IndianRingNeck.com

Hello,

I've brought home a baby Ringneck, he's almost 12 weeks. He seems to be eating well enough. Pomegranates are his absolute favorite, but he also eats peas, corn, green beans, almonds, and dried apricots in addition to his ZuPreem pellets. The apricots I'm using to train/tame, while the almonds go into a toy as a treat now and then. I was wondering if it was okay to feed Ringnecks dates and figs as well. Also, is there any protein source I should be adding to the diet?

Thanks

Hello and welcome to the board .I gave mine figs yesterday and as far as I know they should be ok to give to them. Some people cook up some eggs complete with shells for their birds too. Have you got any pics of your new birdie, we love to see pics

After a bit of tricky Googling (a search for 'dates for parrots' doesn't really get the nut), I found that many parrot mixes contain dates. So they should be okay. ^_^

Figs are good too- there's actually a parrot called a fig parrot...

The protein is important especially when they are moulting. I like to give ours hard-boiled eggs in the shell. They keep in the fridge and Mom can make egg-salad whenever she wants!

We also feed a bean mix. Just soak the beans overnight, rinse, and simmer until a little tender (15 mins at least) then rinse and serve.

Try some squashes and cucumber- they LOVE the seeds from cucumber cut lengthwise. Or some pumpkin (they're on sale here) which can be cooked or uncooked and the seeds are healthy too! Greens are good- spinach, kale, chard, and dandelion are just a few nutritious greens. The darker the green, the better. Carrots (you can use a veggie peeler and then chop the peels to make an easily edible thin slice), peppers of all kinds (parrots like spicy!), broccoli, sugar/snap peas in the pod, and cauliflower. Berries, when in season, are great and well loved. Turnips and beets (messy!). Sweet potato or yams. And sprouts too!

There are so many things to try, lol, just feeding them is just half the fun.

Keep expanding his like of good foods and keep up the variety. Variety will help keep him healthy.

Seeds are a good part of the diet as fat is important for all those good fat soluble vitamins. The only time seed is bad is if it makes up the entired or largest part of a bird's diet. And sunlight is important as well. Sunlight will help your bird produce vitamin D3 (which in turn will help your bird's body to absorb calcium) simply by sitting in the sun. Through a window or a screen does not count. If your bird is flighted, then a cage half in sun and half in shade will work or under a somewhat shady tree. Just fifteen minutes a day is all that's needed. And you need it too, so why not sit with him and have a chat?

Hello and welcome! Yep, what Melika said. Boiled egg with shell is a good protein source, figs and dates are fine. Only foods they cannot have is avocado (toxic), apple seed (cyanide) and anything with caffiene. Also not too much dairy and processed foods. Even chicken (also bone) and fish can be good for them, but only occasionally.

Hey,

Thanks everyone for your help and input. Sorry for the late reply. It seems blu's not too interested in eggs at the moment, but I'm sure he'll come around! Good to know dates and figs are okay since I eat many myself and always have them stocked! I'm thinking of adding plain rice (cooked) to his peas since I read this addition to the peas would make a "complete" protein meal.

Now I just have to work on taming him. My blu's great so long as there are apricots around -- but if he doesn't stop biting/lunging I'm gonna have to rename him JAWS!


Thanks so much!

blu wrote: I'm thinking of adding plain rice (cooked) to his peas since I read this addition to the peas would make a "complete" protein meal.

Plain brown rice.

Thanks!