Should i give my cockatiel grit

It seems that a great deal of the scratching and digging is primarily a feeding behavior. Bob and Liz Johnson from Florida sent me a video of their large planted aviary and the many birds that live in it.

I noticed dirt flying out of the ground with no explanation until I saw a small patch of red backing out of the hole. The red turned into an African grey. It backed out of the hole and then looked into it as if to check his work. Then he headed back into the hole and disappeared except for more flying dirt. Studies on other bird species The page thesis in the link below seems to pretty much represent the current state of the art in our general knowledge about grit, and the entire work is available for public viewing.

It never mentions parrots but talks about many other species, and the general principles are likely to be applicable to many parrot species. Selected quotes are printed here. Evaluation of factors influencing grit use by birds Gionfriddo J. Grit use is widespread among birds, and the value of grit in increasing avian digestive efficiency has been demonstrated. Grit also is known to provide supplementary calcium and other minerals which may be critically important to granivores and other species with low-calcium foods Within a species, an inverse relationship sometimes exists between mean grit size and the number of grit particles in the gizzard, indicating that birds consuming smaller grit generally use more particles.

Because birds use grit to improve mechanical grinding of food in the gizzard, the value of and need for grit should vary with diet. Several authors have noted greater grit use when diets consist of hard, coarse foods such as seeds and other plant material The amounts and characteristics of grit in bird gizzards depend, not only on selection of grit particles by the birds, but also on retention of at least some of those particles in the gizzard.

Retention of individual grit particles is influenced by the rate at which grit is ingested. When birds have free access to grit, they may consume and eliminate considerable amounts daily. On the other hand, birds suddenly deprived of grit can reduce their output of grit and retain particles in their gizzards for long periods. Other factors, including grit size and diet, also may influence grit retention in the gizzard.

Some particles may be retained longer than others because of their size. Diet can affect retention in several ways. For example, coarse, hard diets may increase the grit ingestion rate and thereby reduce retention.

Hard diets also may reduce grit retention by accelerating grit particle disintegration and elimination. Avian grit use also is influenced by diet. The ultimate functional cause of many grit-use shifts probably is seasonal dietary changes that produce variation in the value of grit. Field studies have documented seasonal diet and grit-use changes in several avian species.

Hogstad reported that grit use by Bramblings was much greater when they consume seeds than when they shifted to soft insect larvae. As Dunnocks changed their diet in late summer from insects to seeds and insects, their grit use increased significantly.

A similar association between increased grit use and greater consumption of hard usually plant foods also has been documented in other research Experiments with Willow Ptarmigan showed that birds consuming coarse food twigs and buds of willow and birch ingested and excreted times as much grit as birds fed pelleted food, and that ptarmigan kept on a constant diet maintained a constant grit intake throughout the year.

The retention of individual grit particles in birds' gizzards is highly variable. On the other hand, when birds have daily access to abundant grit sources, they may continually replenish grit in their gizzards. In the latter instance, many grit particles may be retained only briefly in the gizzard, passing completely through the digestive tract in a few hours. Grit generally is found in the gizzards of most species that eat plant parts and many that eat insects. In the present study, we found grit in the gizzards of 62 of 90 species Grit use often varies with such factors as the age of the bird, diet, sex, and reproductive status, and the characteristics and availability of suitable grit particles.

The large amounts of grit we observed in gizzards of Ringneck Pheasants, American Tree Sparrows, and House Sparrows are not surprising because these species feed on the ground, mainly on seeds Our finding no differences in mean grit size, mean grit shape, and mean grit surface texture among birds consuming different diets indicates that different foods do not require different types sizes, shapes, surface textures of grit for adequate digestion As the benefits of grit use became more widely known, the practice of providing grit to birds became increasingly widespread.

Feeding grit to poultry is generally considered a wise economic practice Several authors have contended that some birds require grit for digestion and would weaken and die if deprived of it [ gallinaceous birds and Ring-Necked pheasants are mentioned as birds possibly requiring grit; however it is established that chickens and bobwhite quail both gallinaceous do not require grit ].

