Any one feeding hemp seeds?

[ShellyBorg]

Costco has a great price on Hemp seeds and Chia seeds. Any one else feeding these to there fids? I can see the Chia seeds put in chop to help keep it from being to "wet" , but I can not find much on feeding hemp to parrots.

[spiritbird]

When I had my grey I included these in her diet. Now I feed unhulled sesame seeds for the calcium.

[Blancaej]

Great suggestion Dianne!

[spiritbird]

Hemp seeds are so much better to feed female parrots because flax seeds are a phytoestrogen and may promote egg laying. (learned that from Phoenix Landing). Some parrot owners have gone so far as not to include any soy products in bird's diet.

[Animalman2046]

Hemp seed?????? Is that the seed from pot? OMG!

[ShellyBorg]

Hemp seed?????? Is that the seed from pot? OMG!

Same class, but you can not get high from commercial hemp nor will the seeds sprout. :)

[JLcribber]

You have to be careful feeding Hemp seed to hens. Chicken breeders have been using it for years to bring them into breeding condition. It does the same thing to parrots. If you have a hen that is prone to laying eggs you really don't want to encourage that and hemp seed will.

That said Hemp seed is a very healthy nutritious thing for birds to eat. It's one of the few complete vegetable proteins that there is as well as having a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals that are very beneficial. The Chia seed is high in omega 3's which is an immune system booster.

I make a concoction that I consider a super food. I call it "Parrot Butter". I've never met a parrot that will refuse a piece of white bread with butter on it. Neither is good for them so that's when I came up with Parrot Butter.

I use raw organic coconut oil, hemp seed, chia seed and a little bit of Red Palm Oil. I serve it on a piece of whole multi grain piece of bread. It's great to put some weight on a thin bird and the coconut oil actually helps an over weight bird reduce weight.

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[ShellyBorg]

Thanks! I will make some of that up for Danny, he had a bad start in life and is a recovering 5 year old seed junky. He needs good nutrition and some weight lose!

[Geff]

I offer my birds Hemp seed, purely as a treat, my Macaw who'm I've only had since June this year, does recall for a few of these seeds, it is a handy treat, not too large, and quite healthy. :th_biggrin:

[spiritbird]

You may want to add unhulled sesame seeds to the mixture as they are 35% calcium. I get them in an oriental grocery store.

[Honesty]

Thanks for that Geff and welcome to the forum:)

[Feathers First Aviary]

I get hemp seed from herman bros seed company. I feed it to all our parent birdies, they really like it and it tends to help put them in the mood ;)

[Garnet]

I've used hemp seed as a treat for my birds for years. When I want to encourage a good behavior I always use hemp as an incentive. My birds love them. Normally I give them about four or five seeds in their treat bowls and they will eat them and beg for more. I have mostly females in my little flock so I don't want to encourage any kind of egg laying. I've also used sesame seeds and chia seeds but my fids seem to prefer the hemp. Hemp isn't from pot it is from the source used to make hemp rope and cannot be imported so we consider it safer to use. It is also sterile, so no way it will sprout. Good luck, I hope your birds enjoy their hemp.