05Jan/19

What about “Pet Food”?

January 5, 2019UncategorizedDeAnna Hicks, RN

In years past, the concept of what to feed a companion parrot was typically limited to bags of “bird seed” mixes of dubious ingredients and quality. Most were “animal feed” grade offerings,

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04Jan/19

Keep it clean!

January 4, 2019Healthy Food#ICookForParrots, feeding parrots, Food prep, food safety, healthy foodsDeAnna Hicks, RN

Let’s start out by discussing aseptic technique. What is that? Well, it means, without germs. Aseptic technique eliminates as many pathogens (illness-causing organisms) as possible. Why is that important? When you are

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01Sep/18

In Season?

September 1, 2018Healthy Foodfeeding parrots, food as medicine, healthy diet, healthy foods, Parrot nutrition, real foodDeAnna Hicks, RN

What do we mean when we say we feed “in season”? It means we focus on what it ripe now, locally. All spring and summer long, we feed what’s currently ripening as

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25Jul/18

Buyer Beware – for the sake of your birds

July 25, 2018Bird SafetyBird safety, Buyer Beware, hazards to birds, herbal medications, supplements for birdsDeAnna Hicks, RN

(Author’s note: This blog entry was originally published on March 20, 2017 on our standalone WordPress blog at avianrefuge.wordpress.com – link here – however since launching our new website, we have integrated

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20Jun/18

Help! My bird won’t eat fresh foods!

June 20, 2018Healthy Foodfeeding parrots, healthy foods, introducing new foods, no pellets, picky eatersDeAnna Hicks, RN

We hear this quite often from those who have tried feeding fresh food only to have it completely ignored. Our first answer is: “Don’t give up!” Persistence is important, but probably even

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17Jun/18

What’s in store?

June 17, 2018Healthy Foodcoming soon, healthy foods, news, updatesDeAnna Hicks, RN

Coming up – We will have posts on sprouting, posts on dehydrating, posts on baking healthy for birds, posts on quick shortcuts that still enable you to feed a healthy diet of

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16Apr/18

Feeding the Flock, Chapter Two – The HOW

April 16, 2018Healthy Foodhealthy foods, no pellets, Parrot nutritionDeAnna Hicks, RN

Our goal sounds simple: to provide proper nutrition for captive parrots. We’ve already covered why we don’t view manufactured pellets as an option. But how else can we provide “complete nutrition”? Before

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14Apr/18

Feeding the Flock, Chapter One – the WHY

April 14, 2018Healthy Foodfeeding parrots, food as medicine, healthy diet, healthy foods, no pellets, real foodDeAnna Hicks, RN

The bar has long hung very low in feeding companion animals. The “animal feed industry” has commonly been the profitable place to dump waste from human food processing. Ingredients like “wheat middlings”

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