As a human being, I know how quickly I can tire of the same old foods, even ones that I love or know are good for me. There is typically a lot of variety in the wild parrot’s diet, so I try to change things up for my bird as much as possible while still maintaining a healthy diet. Here are some recipes for nutritious “sandwiches” for your feathered family that are soooo easy to make and fun to eat!
1 ) Almond Butter and Banana On Whole Wheat or Multi Grain Bread:
Smear almond peanut butter (very thinly or sparingly) on one side of two pieces of toasted bread. Push coarsely chopped pieces of banana into the almond butter and put the two slices of toast together. Cut the sandwich into 1 1/2″ square pieces for the larger birds and serve singularly or on a skewer. For the smaller birds, cut the larger pieces in half again and serve in a bowl.
Just FYI, it is very easy to make your own nut butters, which can be made from virtually any type of nut.
**This recipe previously called for peanut butter but based on updated information we have changed it to almond butter as it’s better for birds.
2) Tortilla Roll Ups:
Puree fruit, such as strawberries, blueberries and/or raspberries in the food processor. Smear one side of a flour or corn tortilla with the pureed mixture. Add a layer of cottage cheese over the top. Roll up the tortilla and cut into pieces appropriate for your bird’s size.
You can also mix finely chopped fruit with the cottage cheese and omit, or leave in, the pureed fruit.
3) Stuffed Pita Pockets Foragers:
In a food processor (or by hand) finely chop fresh or frozen spinach, carrots, raw zucchini or yellow squash, and walnuts. Add cooked brown rice and whole kernels of corn to the mixture. In a bowl, stir in only enough plain yogurt to the chopped veggies/rice mixture so that it remains thick. Spoon mixture into a pita pocket and serve whole or cut in half.
Birds of all size can burrow into the bread to get to the yummy stuff, you just have to let them know what awaits inside the bread to get them started. Just a taste from my finger or a spoon achieves that.
4) Breakfast Sandwich:
Stuff a pita pocket with scrambled eggs, cooked mashed sweet potato, and grated cheddar (or other) cheese. If your bird has been especially good, you might occasionally crumble in bits of bacon. Serve warm. To complete the breakfast scenario, serve with a side of sliced orange.
5) Lasagna Roll Ups:
Cook lasagna noodles until they are soft, but still firm. Let cool and cut in half.
In a small bowl, mix ricotta cheese with several healthy shakes of parmesan cheese and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder or ground nutmeg for a little extra flavoring (optional).
Smear the cheese mixture on a halved lasagna noodle and drizzle with tomato sauce or a low sodium spaghetti sauce. Roll up the lasagna noodle and secure with a toothpick. Warm in microwave being sure not to serve until safe from hot spots.
…Of course, there are any number of ways these recipes can be modified to suit your bird’s personal tastes. Do try to incorporate new foods into these recipes. It is a good way to get them to explore new possibilities and expand their diet.
1/08/11
There were so many comments about the inclusion of cheese in these recipes that I decided to put my response into the body of this post:
Hi to everyone,
When I wrote this post, I was aware that these questions would arise. I LOVE that so many are concerned enough about their bird’s diet to take the time to ask them. A few short years ago, most people weren’t as aware of diet issues, so this is a HUGE step forward in the care of our birds.
I have always said that a consistently healthy diet is the MOST important aspect of our care-giving with birds. Fresh foods should be the biggest part of their diet. Dr. Cook is correct in advising that birds are lactose intolerant which should preclude large amounts of dairy in their diet, and peanuts/peanut butter can present problems in some birds. However, I also have found that most birds tolerate these foods without problems at all, if given in moderation. But do be watchful for problems, as you should be with every aspect of your bird’s life.
My take on it is this: Apart from following the rules and making sure that you are giving the very best of everything to your birds, life is also supposed to be fun. An excruciatingly bland diet is as hard on parrots as it is on humans. Food is part of what makes life good. Unfortunately, the best tasting foods are not generally the most beneficial to us. Just as you would with your own diet, a bird needs limitations set, with the accent placed on good health.
