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I bookmarked a site someone posted about what stuff is good for IRN's. and it mentioned garlic. Do your IRN's eat it? I bought some in bulk, but it's already peeled. Can i still give it to Lou? will my budgies eat it? Thanks!

Garlic is one of those thats up for debate, some say its bad, others good.

Now, with that said, I feed it.

I just chop a bit up and add to the fresh foods. One of my macaws likes to peel his own... just hand him a clove and he peels it and takes a bite. Dork.

Athena

I've fed all my guys garlic for years. It started that someone told me if I put garlic in their water (just a clove) then it would reduce any algae buildup. The first time i did this, all my birds went scuba diving and retrieved the garlic and ate it like it was their favourite meal. I've continued giving them all garlic bulbs - but only every few weeks or so do they get it. Only problem is, when you go in their cages - phew!!

Jade,how funny, parrot garlic breath. Not so eager to kiss them after a glove or 2 eh ??? Natalie xx

Not on your nelly!!! thats why they only get garlic over so often!! Although, i have to admit that the chillies are worse. After a bird has eaten one and gives you a chilli kiss - you feel that kiss for hours after!!!

Now u mention it Jade i remember a freind telling me about the chilli kisses. Marley just throws his chillis out ofhis bowl and i wouldnt even dare a kiss from him yet, he mite rip my mouth off but im gona try the garlic. Its really good apparently for us humans at keeping the cold virus away [probably old wives tale] but im trying to vary marleys diet as much as possible, i hadnt even considered garlic. Wot about olives do u know if they are ok. natalie xx

Chooky loves olives too. Especially the stuffed pimento ones. When we have people over and i have a bowl of olives out, he sneaks over and dismantles them by pulling out the pimento. He then hides them in a corner and eats them. Same with the mixed nuts. He also steals wine out of peoples glasses.....actually, he's a bad party gatecrasher

chooky sounds great. I would love to be able to interact with marley as much as you seem to with ur Chook[ we getin there!! ] Befor we found Marley i had never seen an IRN in the feather [rather than flesh] let alone a tame one, iwould love to see one that was tame , espcially stealing olives and wine at a party, it must be quite entertaining for ur guests Anyway Jade thanks for the tips on the garlic and olives, natalie xx

This is great news about garlic. I LOVE cooking with it and eating it raw in salads but had heard that it was bad for birds and simply accepted that as a fact...oops! Bad on me. My little guy is going to have a whole new culinary world opened up to him.
BTW, is it unusual to have an IRN that is a strict vegan? Honest to God my guy Bebe is meticulously vegetarian and only will eat fresh never dried fruits, flowers, veggies, seeds, grains, nuts, and pellets. He always, always turns away from all meats and eggs including egg food.
My friends parrots are omnivores who relish chomping on chicken wings [Really a very sick looking thing to watch them when they turn to cannibalism: They get creepy looks in their eyes watching you like to say, "You look yummy too...you're next."] and meats even fish!
One thing I have noticed about Bebe is that he takes on the scent of his foodies. So when we have our foodies like oatmeal or grits with cinnamon or with chinese five spice or maybe curry mixed in--My oh my is he wonderfully perfumed and scented.

I read somewhere, I though it was on here, that garlic is wonderful for a birds digestion and it acts as a natural antibiotic and helps their immune system. My Jade loves to eat garlic, garlic bread, and garlic & herb wheat thins.

Yep, garlic is as good for birds as it is for us. I just finished reading a natural healing book for parrots and they reckon its good to give it to them. Although its funny, Frank (an adult male IRN given to me about 6 months ago) doesn't touch it at all. Poor Franky though was never fed fresh fruit and veg either. He existed solely on a seed diet. Things have changed quickly and he's now the first to guts down the fruit and veg....in fact everything he can get in his beak - except garlic.

I tell you, these little birds all have different personalities and never cease to amaze me. I read a quote in the parrot book that 'parrots are tiny people in feather pyjamas'....how true

Jade u really are an informative bird lady arnt u . Thank so much for taking the time to look in ur book. Where did u get the book? d'ya think i could get it here in england. I still hadnt given garlic to marley because not only have i overdosed on fruit at the supermarket [he gotta chomp his way through that b4 it goes bad] also the garlic i had i needed 4 0r dinner haha. But am poppin in town to greengrocers today 4 cucumber for me snials, so i will grab some garlic while im there. Natalie xxx

Well we just tried a clove of garlic and guess who loved it! She decided not to wait for me to crack it and grabbed a clove for herself. She sat there and peeled the darn thing herself. Talk about some serious garlic breath...what a dork.

Dani and Prinny

Man! I gave my babies each part of an already peeled clove and boy did my house SMELL HORRIBLE when I got home from work!! All you could smell was garlic. Byndi looked like he took a tiny bite. But Remmi ate a little more than that. And he sure did wreak of garlic. Garlic kisses for sure that night. So this won't be an every day treat for my babies. Too stinky! Pee-Yew!!!!

Jen

Well i treid him with the garlic, and he actualy took it from my but after having a taste he let it fall to the bottom of the cage and didnt bother with at again! so its a no from the Marley corner natalie xxx

I didn't see the post from 22 March regarding the book title!!! Sorry about that. I borrowed the book from our local library. Its called Natural Healing in Parrots. I can't remember the authors name, but i'll go down to the library on the weekend and get it out again and give you all the details. Its quite a good book with lots of info that i personally found extremely useful.