Sweet potatoes, nut butters, colorful and flavorful juices, and natural applesauce are a few of the ways to tempt birds into trying sprouts for the first time. Most birds cannot resist corn which can grated into the sprouts mixture until the birds discover that they like them plain. Sprouts may well be the single most important food that we can provide our parrots. I have seen firsthand the positive effect that this dynamic food can have on their overall health. However, I do not believe that any one food is sufficient to meet their nutritional requirements nor their psychological need for variety in their diet.
Sprouts also can make a positive contribution to the health of baby parrots.
They are sought after by parent birds who often eat all of the sprouts in their dish first. They are then fed to their babies, which may be the next best thing to feeding their chicks the live foods that they might find if they were living in their natural habitat. A new trend in handfeeding is the addition of blended or pureed sprouts to handfeeding formula. The easily digested nutrition and the natural immune-building qualities of sprouts seem to get chicks off to a better start than does formula alone. Aviculturists have reported greater weight gains and earlier weaning of chicks that are fed sprouts.