With most birds it does not work if you just offer a new food. In the wild the parents and flock show the parrot what is safe to eat. So if a bird is used to a limited variety, it does not know that the new food is safe to eat. One way to get them to eat something unknown is to eat it yourself in the parrot’s presence. When they see the flock (the owner) eat it, they know it is safe. Better even when we don’t want to give it to them. I have seen parrots not wanting to eat something until I ate it. Then they even steal it from me.

I have also observed that my attitude towards a food is important. If I eat something with gusto, they seem to pick up on my emotion about it. Here comes the instinct into play again. They pick up things, we are not aware of. Which means if you don’t like broccoli and tell them it’s good, they know you don’t mean it. But we don’t have to eat everything we offer. If we keep serving different foods they will try them sooner or later. Or we can hang big chunks or whole vegetables or fruits in their cage or on the play stand. They will start playing with it, ripping it apart and eventually start eating it.

After getting our birds to accept many different foods, the next part is paying attention to what they pick out on any given day; for example, if a bird starts to pick out one thing and eat mainly or only that, you can be sure it needs it.

Here is a little story, what can happen, when you don’t pay attention:

A friend of mine from Italy called me one evening (4 am in Italy). His bird had difficulties breathing and was sneezing.  It was Saturday morning and there was no way to find a vet until Monday. After talking a while to him, I told him one of the things I would do is to offer food high on beta-carotene. It could just be a seed in the nose. But problems of the upper respiratory system are sometimes caused by a lack of vitamin A. So, I suggested giving beta-carotene rich foods and juice.

He said: you know, the birds usually aren’t very fond of carrots. But lately, whenever we have carrots as part of our meal, they steal them and can’t get enough. So, first thing in the morning, when the shops opened, he got some carrot juice. He also offered food rich on beta-carotene, and by Monday the birds did not show any signs of the problem anymore. This was several weeks ago and the birds are doing very well.

I always check when I pull the bowls what each of my birds ate. If I see one has picked out only one vegetable or fruit and left the rest, I offer more of it. After a while, sometimes a few days, they stop eating it and go back to normal.

We have to give our birds credit for knowing things that we just don’t, especially when it comes to food. Did you ever eat a bitter almond or bad nut? Your bird wouldn’t. It would drop it.

The conclusion is that if a bird is used to a great variety of foods, it can balance its nutritional needs to a certain degree. We as their caretakers have to pay attention and provide them what they show us they need.

Gudrun Maybaum lives with her 10 parrots, cat Miccio and dog Deva in Portland, Oregon. She started working with parrots in 1993 and began applying nutritional and herbal knowledge to her flock shortly thereafter. Eventually she started writing articles on the subject and speaking at parrot conferences and other parrot related events. 2005 she became the owner of www.totallyorganics.com and in June 2009 she started an educational blog called www.topschatter.com.