Although grit use may be highly beneficial to birds, it does not seem to be essential to the survival of birds receiving adequate nutrition. Studies of poultry have shown, for example, that although grit use hastens and improves digestion, it is not essential to survival, growth, or egg production.

Moreover, birds whose gizzards have been removed may live indefinitely, although they may show a reduced ability to digest coarse foods For dinosaurs and crocodilians, the relative importance of stomach stones as ballast versus grinding agents is uncertain. Siegel-Causey suggested that stomach stones first were used by reptiles because of their value as ballast, and later their use was retained in avian basal groups because of the previously secondary digestive benefits.

Powerful muscular contractions of the gizzard crush and grind food items against the dorsal and ventral grinding plates greatly thickened portions of the cuticle that lines the inner surface of the gizzard. The presence of grit particles in the gizzard is thought to improve the efficiency of this process by providing hard, moving grinding surfaces within the food matrix A second function commonly attributed to grit use it the supplementation of minerals, especially calcium, in the diet Several other possible functions of avian grit use have been proposed.

The presence of grit in the gizzard may enhance digestion by further stimulating the secretion of digestive fluids or by facilitating the action of such fluids. It also may help by stirring and mixing the digestive enzymes and food particles in the digestive tract or by slowing the rate of food passage. Finally, grit may be ingested as a source of trace elements needed by birds. Several researchers have reported that grit causes changes in the condition of the digestive organs. Tagami and Kuchii stated that grit use may have favorable physical or physiological effects on intestinal tract tissue.

Gizzards of domestic chicks fed grit are often larger and heavier than those of chicks deprived of grit. Grit use is probably not necessary for proper gizzard condition, however. The value of grit as a grinding agent and nutritional supplement greatly depends upon its mineral composition, which determines grit hardness, solubility in the avian digestive tract, and nutritional value. For this reason the composition of grit particles is sometimes a major determinant of avian use. Most studies have found mainly quartz grit in the gizzards of wild birds Because of its hardness, quartz might be expected to be more efficient than limestone as a grinding agent in the gizzard.

In experiments with chickens however, both limestone and quartz achieved the same beneficial effect improved digestion of feed while they remained intact in the gizzard. Mathiasson concluded from field and experimental evidence that the type of food eaten has an immediate effect on the process that regulates grit retention in the gizzard.

He suggested that tactile receptors in the gizzard mucosa receives information on the number of grit particles present, and that the consistency hardness or softness of the food in the gizzard determines the rate at which grit particles contact these receptors. The number of particles retained therefore depends on the hardness of the food To what extent the gizzard is selective in the retention of individual grit particles is not clear Whether the excessive accumulation of grit in the gizzard is prevented by periodic evacuations of the gizzard or by a slower, more constant turnover is unknown Grit disintegration in the gizzard may be substantial.

Birds often consume non-food items other than stones and rock fragments. These items are sometimes retained in the gizzard where they seem to function as grit substitutes. Among the materials found in birds' gizzards and reportedly serving as grit were hard seeds, insect parts, small snails and shells, shell fragments, fossils, lead shot, bones, teeth, and coral.

Grit availability and the specific food habits of a species seem to determine to what extent hard seeds are used as a substitute for grit particles. Even when grit is available, however, some birds use hard seeds instead. Grit was present in gizzards of 62 of 90 species and varied greatly in number and mean particle size. Gizzards of granivorous birds contained more grit particles than those of insectivores, omnivores, and frugivores.

Grit particle characteristics mean size, shape, and surface texture did not differ among birds consuming different diets. Mean grit size increased linearly with the common logarithm of the bird body mass. Within avian species, grit-use patterns did not differ by gender. Grit use is widespread among birds, and diet strongly influences the amount of grit used by birds.

Some species had a preference for either smooth round grit or rough angular grit. Grit size is related to body size, with some species preferring a size that was either larger or smaller than expected for their body size. Grit size was not related to grit shape. Aviary experiments then were conducted with captive House Sparrows to evaluate the effects of diet and grit size on grit choice and retention.

When birds were given grit particles 0. When birds were given both animal and plant food and either small 0. In experiments evaluating grit retention, most grit in gizzards was replaced within five days. Identification, distribution, and function of gastroliths in dinosaurs and extant birds with emphasis on ostriches Struthio camelus Wings - Ph.

Adult animals typically hold one kilogram of stones in their stomach. Gastrolith mass is not significantly correlated with gender, age, season, and food contents by weight.

Quartz is the predominating mineral type among ostrich gastroliths. The study was undertaken in the hope that it would provide insight on the use of gastroliths by dinosaurs. Studies of the grit requirements of certain upland game birds McCann - The Journal of Wildlife Management, My comments: This study on ringnecked pheasants and bobwhite quail found that when grit was removed from the birds' diet, they increased their retention of the grit that was already in their crops.

However they also lost weight. The entire paper is not available at the link, and the introduction to the paper does not state the final conclusion the way a modern abstract does. So we don't know what else was found. Influence of sand and grit on the performance of turkey poults fed on diets containing two concentrations of protein Oluyemi et al - British Poultry Science, 1.

Growth rate and the efficiencies of food and energy utilisation were investigated with large white poults. Sand and grit increased growth and improved the food and energy conversion ratios.

None of the interactions of crude protein content with filler was statistically significant. It is speculated that grit and sand improved the grinding and the digestion of the food particles. This study contradicts some of our assumptions about grit.

The complete paper is available. Insoluble granite-grit allows broiler chicks to have better growth performance and gut health Erener et al - Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia, Grit feeding produced better growth and weight gain with less feed intake in broiler chicks that were fed a soft, formulated mash diet even though grit is assumed to not be very useful with a soft diet. The grit-fed birds also had heavier, more muscular gizzards than the birds that did not eat grit.

It's usually assumed that birds develop stronger gizzards when they don't have grit to assist in grinding, and maybe this is true when the diet consists of hard foods. But apparently a bird can get away with having a lazy gizzard when the diet is soft. Maybe it takes a fair amount of gizzard strength just to hold onto the grit and manipulate it. This study found that digestion improved when insoluble stone grit was provided to cockerels fed a diet of whole oats, whole wheat, and cracked corn.

The size and texture of the grit didn't matter. The influence of size and surface condition of grit upon the digestibility of feed by the domestic fowl Smith - Canadian Journal of Animal Science, Two experiments were carried out with growing cockerels to study the effect of size and surface condition of grit upon digestibility. The criterion employed to evaluate these effects was the apparent digestibility of the individual proximate constituents.

Comparisons were made between six sizes of grit ranging in diameter from 0. All grits utilized in this investigation significantly improved feed digestion. However, neither the size nor the surface condition of the grit influenced this response. Smaller sized grits, and grits displaying smoother-type surfaces were not retained within the gizzard to the extent of the rougher, larger sized grits; consequently a greater consumption of the former grits was experienced. This study found that both soluble and insoluble grit improved the digestibility of food.

Comparisons were made between soluble calcitic limestone, insoluble quartz, silica sand and combinations of these grits. These trials have demonstrated that grit improves feed digestion, particularly of whole grain feeds. In addition, both types of grit were found to be similar in their ability to initiate and maintain this beneficial response, as long as they remain present as distinct entities in the gizzard. It was observed, however that calcitic limestone was not retained in the gizzard nearly as long as the insoluble quartz grit and consequently a greater consumption of the former may be expected.

On the effects of using plant materials as a type of 'grit' for chickens. Effects of oat hulls and wood shavings on digestion in broilers and layers fed diets based on whole or ground wheat Hetland et al - British Poultry Science, 1.

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of inclusion of oat hulls in diets based on whole or ground wheat for broilers.

Effects of wood shavings on layers were investigated in a further experiment. Inclusion of oat hulls in wheat-based broiler diets did not affect weight gain. Feed conversion efficiency FCE , corrected for insoluble fibre contents, was improved by oat hull inclusion.

