Are you concerned about your blue and gold macaw’s diet? Are worried that you are not providing enough nutrients to your pet? If you want to know what does a blue and gold macaw eat?, then we are here for you. We will help you learn how to keep your macaw healthy and happy forever by providing it with a balanced diet.
Blue and gold macaws are lively birds, as they make good pets. A healthy macaw is a happy macaw. To give your birds a healthy life, it’s important to learn more about their diet, their favorite food, and their behavior. So let’s begin!
Also Check: What do Hyacinth Macaws Eat?
What does a blue and gold macaw eat?
Many bird owners have this question in mind, what do macaws eat? The blue and gold macaws diet primarily consists of fruits, seeds, vegetables, and leaves. Their diet mainly depends on their habitat, whether they live in the wild or captivity.
Macaws need plenty of energy so their diet should contain all the nutrients in balanced proportions.
Blue and gold macaws diet includes a healthy portion of seeds and nuts to provide the essential oils and calories. Many natural foods, especially palm nuts and sunflower seeds are rich in nutrients.
What seeds can a blue and gold macaw eat? Well, other than sunflower seeds, blue and gold macaws also love safflower seeds, canary seeds, and millet seeds. Blue and gold macaws also eat dried fruits, macadamia, pecans, and pine nuts.
In the wild, blue and gold macaws search for ripe fruits. Many fruits are not only safe but highly recommended for macaws’ daily diet. There is a huge list of fruits that is a healthy diet for these birds such as apples, pears, apricots, bananas, etc.
Proteins should also be included in the blue and gold macaws diet. Insects, nuts, and legumes are a source of protein for macaws. Blue and gold macaws love to eat snails, grasshoppers, and small bugs.
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What are macaws’ favorite food?
Macaws enjoy various types of food. Their favorites include vegetables especially broccoli, carrots, squash, green beans, cucumber, and zucchini.
Favorite fruits of macaws are pears, oranges, apples (seeds removed), strawberries, bananas, melons, kiwi, mango, grapes, papaya and pears.
Macaws also love sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, macadamia nuts, pecans, and pine nuts.
Also Check: Where Does A Macaw Live?
Can blue and gold macaws eat bananas?
Yes, bananas are safe fruits for blue and gold macaws. Fresh fruits such as bananas can be included in macaws’ daily diet as it offers them many nutritional benefits.
What should you not feed a macaw?
There are a few food items that might be toxic for your macaws. Make sure to never feed your macaws avocados and green beans.
Although apples are great for macaws, apple seeds contain a poison known as cyanide. Make sure to remember to never feed your macaw apple seeds. Apples can be given with seeds removed.
Meat, dairy products, pits of most fruits, eggplant, onions, potato, tomato leaves, green potatoes, nutmeg and rhubarb are some foods that should be avoided.
Macaws tend to like human food but never feed them coffee, sweets, alcoholic beverages, or any other junk food. Chocolates and caffeinated drinks should be strictly avoided. It’s best to not expose your pet birds to tobacco or alcohol.
Make sure you provide your macaws with a well-balanced healthy diet, free of any dyes or preservatives. Try to avoid feeding your macaws foods high in nitrates, nitrites, sulfites, fats, sugar or monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Also Check: Lifespan of a Macaw Parrot
Blue and gold macaw diet in captivity
Blue and gold macaws require a well-balanced healthy diet with all the essential nutrients to keep them healthy. Their diet should include pellets, fresh fruits and vegetables in proper proportions. We’ve got a complete guide for you about what do blue and gold macaws eat.
The current recommendation by board-certified avian veterinarians is that 50-70 % of a macaw’s diet should be pellets. The remaining 30-50% should be composed of fresh foods, including fruits, raw or steamed vegetables, soaked or cooked legumes and raw/ soaked nuts and seeds.
Ideally, blue and gold macaws should be fed a formulated (pelleted or extruded) diet. This will ensure they get a completely balanced healthy diet with each bite. You should feed your macaw approximately half a cup of the pelleted diet.
Only a pelleted diet is not enough. You should add fresh organic foods to your blue and gold macaws diet. Vegetables such as broccoli, zucchini, green beans should be given either raw or steamed.
Soaked and cooked or sprouted legumes should also be added to the daily diet of macaws. Nuts and seeds including sunflower, safflower, walnuts, pine nuts, etc. can also be given.
One of the easy, simple, less time-consuming, and cost-effective Blue and gold macaw food recipes is something called “chop.” Chop is a chopped up mixture of fresh vegetables, grains and legumes all mixed together in a large container. It provides a wide variety of fresh foods to your parrots daily.
Most importantly, freshwater should be provided to your birds at all times. Macaws usually love to dunk their food, so water should be changed often. Bowls must be kept clean and water should be refilled daily to prevent contamination.
Also Check: Facts About Macaws in The Rainforest
Blue and gold macaw facts
A bird with magnificent size and extraordinary quills, blue and gold macaw is one of the amazing species of parrots.
They live in the tropical rainforests of South America and Central America mostly in the regions where the weather is warm.
Blue and gold macaws are the largest parrots with a length of almost 3 feet, weighing 1.5 to 2 pounds. They have beautiful strong wings with a wingspan of almost 2.5 to 3 feet.
These birds make incredible pets. Being your lifetime companions, Blue and gold macaws lifespan is above 50 years or sometimes nearly 70 years.
The beak of this macaw is powerful enough to crack rock-solid nuts such as the Brazilian nuts. They use this strong curved beak also for climbing and hanging from trees.
Blue and gold macaws have zygodactylous feet which means they have 2 toes that point forward and 2 toes that point backward. They have a very strong grip.
In search of food and water, blue and gold macaws typically travel long distances stretching at nearly fifteen miles in the air.
Blue and gold macaws are pairs for life. They form monogamous pairs. The breed every one or two years.
When a baby macaw is hatched, it has no feathers. Their eyesight is also zero when they’re born.
According to IUCN Red List, the number of Blue-and-gold macaws in the wild is believed to be more than 10,000 adult birds.
Blue and gold macaws behavior varies greatly depending on their habitat, physical and mental health. They are extremely intelligent and friendly birds.
Also Check: How many species of Macaws are there?
Takeaway
This article provides you with a complete guide about what does a blue and gold macaw eat and what should not be fed to them. Understanding the daily essential diet for your macaws is extremely important for your healthy and happy bird. Make sure to give your blue and gold macaw a diet with all essential nutrients and freshwater clean daily.
Also Check: Blue And Gold Macaw Wingspan
