuts, almonds, and macadamias. Some of the daily diet can consist of quality pellets and seed mix.

A very occasional bite of pancake without sugary syrup will not cause harm. They are naturally curious flock-eaters and find human foods tasty - partly because *you* are eating! But routinely feeding pizza, fries, chips, pastries, etc is harmful.

The Parrot Food, Recipes, and Diet forum has tons of good information! This is a particularly helpful thread: http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html
 
I agree that some human foods (other than good stuff like fruits and veggies, nuts, and that sort) aren't harmful if just a bite, as long as they don't contain dangerous or very frowned upon ingredients. Sometimes we invite our Hahn's to the dinner table and he manages to steal a bite of fish, meat, or rice or bread). Junk food is a definitely, no-no. I think a pancake qualifies as an innocent bite food as long as (the other poster said) it doesn't have butter and syrup on it.

My avian vet said that high quality pellets like Harrisons should be at least 80% of my Hahn's macaw's diet. Healthy fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and other healthy stuff (beans, pulses) should be around 15%, and treats maybe 5%. I suppose this might vary according to the macaw, but that's what I try to get my bird to eat. Anything "safe" on our plates I try to keep to a bite or two. Not just for his health, but if we don't limit it he'll steal all of our food and ignore his own. You know, other people's food often looks more appetizing than your own. Or sometimes we think he wants to eat our food up, and then have the benefit of having his food as the backup food.
 
As others mentioned, monitor closely what the food item is. A rare, small bite will do no harm if it is a parrot safe item.
I personally don't feed any table food. My macaw gets PLENTY excited over a nut or some banana, and it eliminates any risk.
 
Our birds get used to being given 'our' food when we are eating and this is a darn sight harder to break than start. It might suit you now but what happens if this bird ends up needing re-homing, who wants to sit and eat a meal with a shrieking banshee just because they are not getting any people food? Think about what your are starting please.
 
To go without saying, there are some people food, that is death! Avocado is one! Even a little bit is deadly! No treatment! A big bird may survive, but unlikely!
 
To go without saying, there are some people food, that is death! Avocado is one! Even a little bit is deadly! No treatment! A big bird may survive, but unlikely!


Actually that is a bit over the top: there a many different varieties of avocado - a lot of them completely harmless (even to birds) some extremely deadly, so why take the risk? Better safe than sorry. ;)
 
CHrista, why put that out there? Most people are going to read Oh some are OK, so I guess a little bit of the kind ( the only kind) we have where I live is OK. Isn't it safer for everyone to assume avocados - death for parrots, than to try and educate people who may not even understand the difference. May not even speak English that well. Seems irresponsible to me, thats all.
 

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