Patty
Patty Jourgensen specializes in avian health, behavior and nutrition and has been working with and caring for rescue birds since 1987.
117 comments
We have 4 parrots- All of different sizes from tiny to cockatoo. Since they get a lot of exercise out of their cages i don’t worry so much about fat in their diet. these sound like wonderful ideas for foraging items that are wet that you can’t put in a paper bag or foraging toy! Tonight I am going to mix their dinner meal- consisting of cooked grains, sweet potato, peas and corn with some yogurt and make them a sandwich. :) I’m sure they will like it because they love tearing apart toast. Thank you!
I thought that African greys aren’t supposed to have any garlic?
Hi, Question: aren’t dairy products bad for birds? i.e. cottage cheese and yogurt? Thanks
I have been told that peanut butter can choke parrots. Is it just because of the stickiness? Is it okay when mixed in with fruit or other things? I just want to know it’s going to be safe when used properly (whatever that may be).
Our Jenday Conure seems to really want a bite of roasted chicken or turkey. Is this any good for her and if so how much?? She will climb down our shoulder and actually try getting it before it goes to our mouth. She will eat veggies but doesn’t go after it as much as the chicken.
Wow, what great ideas. However, I did read the other posts which I don’t usually take the time to do, but so glad I did——about the microwave, lactose intolerance, natural peanut butter. who knew? not me. What a great blog. Happy New Year to one and all, especially our feather friends. I have a 28 yr. old Grey.
My vet said peanutbutter and dairy are not good for the cockatoos and parrots. I see you are even using cheese and I was understanding bird are. Very lactose intolerant. Have I been miss informed?
PPS For anyone interested regarding the fussy eater bird balls.. 1. You need to grind the pellets into a relatively smooth mixture. Put a workable amount of the ground pellets into a mixing dish (mix by hand) and add water until you get it to about “cookie dough” consistency. Have an extra bowl of water to wet your fingers and for adding to the mixing bowl. (It will dry a little so cover the bowl after you go to step 2.) 2. Remove an amount (about the size of a tennis ball) from the mixing bowl and roll it on a cutting board to about 10 inches in length or until you can cut it in sections that will roll up to nickle to quarter size balls. My bird will eat two to three “bird balls” a day. I know this because when he is hungry he starts to caw with all the charm of an air horn a football game. NOTE: If your bird is not a fussy eater and is already eating pellets, just ignore all I’ve written on bird balls. Becoming a male Martha Stewart was not my idea. It was his….
PS- The “bird ball” technique (once accepted) is a good place to hide other healthy bits of food – although the pellets alone have given him an A+ on health for several years. He ages better than I do.
One of my favorite books, recommended by Chet, is The Healthy Bird Cookbook by Robin Deutsch. What I love most about it is the quick reference on safe and not safe foods. It alows me to be creative and responsible. You can get it for a decent price on Amazon.
Bart had blueberry pancakes this morning! mmm mmm good!
Lest anyone thinks I was actually serious about feeding my bird wine… When I got my Umbrella, he was a screaming seed junkie. All that was missing were track marks from the sunflower seeds. Bad stuff. I could almost hear his little bird liver begging for mercy. I (eventually) got him off seeds and on real food – kind of. He developed a fondness for canned sweet potatoes and orange muffins that I would roll into little balls. (Like cookie dough.) Again, bad idea. A glucose-hyper Umbrella will not win you a merit badge from the ASPCA. With some effort, he started to “pick” at R—dy B-sh pellets but (by this time) he was used to those “rolled up” sweet potatoes and muffins. So… I dumped about two cups of pellets into the blender, added a little water and made high nutrient pellet “bird balls” about the size of a quarter. (Again, like cookie dough.) Viola! He ate the entire "bird ball” faster than a hungry cowboy. He thought it was a treat. Ha! The human wins!! This simple concoction will keep for about five days in the fridge. The “bird balls” also freeze nicely, so you can make a month in advance. For post bird ball dessert, he’ll also eat: •Romaine Lettuce •Corn on the cob •Any pasta noodle •Occasional apple •Scrambled eggs (A little creepy) •Almost anything chewed (Also a little creepy) All in all, I should eat as well as he does. The only draw back is he will not eat the bird ball cold. I’m serious. I have to “warm” it for seven seconds in the microwave. He actually checks the temperature with his pretentious little tongue before he will take the food. If it’s cold, he’ll throw it down and look at me like I never finished grade school. In a way I’ve created a gourmet birdzilla. At least he’s a very healthy birdzilla. My point is you have to keep working at healthy choices like Patty is recommending. With me, the “bird ball” was the key.
