As humans we know adding more greens into our diet is never a bad thing, the problem is they aren’t as delicious as a pizza are they? The benefits that green vegetables bring to the table are really worth considering eating them more even if it’s just once a day.
This brought me to thinking does the same apply to my parrot so I researched and have put it into this article for fellow Parrot owners to use as a guide.
Let’s get into it… can Parrots eat broccoli? Yes Parrots can eat broccoli and it’s actually encouraged that they do considering the fantastic vitamins and nutrients they contain. There are practically no downsides to feeding it to your bird and will only enhance it’s life.
In this article I’m going to highlight the benefits of broccoli, if parrots can eat it raw and other things you should know before giving it to your bird so read on!
Broccoli Benefits For Parrots
We know Broccoli is a good addition to our parrots diet, but just how good is it? Let’s take a closer look at the nutritional information.
The nutrition facts for 1 cup (91 grams) of raw broccoli are :
- Calories: 31
- Water: 89%
- Protein: 2.5 grams
- Carbs: 6 grams
- Sugar: 1.5 grams
- Fiber: 2.4 grams
- Fat: 0.4 gram
You can see broccoli is almost 90% water, meaning broccoli is a fantastic food to not only give your bird vital vitamins and nutrients, but also a fantastic food to keep your Parrot hydrated!
Another good thing to see is that broccoli only contains 31 calories in 91 grams! This means you don’t need worry about your Parrot getting fat for snacking on broccoli. I’m tempted to add more broccoli into my own diet after seeing that.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is an antioxidant that fights against free radicals in the body meaning it prevents harm from things like cancer and heart disease. If that’s not good enough reason to give your parrot enough vitamin C then it also has a wide variety of other health benefits.
This wonderful vitamin is also responsible for keeping a healthy immune system, maintaining healthy skin, blood vessels and even helps with wound healing.
Vitamin K1
Broccoli contains high amounts of vitamin K1, which is important for blood clotting and healing cuts to prevent excess bleeding.
Potassium
Potassium is an electrolyte and mineral found in many foods, one of which is broccoli. It assists in so many bodily functions for your parrot that it’s essential they get enough of it in their diet.
The advantages of potassium include :
- Muscle contractions
- Helps with blood pressure
- Aids in digestion
- Regulates water in the body
- Maintains a healthy heart rhythm
If you want some other foods with high potassium that your parrot can eat consider bananas, oranges pineapples, beans and nuts.
Manganese
Manganese helps form an antioxidant called superoxide dismutase. Antioxidants are great from protecting your parrot from a thing called free radicals, which are things that can build up in the body and cause harm.
It also helps your feathered friend by supporting bone health, reducing blood sugar and with blood clotting by healing wounds.
Iron
Iron is an important mineral that’s vital for lot’s of bodily functions. These things include the transportation of oxygen in red blood cells.
It also improves energy, boosts your birds immune system and helps regulate their body temperature.
Provides Antioxidants
The antioxidants in broccoli is what it most appealing and make it such an attractive food to have in your parrots diet.
In the body there can be a build up of free radicals which cause cell damage and damage your birds overall health, however antioxidants work to neutralize free radicals and prevent any harm from happening, which makes them so efficient.
How You Should Feed Broccoli To Your Parrot
You can feed your parrot raw or cooked broccoli both are completely safe for your pet.
If you want to feed broccoli on it’s own you can do that however I prefer to serve it as a warm chop with other vegetables mixed in. That way is he not only getting the benefits of broccoli, but the added vitamins and nutrients from other great foods like cabbage, bell peppers, carrots and asparagus.
Can Parrots Eat Frozen Broccoli?
Just like raw broccoli, frozen broccoli is also fine for your pet to eat. The only thing is parrots would enjoy it warmer. Also if it’s raw broccoli bought from a supermarket then just be aware that it would typically be worse in nutrients compared to if you were to buy fresh organic broccoli.
What Other Foods Can Your Parrot Eat?
You know Parrots can eat broccoli but it’s never a bad thing to always be on the lookout for other nutritious foods your Parrot can have in their diet.
So what other foods can your Parrot eat?
- Fruit & Vegetables
Foods like asparagus, spinach, carrots, peppers, bananas, blueberries and pineapples are all fine and encouraged for your Parrot to eat.
- Nuts
Things like almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pistachios and walnuts can be fed to your parrot. Just be wary of the fat content in some of them so they may need to be treated as a snack for your Parrot. We don’t want them getting fat!
Broccoli For Parrots – Final Thoughts
Broccoli is one of my favorite foods and hopefully after this post it’s one of your parrots too. It’s not only completely safe for your parrot to eat but the wide variety of possible benefits it will give to your parrot make it an encouraged vegetable to have in their diet.
They can have it raw or cooked, however mine likes his hot so I steam it for him and throw in some other of his favorite vegetables.
I know your parrot will enjoy this crunchy new treat in their diet!
