Cockateils/Lovebirds/Finches

[cdennis1]

Can cockateils and finches and lovebirds eat fresh soy beans?
I am asking for my sister and my mom and myself !
My sister lives in the country and has a feiild of these growing right beside her.
We were just curious.
Thanks
Cindy ( Smokey's Mommy )

[CrazyBirdLady]

From http://www.holisticbirds.com/Hbn02/a...es/foodpp5.htm

Birds do forage legumes in nature. Some of these are from vines that climb trees and some are from leguminous trees and shrubs. Red fronted Macaws, for example forage mesquite beans in their natural savannah habitat. The rainforest also grows varieties of legumes. However, birds in nature would consume these while they are fresh and green or ripe rather than dried and cooked.

Legumes tend to be high in protein and carbohydrates and low in fats but different varieties contain different levels of nutrients and Antinutrients. The legumes we feed them are unlikely to be similar to those they consume in their countries of origin and certainly not in the form we feed them except as sprouts or fresh.

One legume about which there is much controversy is soy. Soy Online Services, an organization of private citizens with a mission to inform the public of the truth about soy, became concerned about the toxicity of soy because of its effects on animals. They report: "The harm that soy causes animals has been known for decades, but this fact currently appears to be ignored by manufacturers of animal feeds. The use of formulated bird feeds that contained soy coincided with thousands of bird deaths and disorders. These effects were widespread and were reported by many of New Zealand's leading parrot breeders.

Among the effects seen by these bird breeders were:

beak and bone deformities
goiter
immune system disorders
infertility
premature maturation (bird breeders were finding that their birds 'colored-up' after just a few months, a fact that wasn't missed by one bird food manufacturer who actually used this fact in promotional material )"
Soybeans contain several phytochemicals in relatively high concentrations, including lectins, phytosterols, phytic acid, saponins, protease inhibitors, a variety of phenolic acids and isoflavones. Some of these phytochemicals in soy play dual roles of being beneficial and also as Antinutrients.

We've never offered them raw, but that is just our preference. I'm positive I've seen dried ones is seed mixes too, so hopefully someone can answer the question for you.

[cdennis1]

Thank You for that information
We didn't know thought we would ask
Thanks Again
Cindy and Smokey

[tielfan]

A bird-nutrition group that I belong to is firmly anti-soy, and not enthusiastic about beans in general. They recommend that you cook most beans/legumes before giving them to your bird, but say it's OK to serve the following sprouted but not cooked: mung, adzuki, lentils, peas, and (I think) garbanzos.