Gizzard size increased with inclusion of oat hulls, whole wheat, wood shavings and grit. Starch digestibility was significantly increased by inclusion of oat hulls for broilers, and by wood shavings for layers. Wood shavings and whole wheat did not affect bile acid concentration of gizzard contents. However, the total amount of bile acids in gizzard increased with access to wood shavings due to an increase in the weight of gizzard contents, indicating an increased gastroduodenal reflux.

Fibre concentration was considerably higher in the gizzard contents than in the feed. Duodenal particle size decreased with access to grit. No effect of hulls or whole wheat inclusion was found, indicating that all particles are ground to a certain critical size before leaving the gizzard.

Grit helped prevent gizzard lesions in chicks. But if lesions were already present, grit made the problem worse. Relation of grit to the development of the gizzard lining in chicks Bird et al - Poultry Science, Thickening of the gizzard lining, similar to that encountered in previous studies of nutritional crater lesions, but distinct from the latter, was found to be prevented by feeding grit or by using coarsely ground ingredients in the ration.

When the abnormal thickening occurred in the absence of crater lesions, i. On the crater producing diet, however, growth rate was not consistently improved by the addition of grit, and it was thought that this might be due to the bad effect of the grit on chicks already suffering from crater lesions.

On grit's effectiveness for removing metal objects from a budgie's gizzard. After survey radiographs confirmed the spheres were lodged in the ventriculus, birds were divided into 6 groups. Each group received 1 of 6 different treatment protocols: psyllium with grit, acidic drinking water, fine grit, coarse grit, cathartic emollients peanut butter and mineral oil , and a control group.

All birds were treated simultaneously with a chelating agent, dimercaptosuccinic acid DMSA , to prevent heavy-metal toxicosis. Successive survey radiographs were used to monitor elimination of the spheres from the digestive tract.

Of all protocols tested, birds treated with either fine or large grit had the shortest mean elimination time of the metal spheres. These results indicate that administration of grit particles, either fine or coarse, appears to be effective in hastening the passage of metallic foreign objects from the ventriculus of budgerigars. Avian Digestive Tract Simulation to Study the Effect of Grit Geochemistry and Food on Pb Shot Bioaccessibility Martinez-Haro et al - Environmental Science and Technology, My summary: They used a simulated gizzard to test the effect that different kinds of grit had on the absorption of toxic lead from lead shot eaten by waterfowl, and found out that the type of grit made a difference.

With silica grit there was a more acid environment in the gizzard with a resulting higher concentration of dissolved lead which is bad. Calcium grit resulted in a less acid environment and less dissolved lead. This is consistent with the common real-world practice of using Tums calcium carbonate tablets to reduce acid indigestion. The calcium may also reduce the bioavailability of lead by enhancing its precipitation into lead carbonate, and by promoting higher dissolved calcium levels in the intestine, which competes with the lead for absorption.

Impaction and crop function links Bird Health with Dr. Rob Marshall - a general discussion on crop impaction in poultry. Wikipedia gizzard article - says "gizzard stones or gastroliths and usually become round and smooth from the polishing action in the animal's stomach.

When too smooth to do their required work, they may be excreted or regurgitated. If there is not enough grit, the particles of food can become trapped in the folds of the gizzard instead of the grit, and when it spoils it causes problems. For two studies, the abstracts do not mention grit, the full paper is not available without a subscription, and the quoted material is what google displayed in the search results.

An inappropriate diet fed to the parents and a displaced parental instinct for feeding mineral and grit to the offspring were postulated to be the causes of the crop impactions. Surgical intervention relieved both impactions and recoveries were uneventful. Dysplastic koilin causing proventricular obstruction in an eclectus parrot Eclectus roratus De Voe et al - Journal of avian medicine and surgery, The next morning, the parrot's clinical condition appeared slightly improved.

