It’s pumpkin season! One of our favourite times of the year, and you can get your bird involved in the festivities too by offering pumpkin to them!
Pumpkins are packed full of nutrition including lots of vitamin A which is essential for eye health. Many pet birds are deficient in vitamin A so it’s important to ensure they have access to a variety of fresh sources of it. Pumpkins also contain beta-carotene which is needed in order to process vitamin A in the body.
Other benefits of pumpkin include good skin health from vitamin E, and immune system support from vitamin C. Pumpkins are also a great source of fibre which is important for a healthy digestive system as well as balancing the gut flora in the microbiome.
Pumpkins are perfectly safe to feed to your bird’s raw, but you can lightly steam it to make it a little more digestible. We remove the skin and pith before serving.
The seeds of the pumpkin are also safe to offer to your bird. They contain antioxidants, vitamin K, phosphorus and manganese, and can help keep our bird’s heart healthy. These are many different ways to prepare pumpkin seeds. Our preferred method is to pull them away from the pith and put them in a sieve. We then rinse until there’s no more pumpkin flesh on them. After this, we place them on paper towels to air dry, before putting them in an air tight container in the fridge. These are safe to use or around 7 days.
So take advantage o pumpkins being in season and feed this nutrient dense and low calorie vegetable to your birds – let us know what they think!
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