Complete Psittacine by Eb Cravens
Selections of top quality dry parrot food are notoriously hard to find in Hawaii. The large pet outlets and smaller feed stores both have limited types, and if an owner finds he has a picky parrot that does not like these, or if one is keeping unusual species with more single nutritional needs, it can take serious effort and imagination to feed the flock.
The best and freshest large hookbill mix we currently employ has a wide variety of seeds, nuts, extruded pellets and such. The problem is, many of these ingredients go uneaten by our birds when we offer this fare. And we will not just open and immediately feed any mixed seeds and nuts, certainly not if they come in bags with dried fruit, as this increases the moisture content in the parrot mix, sometimes to an unwanted level.
Last year I began hand-sorting many of the items in this parrot mix in order for them to be cooked up with our morning wet food. It started with those dry flat pumpkin seeds, which none of my psittacines normally liked. But this way they were quick to consume all these. Also the few walnuts, pistachios, peanuts, and whole corn, none of which I would offer unless they are boiled for a length of time.