Also known as a fruit, a natural addition to the diet for African Greys and many other parrots are Palm Nuts. They provide a genuinely native food for your birds which can also stimulate the wild foraging instinct lacking with many avian diets. Two or three fruits per day per bird is ample.

It is actually the yellow flesh around the kernel that is important although larger parrots such as macaws can crack the actual palm nut kernel as well. They are good for all parrots particularly breeding birds. As some birds tend to be fussy eaters especially hand reared pets, the taste will be new to them and as I am sure many of you know getting a parrot used to a new food can be difficult.

Parrot Palm Fruit Extract is the pressed fruit of the palm nut and can be used to introduce the flavour to your birds slowly and discreetly by mixing it with their favourite foods. Once they are happy with the taste try them with the nuts.
On arrival put the nuts into a deep freeze. They should be thawed over night and washed before use. Feed a pair of African Greys 3-4 nuts per day.

An increased use of this fruit with your birds normal parrot food can be a precursor to the breeding season, bringing birds into condition more naturally than by using many commercially available breeding stimulants.

The fruit contains a balance of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids. In addition it also contains essential substances such as linoleic acid (an essential fatty acid which the parrots body cannot manufacture) and tocopherols and tocotrienols, which act as natural anti-oxidants against damaging free-radicals. In some human trials it has been found to lower harmful LDL-cholesterol.
A Palm fruit enriched diet has also been shown a reduced tendency to blood clots.
The Fruit is a major source of carotenoids which inhibit some types of cancer. It is also a major source of beta-carotene (15 to 300 times more than carrots and green vegetables, which is a precursor to Vitamin A. Among the functions of vitamin A are improved night vision), healthy mucous membranes and skin, bone growth and reproduction. Vitamin A when derived from natural and synthetic sources can be highly toxic when taken in overdose quantities. They provide the alpha and beta carotenes the body needs to manufacture its own vitamin A, so never leads to an overdose. It is also 100% Cholesterol Free.

Easily digested Palm Nuts are absorbed and utilized for support of healthy growth, contributing towards energy reserves, thermal insulation, organ protection, tissue membrane structure and cell metabolism.
Palm Nut Fruit is also a valuable source of plant material derived Vitamin E. The principle role of Vitamin E appears to be as an anti-oxidant. It prevents the oxidisation of unsaturated fatty acids, phospholipids and Vitamin A. It may also help cell membrane stability and be essential for neurological function.

The internet has vast resources devoted to this humble fruit, but did you know the oil which can be extracted is also used to make, bio-diesel, margarine, wine, make-up, bread and cakes. In fact it is one of the most commonly used natural oils.

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Last modified: Tuesday April 15, 2008