Parrots and Finches—Healthy Nutrition

By Rosemary Low

Soft Cover, 153 pages, 45 colour photos.

Author Rosemary Low has drawn on her own experiences, then consulted and collaborated with several specialist avian vets to provide practical advice on effective diets. Each chapter is easy to read, with the technical or scientific detail well explained and easy to follow. The book includes a glossary of terms.

Rosemary starts by giving practical advice on effective methods to deliver nutrition to your birds to avoid contamination and stress. There are details on the nutritional values of and the differences and uses of pellets and extruded feeds, nutritional components in seed mixtures, fruits, vegetables and flowers. The importance of calcium and other minerals and how best to provide these health essentials is also outlined. The selection of suitable seeds and grains for soaking, sprouting and pulses, and their benefits are highlighted.

The latter chapters of the book deal with foods for raising baby birds and requirements for the main parrot families and those birds requiring specialist diets, such as lories and lorikeets. The final three chapters give an overview of wild diets of birds in Australia, Africa and South America.

This valuable reference provides you with the knowledge and stimulus to investigate more on nutrition in a quest to present a more varied and nutritious diet to your birds.