Jenna, what type of bird do you have, i would think it would work fine for any bird species as long as you are using the food they normally eat, just go easy on the peanut butter

Ruby says "I love Miss Carol!!!"

That's a whole lot of bad stuff you are putting together as a snack: cones made with sugar and white flour, peanut butter and seeds. Not a healthy thing in the whole recipe.

Please, people, I don't mean to be the party pooper but just because a bird likes something it doesn't make it healthy for him. Peanut butter and seeds are just fat and protein, two foods that should be very carefully monitored in terms of quantities. My birds never, ever get peanut butter and they don't miss it at all. Why not try healthy snacks instead... things like dry figs and dates or dried pineapple/mango/papaya (as long as it's low sugar and unsulfured), a piece of fresh coconut, a small piece of natural sugar cane, organic Wassa bread or graham crackers, birdy pizza, a small sweet potato latke, etc. There are so many good, healthy things you can give a bird why feed it stuff that is not good for him?

Hey my guys get that to ! I did check with my Avian vet and she said this is ok as long as it is given as a snack once in a while,She said just like humans there is alot of foods that are bad for us, but we eat them from time to time as a treat.

Yes, I can believe that. The worst advice that I've ever got about birds diet has come from vets - LOL

B are you saying my vet gives bad advice? I sure hope not, she has been around longer then you have been alive ,and has been a Avian specialist for many many years, she is the number one vet around,Not all people are going to feed their birds holistic diets etc... and as long as you feed treats in moderation they are fine, Do you ever eat a snack ? or go eat out at a restaurant ? Restaurant food is the worst for you. But from time to time you go out and have a not so good meal. My conure has beeen getting a spoon of peanut butter once a week for 9 yrs now,and he is the healthiest bird here, feathers are perfect blood counts perfect.

Yes! I got the "stuff" and Ruby ate all of it, well, not all of the cone but she ate the nuts and a thin coat of peanut butter which my vet said to give her to help her "pass" the metal AND I snuck her medicene in the pnut butter! HA! I am assuming that she can't read. She is on my shoulder. If she can read I am in big trouble! WE LOVE CAROL! She is the very best of eggs!

peanut butter works great to remove metals from birds, when I got Yogi in he had 5 pieces of metal in his intestines and we had to give him peanut butter.and it works great hiding their meds in it .

Barb, if your avian vet says she has been one for over 50 years, she is not only not telling the truth (there were no avian vets 50 years ago) but she is also due for retirement -LOL

And I am not saying that your vet does not give good advice, I am sure she does on what pertains to her expertise. All I am saying is that avian vets are, usually, not more knowledgeable about birds nutritional needs than we are. I think that people expect too much of avian vets, especially when it comes to behavior and nutrition, two subjects that they learn the same way we do, as they go along, and not because they actually study them in the university. People forget that avian vets need to be regular vets first, that means learning the physiology and pathology of A LOT of very different species. Then they specialize in birds, and that means learning the physiology and pathology of even MORE species. It's actually impossible for any normal person to remember everything about so many different animals. To that huge load, we add the expectation of them knowing about the behaviors and diet of hundreds of both captive and wild avian species. How could they possibly manage this impossible feat? Do you really think that good avian vets have the time to do hours of research on parrots nutrition on a weekly basis? Or have the time to observe and record the digestive adventures of fifty or more birds on a daily basis? Of course not! They are too busy trying to keep up with emergencies, surgeries, diagnosis, consultations, examinations, newly developed techniques, tests, etc. So, when it comes to nutrition, they mostly go by what the manufacturers of bird food tell them (and you will have to forgive me but I don't trust them at all!) So, when it comes to parrots diet, I rely more on the notes and observation of ornithologists or field biologists as well as my experience than what an avian vet who might not even have more than four or five birds of their own tell me.

Besides, one should never compare a human to an undomesticated species. Especially when you are talking about diet. Humans are not only the ultimate domesticated animal, they are also omnivorous by nature. This means that we have developed not only a high tolerance to all kinds of bad things like pollution, toxins, etc but that we also have a digestive system that can process all kinds of food. And that gives us a huge edge over parrots. Undomesticated species don't have the flexibility in terms of diet and resistance that domesticated animals have developed over thousands of genetically manipulated generations. Also, parrots, with notable exceptions, are all herbivores. And the funny thing about herbivores is that they cannot process certain foods but, on the other hand, carnivores can process vegetable matter without much trouble and omnivores can eat ANYTHING and thrive. So omnivores (humans) have an edge over carnivores and carnivores have an edge over herbivores (parrots). Ergo and generally speaking, when it comes to diet range, man has a double edge over parrots. And, to make the difference between what we can eat and what they can eat even wider, most of the bird species we use as companions are canope feeders which means specialized eaters, a physiological requirement that, unfortunately for our birds, we fail miserably to fulfill.

So how can you compare a human, who can digest practically anything and is living in his own natural environment having a snack that is not as healthy as it should be or going to a restaurant for dinner to an undomesticated species that is been fed an unnatural diet (if nothing else, waaayyy too high in protein) and living in an unnatural environment eating something that would never be any good for it? Talk about apples and oranges! And, unfortunately for the birds, this is a very common mistake people make. Bird owners are always, in one way or another, thinking of their birds as 'little people' and they are not. They are birds. And we don't do them any favors when we compare them to people.

Now, I am not completely against giving your bird a little something every now and then that is not 100% good for it. I give mine organic graham crackers made with sugar cane juice which, although not completely bad for them, they are too high in sugar but they only have a small piece on special occasions so it's not too bad. But when you talk about a protein bomb like this treat (at least two tablespoons of peanut butter plus seeds), even once in a while is still not good because ALL OUR BIRDS EAT TOO MUCH PROTEIN as it is. I would much rather they were fed commercial white bread than all that protein!

And yes, of course I eat snacks but a snack is not a synonym of junk food, you know? Plenty of good, healthy stuff for both people and parrots to eat and enjoy... no need for fatty liver in birds and no need for clogged arteries in humans.

A question, is the insects under the bark of tree vegetable matter? If they are a from of meat I guess the wild parrots (brown heads in the Kruger) here they should not be eating protein. They also eat huge amounts of seeds admittedly they only have this opportunity for a few weeks of the year and then they go on to another seed type, ground nuts aka peanuts included. Maybe a visit to the cane fields in Natal, those birds should not eat the sugar cane. The fruit in the Ceres valley is eaten in great amounts, juice varieties, plenty sugar. (Capes)
Possibly parrots in different parts of the world will only eat herbivore type foods, Africa is quite different. I can only guess what abundance is in the rain forests of South America, so what good reason would there be in confining a parrot to limited food stuffs when his wild cousins have an enormous variety to chose from. I am not suggesting parrots kill large prey to eat meat but certainly opportunist when it comes to insects. A few types of parrots do kill and eat other birds. The bounty in Africa is limited by growing seasons and in this way a parrot is not able to pig out on sunflower or whatever the entire year. Wild parrots do eat food that is bad for them in small amounts, moderation in some form is always good for our captive birds.