Abstract
Most aviculturists feed vegetables to their birds. We recently surveyed a dozen specialist breeders to determine what they were feeding. Their answers were as varied as the birds in their collections. The following charts contain 25 different vegetables that are currently being fed. They were culled from 470 vegetable entries that are in the book Composition of Foods: Vegetables and Vegetable Products, available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.
As with fruit, the most cost effective way to purchase vegetables is by the case. Produce managers at your local store will most likely give you a case price which is lower than if you bought the vegetables individually. Many birds adore com. It is cheapest when purchased during the height of harvest. It can be parboiled by husking the com and dropping it into boiling water for a couple of minutes. You are not trying to cook it until it is tender, just heat it slightly. Then plunge the corn into cold water to cool it and stop the cooking process. You are then ready to freeze it for use in the winter when corn is unavailable. This method can be done with broccoli, peas, pumpkin and many other vegetables.
Greens such as dandelion, endive, chard, mustard and beet have loads of vitamins and minerals. Many are higher in vitamin A than canteloupe. Turnip greens are also high in calcium. They are best stored by washing the greens, drying them, wrapping them in some paper towels and placing them in a plastic bag. They should be used as quickly as possible and storage is limited to two to four days in the refrigerator. Greens often have a peppery taste the birds will enjoy.
Most vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, peas and beets are best stored unwashed in the refrigerator for a week or two. Corn should be refrigerated in the husk to prevent drying out. Covering the husks with damp paper towels will help retain moisture. We buy corn by the case, husk it and place it in cold water before feeding. Our own birds love to eat the kernels, then destroy the cob. Corn is a favorite food for weaning birds.
Pumpkin can be cooked and the seeds can be fed fresh or dried. Pumpkin seeds are high in minerals. Squash such as zucchini and crookneck are great summer vegetables. Large, oversized zucchini can be fed with seeds. Both babies and adults love them.
Beets and beet greens have an intense red dye which will turn a bird's fecal matter red. Don't let this concern you. This can last for a few hours or days depending on the amount eaten.
Spirulina dried seaweed has been popular for the last few years as a dietary supplement for birds. Spirulina has been better known as a color enhancer for ornamental fish such as Koi and goldfish. This is the only dried vegetable included in the chart. Dried foods have a higher concentration of nutrients because the water has been removed. Since seaweed is harvested from the ocean, it has an extremely high sodium content. I am concerned about its use in handfeeding formulas where the babies have a limited amount of water available to them.
Vegetables are excellent as a weaning food. By acquainting the babies with a wide variety of fruits and vegetables as young birds, you can avoid the limited diets many adult captive birds eat. Variety in their diet provides for their nutritional as well as emotional well being. The choice of colors, texture and size will stimulate your birds' appetites and keep them happy. Try handing your pet birds the new vegetable instead of putting it in a dish. They will often think it is a treat when their owner gives it to them. Peas are sometimes fed in the pods so the birds can remove the outer skin themselves to get to the pea - a treasure hunt simulating collecting food in the wild.
Thanks to the aviculturists who completed a survey of what their birds were eating, among them Laurella Desborough, Dale Thompson and Isabel Taylor. Special thanks to Jean Hessler and Sylvia Mahon at the AFA graphics department for taking nine tedious pages of numbers and creating two beautiful pages of charts. (see next two pages)
This is part three in a nutritional series. Part one, Fruit in the Avian Diet, appeared in AFA Watchbird Oct/Nov 1990. Part two, Nutritional Analysis of Selected Nuts and Seeds, appeared in AFA Watchbird June/July 1991. No part of this series may he reproduced without writ· ten permission from the author and the AFA Walchblrd publkatlon.