African Grey Feeding Guide To keep your African Grey Parrot healthy and thriving, offer the most varied diet possible, starting with a high‑quality complete or pelleted food making up around 60–80% of their daily intake. The rest of their diet should include fresh vegetables, sprouting and soaking seeds, fruits fresh or dried nutritious seed mixes, nuts and occasional treats. Popular options include Lafeber NutriBerries, Your Parrot blends and pellets, sprouted seeds rich in enzymes and proteins and vegetables like broccoli, kale and spinach. Fruits such as fig, papaya and mango provide essential vitamins, while nuts and foraging treats offer enrichment and natural behaviours. African Greys also benefit from calcium supplements and fresh water at all times. Introducing new foods gradually helps ensure a balance engaging diet that supports long‑term health.
Keep Your African Grey’s Diet As Varied As Possible
Like with all Parrots, your African Grey’s diet should be as varied as possible, we suggest using a complete or pelleted food as a base diet, approximately 60-80% of their daily intake, with the remainder of the diet comprising of vegetables, sprouting seeds, fruits, nuts, seeds plus other treats.
African Grey Parrots – Feeding
both a heighten awareness of the importance of nutrition and the continuous research into the needs of different bird species. As with all other animals, birds need a proper balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. Different species of birds often have specific nutritional requirements, necessitating different foods being offered. For example, the African grey parrot is more prone to calcium deficiency if fed a predominantly seed-based diet in comparison to other large psittacines.
Should I be concerned about my African grey’s diet?
Commonly, owners assume they are feeding a proper diet to their African grey when, in fact, they are not. Not all pet stores, breeders, or online educational materials will have the most up-to-date guidelines for your African grey parrot’s dietary needs. A qualified avian veterinarian can provide you with the best dietary recommendations for your pet ‘Grey’.
Just like us, birds can survive on poor quality food, but their overall health may be compromised. A bird’s health depends a great deal on how well it is fed and what foods it consumes. The goal should be to help our birds thrive and flourish, not just survive. It is important to note that, while it is important to offer your African grey parrot a well-balance diet, it is even more important that he/she EATS A WELL-BALANCED DIET!
What do African greys eat in the wild?
In the wild, African grey parrots eat a variety of seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, and vegetation. They especially treasure the fruits of the African oil palm, a tree native to their environment.
What should I feed my African grey parrot?
African greys are vulnerable to both calcium and/or vitamin A deficiencies, as well as obesity. Feeding a well-balanced diet and making sure your parrot consumes the proper proportions of foods offered will help prevent the development of these conditions.
“African greys are vulnerable to both calcium and/or vitamin A deficiencies, as well as obesity.”
Although wild African grey parrots have access to seeds all year round, the types of seeds they feed on change throughout the year as different plants come into season. The commercial seed mixes offered to many captive parrots tend to be high in fat and deficient in many nutrients. If these mixes are fed as the only source of food, African grey parrots could become ill and ultimately die prematurely. To make matters worse, birds will often pick through a large bowl of commercial seed mix and selectively eat one or two “favorite” types of seeds, limiting their nutrient intake even further. They often preferentially choose peanuts and sunflower seeds that are particularly high in fat and deficient in calcium, vitamin A, and other nutrients. Their selective appetite can further predispose them to malnutrition.
Pelleted Diets
Commercially available pelleted diets have been develop to meet most of a bird’s nutritional needs. Different formulations are available for different life stages and for the management of certain diseases. There are many good brands of pelleted foods in the marketplace. To suit the preferences of different birds, pellets come in different flavors, colors, shapes, and sizes.
Pellets are the ideal food and should represent approximately 75-80% of your bird’s diet. The remainder of the diet should be comprised of fresh fruits, vegetables, and a small amount of seed if any.
What can African grey parrots eat?
Your African grey should be eating fresh vegetables and fruit, along with pellets or seeds depending on what your bird will accept. You can home cook for your bird to make it more fun.
Diet categories for African grey parrot
For parrot species, four specialized diet categories have evolved, granivory (eating grains and seeds, nectarivory (eating nectar) frugivory (eating fruit) and palinivory (eating pollen).
For some parrots, we consider a fifth and generalist category, omnivory, which is one that combines one or more of the four specialized plant-food categories with animal protein. However controversy exists around the provision of animal protein.
What to feed African greys’
The food choice for all captive birds is now enormous.
Pellets, seeds, grains, sprouts, fruits, vegetables, nuts, flowers, weeds and supplements.
Your first choice is whether seeds or pellets make up the bulk of the diet. Or whether you adopt a new trend which is to use mash and fresh food almost exclusively.
Seeds not pellets are what birds in the wild would eat. But in captivity seeds are lacking in micro-nutrients and should not be use exclusively for your parrot’s diet, as this will lead to poor health.
Neither seeds nor pellets contain enough Vitamin A. For this you need green vegetables and orange fruits.
Whether you offer pellets, seeds or chop as the principal part of the diet, your bird needs fresh produce.
A healthy bird that has been eating correctly will have bright eyes, shiny plumage and an upright stance.
What vegetables can African greys’ eat?
Most vegetables and salad are suitable for greys’. Some providers will avoid mushrooms, garlic and onions; others use them to no ill effect. Their use is controversial.
You can feed celery, spinach, asparagus, cauliflower, corn, spinach, Brussel sprouts, kale, pumpkin, potatoes, collard greens, peas, carrots, cabbage, mustard greens, chillies, yams, and plantains.
