Abstract
Dr. Fred D. Thornberry is an Extension Poultry Specialist and member of the Department of Poultry Science at Texas A&M University. Thornberry holds M. S. and Ph.D. degrees in Poultry Science and has over 25 years of research, teaching and advisory experience with the commercial broiler and egg industries and backyard and hobby flock owners. He also provides leadership to Texas' large youth poultry programs in 4-H and Vocational Agriculture. For the past two and one-half years, his responsibilities have included assisting pet bird producers with management and nutritional problems.
Dr. Thornberry specializes in field research to help solve producer problems. He is a prolific writer with more than 200 industry articles on poultry management, environment and nutrition. His writings include a chapter on poultry in the 1980 USDA Yearbook of Agriculture.
Dr. Thornberry is a member of the Poultry Science Association, Texas Poultry Federation, American Federation of Aviculture, and Gamma Sigma Delta.
An extensive evaluation of nutritional programs used by pet bird producers has shown many flocks receive diets which contain excessive amounts of fat and which are low to marginally deficient in protein and essential amino acids and one or more vitamins. Nutrients in these diets are generally sufficient to sustain adults. However nutritional deficiencies often becom~ evident over time in breeders and in young birds at various stages of development. Deficiency symptoms include low production, poor fertility, embryonic mortality, low hatchability, overly fat breeders, slow growth.' poor feathering, and a variety of nutnttonal diseases.
Various dietary supplements are commonly fed in attempts to alleviate problems or improve performance. In the best of situations the flock nutritional situation is improved. In most cases excessively expensive or complicated supplements are fed with minimal benefit. Some are actually detrimental to flock performance.
Discussions with producers have yielded little evidence that basic scientific knowledge is used in the development or formulation of dietary programs. Instead, bird feeding appears to border on being an art form. Most diets appear to be varied modifications based on the recommendations of experienced breeders and suppliers of seed or vitamin, mineral or protein supplements. A few are based on recommendations of self professed experts or consultants who often have minimal formal experience or training in avian nutrition or physiology. Some producers feel birds must be fed feedstuffs available in the wild. Various materials are sometimes included in diets because birds appear to relish them more than other feedstuffs. Often an item is fed because the owner "just feels it should be included'.'
If nutrition is to be improved, producers must realize that birds and other animals, including man, do not necessarily choose foodstuffs which provide nutrients most conducive to good health. It must be understood, too, that wild birds eat whatever is palatable and available and not necessarily what is best for them. Undernourished populations in third world nations often are hesitant to accept and consume nutritious foodstuffs different from those they are accustomed to. Children, as a rule, prefer candy, sodas and other sweets and junk foods to milk, meat and vegetables. Dogs normally prefer table leftovers to a nutritionally balanced prepared dog food. As a further illustration, many producers feed large amounts of high fat sunflower or safflower seeds because their psittacines like them. Then, complaints are voiced because the excessively fat birds breed poorly.
A review of the literature reveals very little authentic pet bird research in management and nutrition by trained scientists. Reasons for neglect by the scientific community are numerous. The availability of public research funds is largely dependent on political pressures exerted by industry organizations. The pet bird industry has, in the past, been poorly organized. However, the American Federation of Aviculture and affiliated organizations apear to be in the process of alleviating this shortcoming. The industry's importance to the states and the nation is totally insignificant when compared to the economic and nutritional importance of food animal industries.
However, the pet bird industry has benefitted and can do so even more by increasing its knowledge and use of information derived from research and experience with poultry. Most of what is known about the physiology, nutritional requirements, growth and development of birds is the direct result of scientific research with poultry. In fact, more is known about the nutrition of the chicken than any other animal, including man.
A very high degree of technology is required to economically produce the more than four billion broiler chickens or fryers' and over 270 million laying hens....