FEATURE


Cape Parrot is a good guide as to why we need to take more notice of what our birds feed on in the wild and try to simulate this in captivity as close as we can. How often do we hear Lory and Lorikeet keepers say how they feed liquid nectar to their birds and discuss what nectar mixes are the best. In fact liquid foods for these birds are taking them away from their natural way of feeding. Their main natural diet is pollen, insects, the petals of certain flowers, flower seeds and fruit etc., with only a small part being nectar. However, this is at last being homed in on now by many Lory and Lorikeet keepers throughout the world. Many keepers in Europe and in America are now feeding their birds with powdered nectar mixes sprinkled over diced up fruit and vegetables etc. This is giving much better results in


keeping and breeding the birds and it gives them much better feather colour and general contentment. However, in the wild they also eat a lot of small seeds especially those that are not quite ripe. As a result it is also beneficial to give them a small variety of seeds from Safflower down to millet seed. This is a much better way of feeding them and it is as close as we can get to how they feed in the wild. The closer we get to feeding our birds on what they feed on in the wild the more success we will get with breeding our birds in captivity. So let us look


at some of the other birds we keep and in particular what they feed on in the wild. Most of the tree dwelling Cockatoo’s and Amazons eat various seeds, fruit, berries, nuts and insect larvae. However, they also eat many fruit tree buds where they get enzymes and many trace elements from. Therefore in captivity we should give them a good seed mix with a large variety of nuts mixed in. We should also give them a variety of fruits and berries that are nearly always available from most Supermarkets etc. Powdered Biotin can be purchased from Horse tack shops and I have found the best type is “Biotin Plus” which is a powder that can be sprinkled onto their fruit and vegetables. This is not only good for the birds but greatly assists the youngsters in the nest to grow to the biggest size possible from the genetic make up of their parents. In the wild they get biotin from chewing the bark of various trees which also gives them many enzymes not available in their other foods. Birds like the Pionus variety eat a lot of fruit, flower buds and berries in the wild and in captivity we should also give them nuts and a small amount


This study of the Cape Parrot is a good guide as to why we need to take more notice of what our birds feed on in the wild and try to simulate this in captivity as close as we can.


BIRD SCENE 37


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