The ventriculus and diverticulum contained a moderate amount of grit, seed, and barium sulfate Fig 2. Barium sulfate and a scant amount of seed were present in the proventriculus. Grit was NOT the cause of death. Renal disease in captive swift parrots Lathamus discolor : Clinical findings and disease management Gartrell et al - Journal of avian medicine and surgery, The gizzard contained quartzite grit and occasional Comments from pro-grit sources Here are some knowledgeable sources who favor the use of grit in the anti-grit era.

She says it's a myth that grit is harmful, and that owners who do not offer grit may be withholding substances of unknown value. She points out the dangers of birds eating inappropriate grit substitutes, and says that our birds should be the judges of whether or not they need grit. He says he has observed both wild and captive birds eating grit; that he hasn't been able to find anyone who personally observed a parrot larger than a cockatiel who died of crop impaction from grit; that caution should be used with fledglings; and that sand, soil, and clay are integral parts of the healthy psittacine diet.

He says "truth is, field studies have shown that psittacines of all kinds do go to the ground and ingest grit for many reasons--they even feed it to the chicks in the nest. My breeder parrots, all of which have access to the ground, will begin to ingest soil and sand and crunchy substrate one to two weeks before the laying stage and continue to eat grit well through the first weeks of chick feeding.

Soft food eaters need less grit than do seed eaters such as budgerigars. Holistic Bird grit article - This article displays comments from a forum discussion. It's kind of hard to tell where one person leaves off and another begins, but if you look carefully you'll see the name at the end of each bit.

First off is a negative opinion by Patrick Thrush. Personally I don't take him too seriously on diet issues since he said elsewhere that birds can use vitamin D2 in plant sources, which is contrary to what the experts think - they say birds use D2 poorly and need D3, which is very rare in plants. The D2 in plants is mostly found in fungi, which are not normally used as a food plant. There don't appear to be any known food plants that contain a meaningful amount.

He reports his personal observations with both captive and wild birds and says they do eat grit and problems with grit are nonexistent in Australia. His most significant statements are posted below. Carolyn Swicegood a proponent of natural foods for birds takes a middle of the road approach, noting the risks and saying that free choice unlimited grit might not be wise, which is a reasonable position. Next is a naturopath who mentions the nutritional benefits of silica aka sand.

Last of all is Susanne Russo, a very experienced cockatiel breeder widely known as srtiels on cockatiel forums and the webmaster of the International Cockatiel Resource. She says her birds have been eating sand and feeding it to their babies for years with no ill effects. I contacted Susanne to confirm that these were her statements, and she provided the additional information that she was talking about her cockatiels not some other species, and that the local sand in Florida contains traces of wind-blown salt from the ocean, which might be a factor in the birds' desire for the sand.

Here are the most significant statements from Mike Owen's section. My vet, President of the Australian chapter of AAV, has only ever seen two instances of impacted crops in 15 years of practice. It is one of the great mysteries of aviculture why North American parrots are apparently so willing to get their crops full of grit and suffer impaction, while Australian birds never get this problem.

I have watched flocks of Corellas, Galahs, Major Mitchells, budgies, and other species, deliberately land on sand banks in dry inland river beds and peck away and swallow sand grains. It is a deliberate action on their part.

A Rosella for instance might have up to 50 grains of grit in the gizzard. These range in size from perhaps white French millet size, down to almost microscopic size - presumably reflecting the amount of wear that the grain has undergone.

At a recent Parrot Convention held in Grafton that I attended, one talk was by an avian vet, and was a demonstration of how to autopsy a parrot. The "victim" was a road kill Galah, and it's gizzard had a pile of grit in it - almost half filled! What they are diagnosing as gizzard impaction, to Australian vets might be a healthy and normal grit load for a bird.

Such a deficiency may never show up as a primary cause of early death, but may result in a depressed immune system, and result in a bird having an earlier death than it should have. As long as it is small about millet size then it doesn't seem to matter, if it is quartz, crushed volcanic rock or any other rock.

Some use river sand, others beach sand, and others quarry crushings It is a choice that has to be made by each individual, like the choice to feed pellets or seed or neither! And, as always, if in doubt - DON'T. Scott Echols is a board certified avian veterinary specialist with a high level of science-based knowledge about avian nutrition.

