parrot food

[bossuk]

is my african grey parrot allowed kray fish or will it poison him?

[wildwood]

I can't think of any reason why it would, but why risk it?

Many people feed their parrot meat for extra protien, but they don't really need it if the bird gets a sensible diet. The danger with feeding any type of meat is in the pieces that are spilled by the bird, and not cleaned up immediately by the owner. Parrots (apart perhaps from the Kea) don't have the same digestive constitution as Birds of Prey, which can safely eat putrid meat.

[bossuk]

SORRY I WASNT QUITE CLEAR ON MY QUESTION, THE KRAY FISH IS A BIT LIKE CHALK WHICH SOME BIRDS USE TO SHARPEN THEIR BEAKS, IT CAN ALSO HELP TO DIGEST THEIR FOOD LIKE SOME PARROTS THAT EAT CLAY. BUT IM WORRIED THAT IT WOULD POSSIBY POISON HIM?

[FredPuli]

Do you mean cuttlefish bone ? This is a standard item for parrots, African Greys included.It is important that parrots get adequate calcium; ideally they should have calcium supplements. I can only imagine that the cuttlefish bone was an early acknowledgment of this need, though it is hardly enough. The bone is really part of a kind of squid-like creature, not really a fish as such; it is often crushed up and added to the diet of other cagebirds.

[wildwood]

I can see what you mean now bossuk. You would have probably read somewhere about the dangers of picking up cuttlefish bone from the beach and feeding it to your bird, which you should heed. It is safer to buy it from the petstore because that has been airdried and any organism present in the bone would have been destroyed. With an African Grey it would be a good idea to break it in four pieces and give the bird a small piece twice a week. If you give it the whole thing most of it will end up pulverised on the floor of the cage. It is also a good idea to follow Fred's suggestion; add some crushed up to the seed.
To keep the beak in trim, cuttlefish is pretty useless because it is to fragile for the beak of a parrot, see if you can find a piece of old mortar from a demolition site, and keep that in the bottom of the cage(where the bird can't foul it ofcourse). You should see the bird nibbling and wiing it's beak over it when relaxed.
The bird should also have a grit/mineral mixture available at all times. Birds don't have teeth and swallow some of the very small stones in the mixture which stay inside the gizzard to grind down the seed.
Enjoy your bird.

[bossuk]

CHEERS GUYS THATS BEEN A BIG HELP