Vegetables, porridge oats, cooked rice, and fruits without seeds. These are simply a few of the traditional foods that your bird can have.
There’s also a list of food that you should not feed your birds. Avocado, milk, and seeds from fruits are ones to name a few. So, can birds eat chia seeds after all?
Can birds eat chia seeds?
Birds can certainly eat chia seeds as chia seeds are considered to be healthy for them. Seeds should make up for 10% of a bird’s diet and chia seed can be fed either raw or soaked to a bird. Chia seeds are full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and can provide birds with calcium and protein.
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Can baby birds eat chia seeds?
Believe it or not, baby birds have a surprisingly high hunger and nutrition need. They might have to eat every 10 to 15 minutes!
Their food needs to be rich in protein and chia seeds are one such source. Baby birds can also eat chia seeds but only in moderation.
It is also important to remember that feeding a baby bird hard raw chia seeds is not a good idea. Instead, you can soak the seeds in water to make a pudding to make sure they don’t choke on it.
Will birds eat chia seeds?
Unless you have completely altered your bird’s diet and replaced all its favorite food with dry chia seeds, your bird will eat chia seed.
To start off, it is a good idea to sprinkle a little bit of chia seed in your bird’s bowl of chop. Whether it is fruits, vegetables, or cooked kitchen food, your bird would swallow the food with interest.
You can also soften your bird’s chia seed by soaking it in water for some time. If you think your bird is reluctant to eat raw seeds, adding the gooey texture can also work its magic.
Can birds eat raw chia seeds?
Birds are totally fine with having raw chia seeds. Raw chia seeds do not hurt or harm a bird’s health and can be eaten without grinding or softening.
However, whether you are feeding raw chia seed, ground, or soaked, it is always vital to maintain moderate amounts. Adding too many chia seeds to your bird’s diet, that is to say, more than 10% of their daily dietary measures, would topple the nutrition value instead.
If, however, you have a baby bird that you need to feed, it would not be wise to feed them with raw chia seeds.
Although digestion would not be an issue, they might choke on dry food. Hence, you can make a small amount of chia pudding soaked in water to give to a baby bird.
4 reasons to feed birds chia seeds:
Chia seeds must be one of the best all rounder foods to feed your bird and there’s a good reason why. Here are 4 such reasons that would make you add chia seeds to your bird’s diet if its not already on it:
Can be a safe source of calcium:
As you probably already know, birds are lactose intolerant. This means they are unable to digest lactose, and hence any dairy product that you can think of.
Although birds need calcium in their body, especially for their bones, they are unable to get so through the most calcium rich food that is dairy.
Chia seeds, fortunately, are jam packed with calcium and are one of the best sources of calcium for your bird.
Is a Bank of other nutrients:
There’s no end to the list of nutrients, proteins, and antioxidants chia seed can provide to your bird. For example, these seeds are high in amino acids that help the birds digest the protein content in chia seeds.
Additionally, a majority of chia seed nutrition value also consists of omega 3 fatty acids. Other antioxidants, manganese, thiamin, fiber, and phosphorus are all added to the bird’s diet through one food, is chia seed.
Furthermore, the high fat content in chia seeds also keeps the brain functionality of your bird highly active and healthy.
Acts as an energy booster:
Chia seeds are one of the rare raw and natural sources of nutrients that a bird can have without intaking any additional processed ingredients. That is why chia seeds are such a great energy boosting food for your birds.
Sometimes, no matter how much your bird is eating, slight neglect can cause nutrient deficits, causing them to become lazy and lethargic. Like humans, they also need their vitamins and minerals for active body functions.
Sprinkle a little chia seed on your birds’ bowl of food to let them have a dose of natural energy booster.
Can be a versatile food:
We don’t like having the same food every day, especially when it comes to balancing the diet and having healthy food. Because mostly, healthy food is not the world’s tastiest.
Our favorite benefit of feeding your birds some chia seeds is how you can be creative with the food. Whether it is raw, with fruits, or in the form of pudding, chia seeds can be fed to the birds in a fun and tasty way.
Are chia seeds safe for birds to eat?
Chia seeds are certainly safe for birds to eat and do not contain any harmful or hard digestive ingredients. As chia seeds are full of protein, calcium, omega 3 fats, and other antioxidants that would be highly beneficial to a bird’s health.
However, like any seed that you may want to feed your bird, moderation is key. It could be helpful to remember that seeds should only make up to 10% of a bird’s diet, no more than that.
Will chia seeds hurt birds?
Chia seeds are one of the safer seeds for birds as they are easy to digest and swallow. The seeds are tiny enough to swallow and do not become hard upon swallowing.
If you are to feed chia seeds to your bird, it’s easy to go overboard and feed them a bit too much. As a rule of thumb, your bird’s diet should not contain any more than 10% of feed in the total amount of food they eat in a day.
As long as you feed chia seeds in moderation, either raw, mixed or soaked, they would be nourishing to your bird’s blood, flesh and bone health.
How to prepare and serve chia seeds to birds?
There are a number of ways in which you can prepare and serve chia seeds to birds, and your bird will devour all the nutrients without making a fuss.
Sprinkle on any bird food:
What’s so convenient about a super food like chia seed is how you can simply add it to whatever your bird is eating without much thinking. If you try to feed your bird raw chia seeds, it would be unappetizing to them.
They might even avoid eating it. Adding it to their usual food means they are getting the fats, vitamins, and minerals whilst having a feast on their taste buds. Whether you are giving them a smoothie or bowl of cooked food, add an appropriate amount.
Add to their chop:
Your bird surely eats their share of chop, as every bird does. Chop is a mix of fresh vegetables, fruits, or even cooked food that makes for a bird’s diet.
Adding chia seed to your bird’s chop is like adding nuts to your oats. It increases the food’s nutrient value manifolds while adding the missing calcium value as well.
Among fruits and vegetables to avoid, keep away from avocado or head lettuce to add to their chop. Also, remember to not add any fruits with seeds in the chop.
Make chia pudding:
When you soak chia seeds in water for one to two hours, they take the consistency of a pudding. This gelatin-like consistency is interesting to birds as they like to have textured food.
Since your bird cannot have dairy, almond milk can also be used instead of water. Add fresh fruits to add some sweetness and color to the chia pudding and watch your bird eat them all.
While the gelatin texture works, adding too much water to your chia seeds would make it drippy and make your bird avoid taking a bite.
What seeds are bad for birds?
Not all seeds are great for bird’s health. Some seeds can be harmful when given in more quantities than required. The following is a list of seeds that you can avoid feeding to your birds or may look for better alternatives:
- Apple seeds
- Most fruit seeds
- Grapeseed
- Canary Seed
- Red Millet
- Golden Millet
- Flax
Do wild birds eat chia seeds?
Wild birds can also have chia seeds just like garden or house birds. The diet of wild birds is not much different from house birds although their need for protein is more as they live on worms more often.
Chia seeds, as we know, are an excellent source of protein and can make up for other vitamins, antioxidants, and calcium in a bird’s diet as well.
Birds, wild birds, and baby birds can have chia seeds but the composition of chia seeds can only be up to 10% of their daily diet. Chia seeds can provide your birds with useful protein, vitamins, and antioxidants. It can also give them the necessary calcium that their bones need.