Potato and tomato leaves are not suitable. Acorns are another arguing point however my aviary birds enjoy them.
What fruit can African greys’ eat?
You can serve any fruits available. Bananas, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, blackberries, cherries, grapes, kiwi, mango, orange, plums, pomegranate, pawpaw, passion fruit, raspberries, peach, banana peel, pears, raisins, dates, apples, papaya, melon, apricots etc. I have observed that my greys’ prefer tropical fruits to our fruit.
I would wash fruit from an unknown source.
I should note that current views consider commercially grown fruit contains too much sucrose. However, fruit are relished by Grey parrots. Their natural wild food is palm oil fruit. That would be too rich for captive birds except as a rare treat.
What flowers can African greys’ eat?
Greys’ love flowers and most are suitable. Those of us who make salads for our greys’ will use nasturtium, roses and pansies as edible decorations. Most popular with my flock are roses, marigolds and sunflowers which do have food value.
Some flowers are poisonous: Shamrock, holly, poinsettia, datura, laburnum, ivy, mistletoe, daffodils and lilies. A well-fed active Grey won’t generally touch poisonous plants. Although I would avoid having them in the home.
Produce collected out of doors
Some carers cultivate weeds for their flocks. Dandelions for example. Every part of the dandelion from flower to root is a valuable food source.
Chickweed are relish by breeding hens. You can also feed dock leaves, hawthorn berries, cotoneaster berries, milk thistle and similar plants, fir cones and branches.
An excellent addition to a Grey’s diet will also be items like wheat grass, lucerne, alfalfa or parsley that you can grow in pots outside the back door or on the balcony.
It’s sensible to wash produce gather out of doors in a mild disinfectant in case of contaminatio
What nuts can African greys’ eat?
African greys’ love nuts. Any and every variety, shelled or opened. They can eat cashews, brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, macadamias, pecans, hazelnuts, shelled peanuts and pistachios.
Use them sparingly, never more than a few per day, for treats or for training.
The amount of nuts you give depends both on the individual and how much exercise she gets. A busy Grey flying round aviary or house and playing a lot can consume more nuts than a caged bird who doesn’t move much.
In training, breaking the nut up into slivers means that you can ask for more repetitions for any behaviour.
I’d expect an average training session to last up to five minutes and rewards would be three or four slivers of nuts. Pine nuts are valuable as training treats.
Coconuts are generally too hard for a grey’s beak, however empty shells make excellent foraging items
Parrots and pellets
Pellets which are a formulated diet are considered a better choice for many than seeds.
Pretty Bird produces a pellet exclusively for African greys’ and Harrisons organic pellets are also suitable for greys’.
My greys’ cannot be persuade to eat Pretty Bird although a colleague’s Grey, Monty thrives upon them.
It is generally possible to convert a seed eater to a pellet eater however it’s much easier to wean a young parrot onto pellets
Can African greys’ eat meat and animal protein?
Wild parrots are presumed to eat insects and grubs both from chewing bark and fruits. My greys’ when young were once offered a cooked chicken drumstick flesh removed, but no longer showed interest when they were mature.
I asked Alan Jones a senior UK vet, now retired, who told me:
“If you are asking about greys’, yes, certainly they are omnivorous. The Americans have an expression ‘facultative omnivores’ applied to most parrots, meaning that they will eat whatever is available at the time. Certainly, in captivity African grey parrots and other parrots will eat cooked egg, cooked chicken and fish, and cheese. In the wild, parrots will take carrion, fish, grubs and caterpillars, especially when feeding chicks”. Quote obtained December 2020.
I have listened to Alan’s advice in person and from his books and lectures for over twenty years and continue to do so.
Many carers believe animal protein should never be fed. You must make up your mind. Some of us feed eggs. I do myself occasionally provide a hard-boiled egg or a vegetable omelette which I share with the greys’. Some versions of birdy bread contain eggs.
Drinking water for African greys’
Fresh water is essential all the times, so should be changed at least twice a day. Whether you use tap or spring water is a personal choice.
Owners have given anecdotal evidence that a few drops of cider vinegar have helped older birds with arthritis.
How much should you feed an African grey?
My regime is 40% seeds and pellets and 60% fresh food. Which includes a lot of nuts, especially for the active macaws.
I am aware that much current opinion decides 60% should be pellets with 10% seeds on top.
In terms of amount, you should feed around 10% of your bird’s body weight a day.
So a bird weighing 450 grams would receive around 45 grams of foo
How often should I feed my African grey?
Captive parrots are generally fed two or three times a day. How you choose your bird’s mealtimes is a personal decision depending on your lifestyle.
I am an advocate of two meals a day. The breakfast bowl should be removed after thirty minutes with no food left except overnight. After a busy day your Grey will be ready for his supper.
Following this routine means your bird will be keen for his training sessions. He’ll also eat well, and while the food is fresh.
Try keeping branches and chewable toys in the cage, instead of food, which you should be doing anyway, for mental stimulation.
Calcium and vitamin supplements for African grey parrots
Greys’ can suffer from calcium deficiency more easily than other species, a lack of which can cause seizures, possibly feather plucking and poor health.
My vet has never advised supplements but advocates calcium rich foods such as kale, water-grass, cress, almonds and carrots.
When pellets form the main portion of the diet, supplements should not be given. If you are anxious than your avian vet should be asked for advice. You can find a vet here.