He owns the Nutrition for Pets Facebook group and is active there, answering members' questions about pet nutrition. In this thread he responded to a question about grit [you have to join the group to actually see the thread]:. The quick answer is no. But there are caveats. Wild type diets include non-digestible foodstuffs in addition to the nutritive components.

Not everything a wild bird eats is actually edible and nutritious. Grit can help toxic items pass- especially some forms of heavy metal.

This has been studied and proven in waterfowl that filter feed through mud and silt. They often pick up fine metal and presumably other potentially toxic non-nutritive particles as a normal part of feeding. Grit can help the bird naturally remove those toxic particles.

So in some situations, grit may help pet birds passerines like canaries, parrots and more that have ingested select solid metal form, or other toxins. I would say this is very rare. More likely the bird gets dehydrated typical with any disease , there happens to be grit in the intestinal tract very common as many birds are fed grit and is found in a clump leading to the conclusion that the grit caused the impaction.

In 20 years of practice and lots of necropsies , I have never diagnosed what I would consider a grit impaction and cause of death Same thing with crop impactions, I have never diagnosed it caused from grit. However, I have seen a number of crop impactions with grit in chickens almost always secondary to Marek's disease which caused damage to the nerve that operates the crop.

The book as a whole takes a very conservative approach to the issue, and the comments in Chapter 1 reflect this. But outside the restrictions of the book, Dr Perry takes a more balanced and naturalistic view of grit. He had this to say on the ICR Facebook page : Although I wrote conservatively one of the quotes from Avian Medicine, parrots and cockatoos in my care regularly, at least weekly, are offered a selection of mixed soluble and insoluble grits.

Because of pollution of the ocean with various heavy metals, whereas I used to collect shellgrit and cuttlebone from the beach, boil it and dry it, it might be prudent to use some crushed natural limestone or tiny shells from ancient times available in some rock deposits. As for insoluble grit, a hammer and a piece of sandstone, or some fine aquarium sand gravel, can go a long way.

Heavy metal poisoning with partial paralysis of the gut, and bornavirus infections have often not been recognised in the past, in my opinion, and might be at the basis of many so called grit impactions. Yet it has been shown that feeding insoluble grit in limited quantities to parrots and cockatoos with metal fragments in their gizzards is more effective in displacing and perhaps breaking down the metal fragments than giving peanut butter and metamucil I ended up doing both!

Grit might not be neccessary for parrots and cockatoos solely on pelleted diets and soft greens, However, I advocate providing some food at least in its natural form including seeds of grains, gum nuts, wattles, grevilleas etc even if most of the diet is pellets. Hence I provide grits! Apart from lorikeets I cannot remember necropsying a wild Australian parrot or cockatoo and noting an absence of insoluble grit in its gizzard.

I can hear some smart A saying they must have all died from grit impaction I don't believe that for a moment. Also note that those who have done many necropsies on cockatoos, parrots, finches and canaries as well as poulty and many other birds know that the normal gizzard is a thick muscular organ with a thick inner leathery koilin lay er in direct contact with the gut contents in that region.

It is perfectly designed for grinding insoluble grit and seeds so that the latter become a paste or emulsion before they exit into the duodenum.

The smaller the seed fragments are ground before entering the duodenum, the bigger their surface area for digestion in the duodenum rather than fermentation lower in the gut.

Canaries and finches normally have sand grit particles in their gizzards too. On the other hand nectivorous lorikeets have a relatively soft flabby gizzard and a thin non-leathery koilin layer and don't usually have insoluble grit in their gizzards. Palm cockatoos and other black cockatoos have huge beaks not for swallowing large seeds but for chipping away and slicing large seeds into tiny fragments before swallowing them.

