Oxalic Acid in Fresh Parrot Foods

[spiritbird]

I thought a bit of nutritional education would be nice for our members. If you do not know what Oxalic Acid is I will tell you. This chemical that is naturally in some of our foods may reduce calcium uptake in our birds. Oxalic acid crystals can form in the birds body from an excess of oxalic for a reason unknown. From Parrots Magazine I give you the following content of some of the foods we feed:

Parsley = 170 mg/10g
Purslane = 131
Amaranth = 109
Spinach = 97
Beet greens = 61

The calcium in the foods bind with the acid and cancel eachother out, hence no calcium is absorbed.

This is why you may hear that parsley is not good to feed our birds. My birds love it and I do feed it about 2 times per week. These type of foods listed above should be fed in moderation as you know calcium is very important to our birds as well as us.

[coltfire]

ok with the spinach is that all spinach or just certain one's, and if you add a calcium sup is it enough to cancel it out also or does the sup still get through.

[spiritbird]

It would be with all spinach but best to feed organic of any veggie. If you feed these foods in moderation, no more than 3 times per week, you would not need supplementation. I have been studying avian nutrition now for a long time and have attended several seminars on this subject. Spinach is very good for us and our birds but just not every day.
I would be more inclined not to feed too much parsley as spinach is rather low in the list.

If you can get Parrots magazine, published in the UK, there is a complete article on this subject. It is a fantastic publication. I have been receiving it at home now since Bird Talk went out of business.

[Blancaej]

That is great information Dianne. Thanks for sharing!

[coltfire]

ill have to go get it what issue is it in.

[spiritbird]

Issue is #186 July 2013 I do not think you will find it in US stores. The US office number in this issue is
800-294-7951. Web page is [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]

[coltfire]

Issue is #186 July 2013 I do not think you will find it in US stores. The US office number in this issue is
800-294-7951. Web page is [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]

im in oz

[Turquoise]

I have known about oxalic acid dangers for many years. Not only is it not good to feed our feathered kids foods rich in it too often, it does the same thing to lizards and tortoises. That is where I first learned about it. Way back in the early '90s I had 3 iguanas and I first learned about it in the books I had on them.

Thanks Dianne for sharing this with us here. It is always good to remind folks about potential dangers in the foods we take for granted sometimes when taking care of our feathered kids.:th_biggrin: