DIY Dry Mixes for Parrots!

Dry mixes for parrots are becoming increasingly popular. When the right ingredients are chosen to create a dry mix, you can create a very healthy addition to your bird’s diet.

An ideal parrot diet is made from raw, whole foods as this is the most natural and bioavailable approach. Safe vegetables, sprouts, grains, seeds, flowers, herbs, fruits and spices are all excellent to provide. Diversity and variety are key when offering a healthy diet to your birds, and a great way of implanting this is through a dry mix.

A dry mix is a combination of freeze dried, dried and dehydrated ingredients and those with a long shelf life. These ingredients should ideally be of human grade and organic where possible. It is used in place of a typical evening pellet or seed meal. A good dry mix is one with lots of variety – there shouldn’t be too much of any one thing.

So why create a dry mix for your bird?

• It’s a more natural way of feeding which avoids overly processed and heat treated foods.
• It can be used in many ways (e.g. An evening meal, a conversion tool to a fresh diet, in foraging toys).
• They typically have a long shelf life which will save you money in the long run.
• It’s enriching – lots of different natural colours, textures and flavours.
• It can be cheaper in the long run when making a bulk amount.

Here’s our base recipe for our DIY dry mix:

DIY Dry Mix Tips and Tricks!

• Avoid adding fragrant ingredients into the main/base mix as it can make it smell weird – keep these separate as add as you serve (e.g. star anise, Ceylon cinnamon, cloves).
• Big chunks of freeze dried fruits and vegetables can go soggy over time so chop them smaller or keep them in their original packaging.
• Store your dry mix in air tight clip containers to keep it fresh.
• The shelf life is as long as the shortest date ingredient as long as they are stored correctly – our last batch lasted 4 months for our flock of five birds.
• When converting your bird to a new diet, weight them daily, or at least several times a week to ensure that they aren’t losing a lot of weight.
• Some birds who have been on a all seed or pellet diet may benefit from a small amount of weight loss – check your bird’s body condition score or talk to your avian vet if you have any concerns.

Let’s talk about portion sizes:

Portion size is essential in order to avoid selective feeding for both fresh foods and dry mixes. The following is a guideline per bird:

1 heaped tablespoon fresh AM and 1 heaped tablespoon dry PM for small birds.

2 heaped tablespoons fresh AM and 2 heaped tablespoons dry PM for medium birds.

3 heaped tablespoons fresh AM and 3 heaped tablespoons dry PM for large birds.

This is a good baseline from which you can reduce or increase depending on how much your bird eats.

Dry Mix Recipe Combinations:

In addition to our base mix, we add extra ingredients daily to further increase the diversity! Here are some examples:

If you’d like more information on parrot diet and nutrition, or you need help converting your bird to a healthy diet, consider booking one of our bespoke and affordable consultations. Check out our Prices and Services or drop us an email at bestbehavedbirds@gmail.com