I don't remember whether they normally have grit in their gizzards yet I imagine yes. Sulphur crests, little and long billed corellas, galahs, Major Mitchell cockatoos and cockatiels all as wild birds have grit in their gizzards. I choose to be guided by Nature as my best teacher. When the proventricular gizzard junction becomes diseased as with "Megabacteria " avian gastric yeast infection, or the gizzard becomes diseased with gizzard worms or a penetrating piece of wire or bornavirus infection as examples, the grinding action of the gizzard becomes impaired and an immediate clue when observed to such disease processes is the recognition of visible seed fragments in the faeces.

Microscopic examination by an observant specialist willl often detect microscopic clumps of undigested food earlier in the disease process. However, the most common cause of undigested seed fragments in the droppings of budgies and cockatiels and various parrots can simply be addressed by providing a teaspoon of crushed sandstone or river sand with insoluble grit particles of a range of sizes suitable for the gut of the species of bird In simplistic metaphorical terms the teeth of cockatiels and budgies and most parrots are not in their mouths, they are in their gizzards, and easily replaceable with more insoluble grit when they are worn out or become so small that they easily pass into the duodenum.

She talks about the dangers of unauthorized grit substitutes and suggests giving safe and healthy grit to pet parrots to provide a safe outlet for the bird's natural desire to eat grit. Hanson on JustAnswer.

Then Patricia, a bird behaviorist not a diet-related field obviously tries to overcome the assertions of a vet with a PhD by linking an article on Winged Wisdom, written by a person with unknown credentials. It's overkill on both sides, although it does look like Dr Hanson knows a lot more about the physiology of grit eating than Patricia does.

Sensible comments echoing the experts who have already been cited. I've looked at dozens of bird-care books published before the year , and not one of them was opposed to feeding grit to parrots. There were some that didn't mention grit at all, but the majority recommended it usually in large quantities and some were quite vehement about the need for grit. Experiences with my Cockatiels by Mrs.

Moon first published in the s includes a recipe for more than five pounds of grit, which she said was enough to last one pair of cockatiels for one year! That's a lot of grit for a couple of 3-ounce birds and their babies, and quite a contrast to the modern advice you sometimes hear saying that if you insist on giving grit to a parrot, you should limit it to one or two grains every six months. This "let them eat grit" attitude seemed to change abruptly sometime around the year except in Australia, where many birdkeepers are still unconvinced that there's anything wrong with grit.

The number of bird-care books being published dropped dramatically around the same time, but most books published since then are vehemently anti-grit, as is most grit-related advice on the internet. The arguments are that parrots don't require grit because they shell their seeds before eating them, and that grit is dangerous. There are certain events that stand out as possible causes for the sudden rejection of grit by the bird community at large.

The medical text Avian Medicine: Principles and Applications by Ritchie, Harrison and Harrison was published in , and made statements that grit was unnecessary and potentially dangerous for parrots. The book is not entirely anti-grit, but could easily be taken that way if only the negative passages are seen see Quotes from Avian Medicine. And, since a cockatiels beak is always growing, mineral blocks and cuttlebone provide double work duty — minerals and free beak trims!

Over-ingestion of grit has caused intestinal obstructions and impactions. Yes, every 2 years. Even almond butter is a good source of calcium. Just two teaspoons contains milligrams of calcium. There are other sources of calcium for your birds. Do wild birds need grit? Birds have no teeth to grind their food. The dirt, sand, pebbles, and grit they eat sits in their crop and helps grind up their food.

Adding grit to your feeder is helpful year-round, but particularly in the winter and spring. It was believed that grit was necessary for the mechanical breakdown of food in the gizzard as an aid to digestion. However, we now know that birds do fine without grit. Some birds will in fact have problems if grit is over eaten. Unlike chickens, who need grit to grind food to digestible proportions in their crop, conures and pet parrots do not need grit.

Just look at his posting style. Just a troll at this point. Welcome Huckleberryhead. Relax, converse, the place isn't always like this. Sometimes it's even worse. Post by Tiels R Cool I just cant figure that one out, please elaborate for this dimwit Not for me. Grit may be dangerous because ill birds may gorge themselves on grit and block their digestive system.

Therefore do no give parrots including "parakeets" grit.