Last meeting I spoke about nutrition and after the meeting I realized that I may not have clearly covered everything that I had planned. The points I wanted to make were that club members own many different varieties of hookbills, all of which evolved under differing conditions.

Generalizations about diet are just that. (Birds with long tails tend to fly greater distances than those with short tails which tend to live in trees) The green bird usually lives in areas of green while the cockatiel and budgie live in drier areas.

The original diets were developed from the foods available in the birdsā original habitat. When in captivity, birds do not receive their native diet. Birds in cages need a modified diet similar to humans with low exercise jobs. Just as humans go to more fruits and vegetables so do our less active birds.

The avian diets were originally based on chicken and turkey nutritional research. These birds get a diet which will induce maximum growth from the least expensive ingredients. Hookbill pellets and seed diets need salads. Those fruits and vegetables which are good sources of Vitamin A are recommended to supplement the other basic diets. Many of these are not expensive. Carrots only cost .25 a pound and slightly more if you grow them in your own garden.

I do recommend a garden because so many different things can be grown all year. The items which I presented were chard which had several colors, beet, nasturtium leaf and flower, and oranges. These are all available in my yard now. Peas and other protein sources are also recommended and can be grown easily. Most vegetables can be grown in pots and many are attractive enough to be grown in a flower bed.

By having your own garden there is always a variety of fresh items for your birds and they are pesticide and hormone free. I personally feed 2 fruits and 2 vegetables each morning and about 3-4 hours later pellets are fed. The sheen on my birds feathers and general health of my birds indicate that they can survive on this nicely.

My birds have short tails and most of them are green. So they are rain forest birds which normally eat fruits and vegetables. Cockatiels and some other varieties do not accept salads with enthusiasm, however, with much patience some learn to like it. Tailor your birds diet to their individual needs and remember that the experts keep changing things. If you pay attention to your birdās needs it will remain healthier and live longer.