Non of these “nutrishious” sandwiches are good for a bird!:( bacon!?!?!?!? Holy asking for liver issues!!! If you are giving your bird a good pellet diet there is no need for suplementation add toys for stimulation instead of slowly killing your birds with unhealthy, fatty foods. In the wild their diet is full of variety because it needs to be to get all the nutrience they need in a day pellet diets do that work for them.
I have a 5yr old White-Fronted Amazon. Whenever I eat, I share the good healthy stuff with him. He loves small pieces of chicken, hamburger (just plain but well cooked), eggs & a variety of fruits, veggies & nuts. In response to Patsy’s post about Amazon’s being afraid of water: I have found my little guy loves to be misted. I have tried showers, baths & small containers of water to encourage him to bathe but he wants no part of anything other than being misted from a spray bottle. I find he enjoys it the most & loves to get good & soaking wet as long as the water is only tepid. Too cool or too warm & he wants no part of it. Tarzan’s very favorite treat is toast with a little peanut butter on it. He goes nuts whenever he knows the toaster is on. All the best in 2011 to everyone.
The recepies sound great hears one I feed my Joy every onther day and she love it, I scramble an egg with no salt cheese and low sodium havm. we do all this in the microwave, so there is no added fat, and we put this on a sessame bagel, so not only does she get her eggs and cheese, she also get the seeds off the bagel. I will try these recipies for her, Joy is a cockatoo and quite fussy about her food, She loves pastachio nuts. Thanks for the ideas, I hope she will eat it. Lee
[Typo edit] That’s “beret.” BTW- My umbrella (of 23 years) thinks he looks like Jean Claude van Damme. I think he looks more like Gerrard Depardieu. Maybe skipping cheese entirely is a good idea. The peanut butter snack would avoid any side “affects.”
Hi All , very nice and simple recipes . It is indeed i believe very important to keep our loved feathered friends always happy and of course healthy. I always try to vary my African grey diet trying to do little variations every day or so with his food. various colors and shapes, little pieces so he has time to play and various textures if possible. Bon apettite little feathered friends :)
My umbrella cockatoo prefers Brie cheese at room temperature. He started insisting I fill his water dish with a decent chablis so he can get the full effect. Now he’s putting on airs and wearing a berret. My advice is stick to plain old processed cheese slices. Cockatoos with fake French accents are extremely annoying. >;-) Good tips on the snacks. Thanks.
Great recipes, I’ll have to make one for me and one for the parrot.
Bits of bacon! Well that is a good way to make your bird to have a heart attack or a stroke!
hey patsy seo, my amazon is afraid of water too, I was wondering what I was doing wrong, I had to get him a big water bowl so he could bath in it he usually loves to bath in it when i am vacuuming, weird huh?. my babies love the crusts off my multigrain toast so I can’t wait to try the tahini butter so I will try that, and he loves noodles and I can my own tomatoes and sauce so I will try that great ideas thanxs!
This is mostly all common sense and I’ve been doing this with my greys and caiques twice a week. I find that if I do it more often, they start to rely on it and leave their rowdy bush.
Someone told me that dairy prducts were too hard for a bird to digest. I have avoided themup until now but plan on trying out yoghurt and cottage cheese in my bird’s diet.
These are nice suggestion, my Conure is a picky eater. I’m going to try these recipes to see if he like them.
My Umbrella cockatoo LOVES OATMEAL! Whenever I make oatmeal for breakfast, I keep a big spoonful out for her. I cool it enough to make a marble-sized glob. Then I ask her if she’s a good bird. She enthusiastically bobs her head up and down (YES) before she gets her treat.
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