Dried Fruit Mania

[Carbon]

Apart from bananas, Nara seems to prefer dried fruits to fresh ones. Apples, pears, etc end up everywhere except inside her mouth, but the dried fruits she holds with her leg and delicately chews through them till the very last bite. I got her a bag of dried appricote, pinapple, papaya, coconut, apple, banana, and raisins from the bird store. They're really tasty and, unlike those you get at the grocery store, they're free from sulfites. We both love snacking on them. Yum!

[xafsmom]

I buy my dried fruits and veg from a local fruit market. They don't add any additives to it. It's a 'green' market. I end up buying two bags, one for the birds, one for me!

[LovelySydney]

Thats awesome - Ive always wondered about dried fruit but never have bought it, just for fear that they wont eat it. Neko pretty much eats anything he possibly can so I think it would be a hit in this house!! Oliver would probably eat it too, Emi Im not sure. I will try to find them organic, I dont need all the processed stuff.

[ConureLove]

Koki [when not being ill] loves pineapple. It was actually surprising to see how much he enjoyed it. He only likes naturally sweet pineapple, and he smells so lovely after eating some. He also enjoys eating cherries, holding them in his claws and chewing on the pit... hm, strawberries are also a favourite. I've found that he really detests dried fruit. He also loves cucumber, which is helpful during his moult.

[RockysMom]

I wonder if Rocky would eat dried fruit, he loves the fresh stuff, but maybe I should try some just as a snack.

[ebruder]

Dried figs are ambrosia to Milton. His eyes glaze over as he consumes the food of the gods.

EB

[NotEnoughTime]

Dried fruit is so much like candy to a bird...

A dired apple slice is more than ten times the amount of apple that I would normally give my girl if I gave "fresh" apple. The fruit sugars are quite concentrated in dried fruit. As a result is quite understandable that parrots (and us) like it...

But is it very good for them?

As a treat - it should be OK to feed small amounts of dried fruit... But keep in mind that this should be a "treat" and not a "staple" item in the diet.

Just my opinion anyway...

[Carbon]

Since you can't increase the amount of sugar in a piece of fruit by drying it, if you give the bird the equivalent amount of fresh fruit in dry form, s'all good. What's increased is the amount of sugar per volume, or amount of sugar per total weight, but the amount of intake remains the same if you give an equivalent portion. I give Nara roughly the same sized slices of dried fruit as I would fresh. She just likes them more and ends up eating the whole thing. Aside from fresh fruits being mostly water, 98% of a slice of apple in her cage will end up on the walls, ceiling, my ears, and between my toes. Bananas on the other hand, she will consume like a vacuum cleaner.

[jenseits]

Oh yeah, dried fruit is like candy to them. Both mine like it; Stewie especially. Lots of sugar! :) You can find it cheaper at the grocery story (as soon as you slap a bird logo on something, it's automatically 3x more expensive), just make sure that you get the stuff that doesn't have the extra preservatives n' junk.

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by jenseits

Oh yeah, dried fruit is like candy to them. Both mine like it; Stewie especially. Lots of sugar! :) You can find it cheaper at the grocery story (as soon as you slap a bird logo on something, it's automatically 3x more expensive), just make sure that you get the stuff that doesn't have the extra preservatives n' junk.

You're absolutely right. What I need to do is find it at the organic store, I'm sure it'll be cheaper there. The ones at my local grocery store are loaded with sulfoxides I'm sure.