Customer Reviews

The Healthy Bird Cookbook: A Lifesaving Nutritional Guide and Recipe Collection

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm by no means a parrot expert but do know a fair amount about nutrition. Honestly, I found this book lacking much *parrot specific* information at all. The author admits that most of the information is based on human nutrition info because not a lot is known about parrot nutrition. (Granted, if true, this isn't the author's fault ... except the book's title might be less misleading if it were "Recipes your Parrots Might Enjoy").

The book, though, was basically a listing of nutrients and their functions in the body, followed by a bunch of recipes that I could easily get from any cookbook or online. The most "novel" recipe suggestion was to leave the egg shells on the eggs in your parrots' recipes?

What I was hoping for were some guidelines about parrot nutrition, as compared with human nutrition. Maybe if, in addition to the recipes, there were some suggested feeding schedules (so one could get an idea about relationship between the parrots' needs for fat, protein, carbs, etc.) that would be helpful.

I did learn conures need less protein and more vitamin K than other parrots. Unfortunately, though, this book leaves me with no idea about how much protein and vitamin K "other parrots" need. Or carlories or carbs or ...

There were also some factual problems with this book. Banana peels may be contaminated with monkey urine? Maybe this was a joke but it didn't stand out as such, in such a "fact free" environment. Also, the bit about the dark part of fruit flesh, around the seed, being toxic? I can't find anything coroborating this online.

It was good that she spoke out against all-seed diets and promotes the idea of fresh, home-cooked food for parrots. The book provides a summary of nutrition information that I might pull out once in a while but only because this book isn't as heavy as my "real" nutrition book but otherwise, not that useful. We eat fairly healthy ourselves and we'll share our food with our parrot, in addition to added nuts and fruits. Other than trying to add some vitamin K to our future BCC's diet, nothing else different than we'd planned to do.

Wish I'd checked this book out from the library instead of spilling out the cash for it. Had I checked it out first, I definitely wouldn't have purchased it.

There are a multitude of great recipes in this book. However, the author states things not to give your birds, ie sugar, and then includes recipes with sugar. I was also very disappointed to see the recommendation of adding Kaytee pellets to several of the recipes. Most Kaytee foods have ethoxyquin which is the worse preservative used and a known carcinogen. There are other brands out there. Was she paid by Kaytee to endorse their product?

Excellent book. It's about time a book like this was available. The minute I opened it I made several of the recipes for my birds. They loved all the ones I made. Even my pickiest eater loved them. I thought that the information on nutrition was very well written. The recipes are easy to make with clear instructions. Many of the recipes have photos so you know what they should look like. I highly recommend this book for anyone who owns a bird who cares about their health and whether or not they are eating right.

We are five parrots known as the Feathered Zoo. Four of us prefer veggies and one of us prefers fruit. After awhile though, we would get tired of eating the same thing. We would just pick at it or in our big brothers case, it would become a flying menu when he'd throw it out of his dish onto the floor.

The recipes in this book however, have gotten us to eat again by giving us more variety and textures. Mom says the recipes are simple and easy. She didn't really change our diet, she just added to it and learned to present our favorite foods in new ways.

We here at the Feathered Zoo are not only eating more but we are eating more healthy. Even the big guy doesn't throw his food like before which is good because we were getting tired of being hit it the head with flying broccoli and mango.

Thanks for such a wonderful book -- The Feathered Zoo -- SD Rentzel's Sweeties Telula, SD Rentzel's Chief White Eagle, SD Rentzel's Wolfgang's Lady Mozart, SD Rentzel's KSA's Wayward Angel and SD Rentzel's Rio Sambu's Lakes Evening Prelude.

Robin Deutsch is a bird owner and a bird trainer. She began cooking for her birds back when it was acceptable and common to feed a seed only diet to pet birds.

The book contains 150 recipes designed for companion birds - from finches to macaws and all birds in between. The recipes are not specifically for any particular species, so there is no reason you can not try all of them on your bird(s) to see what is liked.

Before getting to the recipes, you can read about the making of pellets and about seeds and the reasons to include both in your bird's diet along with some healthy cooked foods.

Fruits, vegetables, grains, dairly products, meats, nuts, fats amd oils are listed, giving the nutritional values, benefits and uses.

The list of foods to avoid gives the reasons to avoid these foods. Many of them are common sense (such as alcohol), but several may be items that you would not think if you are new to birdkeeping.

Looking at the recipes themselves, I feel that many of them would be fine for your birds or even for you.

Some of the recipes I would not recommend. I would not considered a packaged macaroni & cheese dinner as healthy, whether good things are mixed into it or not. I would also avoid packaged pancake, waffle and cornmeal mixes, although these are used in some of the recipes as well. These packaged basics may be convenient, but a healthier alternative could be prepared by using basic ingredients instead.

Some of the recipes do appear to be quite good and you are (of course) free to subsitute ingredients for something that you have on hand. Often, all we need is the idea and we can follow through with a version that our own bird will love.

I have to admit that I was getting hungry looking at the pictures of some of these meals.

This should be a part of every pet bird's book library. Birds like a variety and this is a great book to have on hand. I have 2 other recipe books and this one is a great addition. I have conures, and one very picky green cheek conure. I have tried the Birdie Breakfast, Birdie Cereal, South of the border muffins, and a few other recipes. I must say they love them (even my picky guy) and I think they're tasty for humans. I would highly recommend this book!

I purchased this cookbook after bringing home my red-front macaw. Being a family cook I found that the actual cookbook portion was at best...average and had nothing that I hadn't experimented with already. The actual recipes only fill the last half of the book. (Please keep in mind that I had researched, attended many seminars and started supporting a bird club BEFORE I ever bought my macaw.)BUT if your new to the parrot world it is worth the money for the dietary reference and some of the basic cooking ideas. It will get our creative cooking ideas flowing.

This book has good ideas and good intentions. It seems to be geared toward a lot of recipes that include pellets. If there is an ingredient in the recipe that your bird can't eat, (colored pellets, or large amounts of pellets) use your imagination and substitute it for something that your bird likes or needs for vitamins. Good ideas that need to be adjusted for specific parrots.

This book taught me a lot about bird nutrition. I own three different parrots with three different nutritional needs and this book described each and helped me pick those recipes that will take care of them. I learned which fruits and veggies have the proper vitamins needed for each.

I have tried several recipes at the time of this review and they did not fail to please at least one of my birds. I plan on trying many more and then I plan on foing back and altering some of the others to please the tastes of my clan.

This book is a must if you want your bird to have a great and healthy life.

My Senegal has enjoyed the foods made from this book. I feel I'm finally giving him the nutrition he needs to stay healthy.
We've been having problems with feather picking and when we ruled out exercise, toys, humidity and attention deficits one of the last things we could attribute it to was diet. Since I've started to make him varied foods from this book I've noticed a distinct change in his attitude and energy level...he just seems happier. Guess I would be too if I didn't have to eat the same thing everyday.

Anyway, thanks to the author for thinking these recipes up.