does anyone know how nutritional tomatoes are for the fids and if different types of tomatoes have different nutritional values? I threw a cherry tomatoe in Papis vegi bowl the other day and he acted as if he had never eaten before in his life, he loved it. Since he can be pretty darm picky about the frech he eats, I was thinking about trying to add more tomatoe to his diet if it is bennificial.

Josh,

Yummy! Crackerjack and Cookie love them too! I am no nutritionist, but tomatoes are not as good as brocolli but better than a grape (because of the sugar). I can't say if one type is better than the next......I give mine cherry or grape tomatoes. I am sure Papi loved the change in his meal!

I also have no idea on how good they are but Mischief would rather eat a tomatoe than a grape which s/he also loves. I feed cherry, normal big ones cut up but the favourite is cherry or Israeli.

A couple of our birds like tomatos, but for different reasons, one likes the taste and the other likes to toss them, LOL. In general the tomato is an excellent source of vitamin C and A in that order of nutritional value. I am not sure of the difference in varieties of the tomato. The plant leaves and stems are toxic and I have seen some sites where that has been confused with the tomato being toxic.

Thanks for that clarifying info as I was a bit confused about whether tomatoes were an ok thing or not to let the birds eat.

Ruby loves any tomatoe in any shape or form. I bought yellow ones the other day and they were delicious. More flavor than the red.

All the green parts of the tomato plant are poisonous but the fruit itself is not. I give mine organic grape tomatoes regularly (the regular kind have too many pesticides and organic is not that much more expensive -most often than not, it's just a matter of $0.50) and I also use organic, sun-dried or crushed ones in their gloop.

Tomatoes are very good for birds, not only because of the vitamin A, C and calcium but also because of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that is found almost exclusively in tomatoes. Some birds will eat them by themselves but some would only do it if you cut them in half to expose the inside.

Seems to me I remember reading somewhere that they shouldn't be fed in too much quantity or too frequently because of the acid content? Anybody remember anything like that, or is it my 'Old-timers' kicking in again?

The acid helps to clean the digestive track.
But yes you are right Nate, we offer tomatoes once a week here.
Some of our kids enjoy them, others not so.

Yep, mine also get them once a week and I actually skip a week during the summer when they get more fruits than veggies.