OK, FP, so what do you feed your birds?

Golly, I'm glad you asked! :)

As you probably gathered, I'm not a fan of pellets or other fake foods. Nor am I a fan of a lot of cooked foods. Looking at the way parrots were designed you can see that they have a beak perfect for cracking things like nuts and seeds and grain hulls. And, I've read from more than one source that their digestive systems weren't made for cooked foods either, so eventually they can cause problems. Besides, who wants to cook out all the great nutrients? The nutrients that aren't impacted negatively by cooking are minimal.

So. My birds get a cage mix (one of my products) that contains mostly natural and very little previously-cooked foods - but some seeds and grains and germinated seed/grain/legumes and fruits and vegetables and greens and nuts...of course they don't all eat the same thing so the ingredients vary. But the food is made by me so I know it's fresh, it uses good-quality ingredients, and it contains variety.

Mornings they get a birdie bread or other cooked breakfast. I of course make birdie bread mixes, so that's what I feed. Afternoons are sprouts and/or veggies and/or whatever I mix with them. Most days sprouts and veggies, although the pionus hens are heavy on the veggies and light on the sprouts. Some days I mix in some rice or couscous or a scrambled egg, cooled. But their fresh foods are the main meal of the day.

Then of course, there is always, "I'd like a little of what you're eating, please." Ok, I lied - they rarely say please. They just take what they want :).

Our parrots are part of our lives, and live in the living room with us. I've had them in a bird room before but it just didn't seem right having our other pets right where we could interact but not the birds. So when we moved a couple of years ago, we bought a home that had space in the living room for our birds, and that has a door that separates the living space from the bedrooms. During the day we can put our 4 dogs and our cat in the back half of the house, and the birds can fly (yes, they fly, and my dogs and cat also run) around and play and exercise and spend time with us. When they're in cages, we still are continually interacting, with talking/conversations, scritches, food-sharing, and the offering of gifts such as popsicle sticks and blocks and other fun stuff.

If I'm ever able to enlarge our living area, I plan to widen the living room by the construction an addition with windows all around, a tile floor, and its own ventilation system. That way the birds will always still be with us, but will have an area that will enhance their own lives as well...and that will be easier to clean!

But back to feeding. I'd say overall they get maybe 90% of their daily intake from uncooked and/or fresh foods, and 100% of their daily nutrients from real food. They've been thriving on this diet for so many years I can't see any reason to change it.