Aviculture (the keeping and breeding of avian species in captivity) is a comparatively new science, about which we still have an awful lot to learn. Dogs and cats as companion animals, farm livestock for food, and horses and donkeys for transport and recreation have been bred in captivity (and modified in the process) for centuries. In that time we have learned much about their nutritional requirements, and there exist for most groups commercially prepared diets which supposedly offer complete and balanced nutrition to these animals. The same applies to domestic poultry and game birds kept for food or sport, whose dietary needs have been researched in the minutest detail. Even fish such as Koi Carp, ornamental goldfish, and farm-reared trout or salmon have their commercially prepared pellets.

The same, however, is not true for most cage and aviary birds, specifically psittacines. Most passerines and small parrakeets are naturally eaters of small seeds and grains, and this is the type of diet we provide them with in captivity. Most of the larger tropical and sub-tropical parrots are "facultative omnivores" – that is they will eat anything and everything that comes their way. Some macaw and cockatoo species are more specific in their food sources, but African Greys and Amazons will forage through the rainforest canopy taking in a wide variety of seeds, nuts, berries, buds, leaves, bark, and often small grubs or insects. They may gorge themselves exclusively on one particular favourite fruit when it is available, but through the course of a year and over their home range they will take in a balanced range of nutrients.

Cage-bound Amazon parrots, roseate cockatoos, and budgerigars, fed ad-lib seed mixtures, are particularly prone to obesity and the development of lipomata. Arthritis is a common sequel. Many species suffer from vitamin A deficiency (hypovitaminosis A), which leads to upper respiratory infections, sinus abscess formation, and nostril abnormalities. Other birds, particularly Eclectus and African Grey parrots, will be affected by calcium deficiency (hypocalcaemia), which manifests as lack of eggs; soft-shelled eggs; egg binding; metabolic bone disease; or muscle-weakness, tremors, or fits.

All these conditions have been recognised and identified for years as being the result of poor diet, and with such information available and the various supplements that are on the market, they should now be non-existent – but as veterinarians in avian practice, we still see far too many problems that are the result of inadequate/deficient/imbalanced or even toxic diets. So many of these problems can be addressed – not by the use of antibiotics, but by an appropriate improvement in diet. Yes, such birds will live and will breed, but their appearance, attitude, behaviour, and fertility will improve further if corrections are made to the diet.

We still do not know in detail the specific dietary requirements for most species other than poultry and cockatiels, but it is clear that they need much more than a simple sunflower mix. Wider ranging diets, based on seeds, but with added fresh fruits, vegetables, and pulses, supplemented with vitamins and minerals, are more successful. Even then, the bird may select from this mix only what it likes to eat, and therefore ends up with an imbalance. Offer a human child a free choice of a whole range of food items on the table, and it will obviously eat the jelly and ice-cream, but will leave the green vegetables.

We are all well-used to feeding commercially prepared complete diets to our dogs and cats, and in recent years several players – mostly American in origin – have entered the field for birds. The idea of a compounded complete diet including all essential nutrients was great, but the first generation of such products appeared as lumps of sawdust stuck together – hardly an appetising meal for a discerning parrot, nor aesthetically pleasing to the owner. Subsequent attempts incorporated seeds stuck to the product to attract the bird; then the forming of the pellets into different shapes; and finally the use of various coloured dyes to make the product more attractive. I am sure that in the latter instance the colour is more to tempt the owner to buy the product than to coax the bird to eat it.

I have tried these various foods on patients, but without great enthusiasm or success. I have felt that parrots are much like us with regard to their food: they enjoy the form and texture of the different items, and need to work at foraging. Taste is an important factor – my Grey will select food items first by sight, then will taste the object thoroughly before either eating or rejecting it.

However, we now have Harrison’s Bird Diets, which have totally revised my thinking on parrot nutrition. Dr Greg Harrison from Florida, a founder member of the Association of Avian Veterinarians, co-editor of two important text books on avian medicine and surgery, and contributor of innumerable articles and lectures of a practical nature in this field, had encountered the same difficulties as described above. He set to to produce a compounded diet that was not only palatable and nutritious, but was made entirely of organically-grown products, and free from chemical additives and dyes. The end result is not only the first, but is the only pet food organically certified.
 

The apparently dull appearance of the product seems not to be a problem, although the general advice is to offer additional fruit and vegetable items for interest. The bird’s environment should also be one that is sufficiently stimulating, with opportunities to play and be both physically and mentally occupied.

The product comes in different sized granules or a mash to suit various species; with a maintenance formula, a hand-rearing formula, and a high-potency formula. The latter is appropriate for birds under stress, obese birds, or those with higher nutritional requirements such as those that are breeding or moulting. There is also a low-iron formula for mynahs and the like.

Although the diet may be considered comparatively expensive at present (since it has to be imported from the USA, which effectively doubles its market price), the quantity required for daily maintenance is small, and there is absolutely no waste. The average cost to feed a bird the size of an African Grey currently runs at about 50p per day.