Reply With QuoteI give the palm oil to my grey and conure but not the actual palm nuts from Florida which is not the same palm nuts that are available to them in their natural environment.
We give Adaya and my daughter's finches palm oil, and have seen the positive affects.
I have been following the message regarding the actual palm nuts available in Fl. Has anyone used both and seen a difference?
I give the palm oil to my grey and conure but not the actual palm nuts from Florida which is not the same palm nuts that are available to them in their natural environment.
Never take life seriously, no one gets out alive anyway!
Stick with the Red Palm Oil regimen. Those that do eat a palm nut here or there do not eat nearly the amount consumed in the wild daily. The RPO is concentrated and gives your Grey the dose it needs.
Within all of us is a varying amount of space lint and star dust, the residue from our creation. Most are too busy to notice it, and it is stronger in some than others. It is strongest in those of us who fly and is responsible for an unconscious, subtle desire to slip into some wings and try for the elusive boundaries of our origin. ~K.O. Eckland, "Footprints On Clouds"
Dayo in flight....
Thank you! I will stick with the red palm oil!
I believe the nut is more nutritious than the oil.
What does the red palm oil do??
Muat admit we use the palm nuts for 2 reasons, the nutrition and also the pleasure the birds get out of sitting there munching away on their palm nuts. I try to give them 2 palm nuts a day
In their native Africa the palm nuts are a plentiful part of their diet and it contributes to their lovely plumage plus I believe there are some nutrients they get from eating them.
The point is, they eat MANY Palm Nuts in the wild, not just 2. They will not get the same nutrition from such a low intake as they will if you also add the Palm Oil to part of the foods they eat.
Feeding them Palm Nuts, as many of us do is a great treat for them and the additional nutrients from them not contained in the Oil that has been extract is certainly beneficial too.
But, keep in mind, the Palm Nuts obtained here in the states is NOT the same variety as found in African and does not contain the Red Palm Oil or it's other properties.
Within all of us is a varying amount of space lint and star dust, the residue from our creation. Most are too busy to notice it, and it is stronger in some than others. It is strongest in those of us who fly and is responsible for an unconscious, subtle desire to slip into some wings and try for the elusive boundaries of our origin. ~K.O. Eckland, "Footprints On Clouds"
Red Palm Oil is derived from the fruit of the dende palm, which is native to Africa. However, there are two types of palm oil that are sold; red palm oil which is made from the fruit of the palm and palm kernel oil which is made from the seed/nut of the palm. It's very important to make sure you are only buying unrefined RED palm oil that is NOT from the kernel, as the kernel type does not have the same nutrients as the red palm oil and has a much different ratio of fatty acids. (I'm sure feeding nuts in small quantities is no big deal, but it's important to understand that the nut is NOT the most nutritious part for your bird.) There are several studies which suggest the high levels of Vitamin E & tocopherals/tocotrienols in red palm oil actually help reduce cholesterol and improve the body's overall health and immune defense, but if you're only feeding the palm kernel oil then you're getting a lot more fat and a lot less cholesterol reduction. Translating this to parrots, it's been theorized that the high incidences of heart attack in captive African greys are due not so much to terrible frights or freak accidents as to a diet rich in seeds and the saturated fat diets of their owners. Although minimizing seed intake is going to be beneficial to reducing the risk of heart attack, supplementing the diet with red palm oil may also have a significant impact. A search of "red palm oil health" will return a bunch of articles on the health benefits of red palm oil.
There is a large quantity of palm oil products made in South America and Malaysia which are made from the KERNEL and not the fruit, so be careful when buying this for your birds. Don't buy anything that doesn't specifically say "made from the fruit, not the kernel." (Jungle Products is what I use and is a very high quality product. I get a 16 oz jar for $12 from Whole Foods and it lasts me about 5-6 months.)
Observations of wild greys show that greys forage the palm fruit (the fleshy pulp that surrounds the nut, which is where the oil is extracted from) as part of their normal daily diet. It has been suggested that because the palm oil has such a high concentration of specific nutrients (including high beta-carotenes, Vitamin E and Vitamin A), many of the problems seen in captive greys (including arterioscleroisis/heart attack, seizures, plucking, hypocalcemia, chronic sickness, dry skin etc) can be "cured" by adding red palm oil to the bird's diet.
There's tons of anecdotal evidence that suggests the above is true. From my own experience, Athena gets about 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon a day and goes nuts whenever she sees the jar of oil. She loves the stuff and will literally try to stick her head in the jar to eat it. (Which means that if I want her to eat something she doesn't like, I just melt some palm oil, coat the food and wha-la, my bird eats her broccoli without a fight! Of course, it also means I often have an orange-headed bird.) I've noticed a significant difference in the sheen of her plumage, her tail feathers are a beautiful deep red, her foot scales are shiny and black, and she is very active and playful. She has never been sick. If she gets a bump on the head (from over-zelous playing), I dab a little palm oil on it and it heals up almost instantly (thanks to the loads of vitamin A).
Some great links on this:
http://www.holisticbirds.com/pages/palmoiltrials0803.htm
http://www.americanpalmoil.com/faq.html#1
http://www.junglepi.com/products/source_tour.html
Post edited by: zandische, at: 2009/03/14 01:12<br><br>Post edited by: zandische, at: 2009/03/14 01:17
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