Never feed pet birds rapeseed

[Mogeysmom]

This is just sort of a "public service announcement" for pet bird owners.
Check the ingredients of seed mixtures and make sure they don't contain
rapeseed. This is poisonous to birds and WILL KILL them slowly and painfully
over time. By the way, rapeseed is also the source of canola oil. It too is
toxic and should not be consumed my humans or pets. Do a bit of research
for yourself. www.karinya.com/canola.htm (Also, check your peanut butter ingredient labels. A lot of them have fully hydrogenated rapeseed oil. The all natural kinds are a little gritty and may take some getting used to, but they are much better for you. :) )

[toymaker]

Thank you for the info. I don't eat fried food much but I do use Veg. oil - I get my parrot food from The Pet Den on Long Island and they have bulk food - but I'll ask the owner, who I'v been dealing with for years and who is very knowledgable. Thanks for the alert!
toymaker

[krazy4birds]

Thanks for the alert from me too...I will be checking this out

[Maui Cat]

Answers to questions concerning canola oil:

www.canola-council.org/about/thetruth.html

[Mogeysmom]

Like the canola council is going to say anything bad about it duh!
Still not eating it or feeding it to my pets.
To each his own. You decide.
Wishing all the BEST health to all the petlovers and their pets.

[Amanda]

Hmmmm, I tried to go to that site you listed Mogey but my anti-virus blocked me from going to the site. I got a message that said:

Site: http://www.karinya.com/canola.htm
Blocked categories: Occult/New Age

Don't know what this is all about. :confused:

[Mogeysmom]

It is very new age, but not occult. However, some do not differentiate between the
two. I don't buy into every idea I read, especially on that website. Most people would chunk that website into the "weirdo" catagory. I found it searching for canola info through google. Unblock New Age/occult from your computer. Don't worry. The pagans ain't gonna gitcha.

Back to topic- Ten years ago, I had a beloved budgie who got sick and died at only 6 years old. I talked to an avian vet about it and there was nothing she could do. I described his symptoms, trouble breathing, lethargic, difficulty eliminating wastes and when he did, it was a lot and runny. He died in my hands. Anyway, the vet, who was holistic and caring, asked what I had been feeding him. I told her and she asked if it contained rapeseed. It did. She said that rapeseed is toxic to pet birds and companies put it in their mixtures because it is so cheap. She said she saw many birds die or experience problems from consuming rapeseed. I felt like I'd killed my precious little bird. His name was Hamlet and he was incredibly sweet and smart. I'll never forget it or forgive myself. Many years later, we got a computer and I was able to make the connection with rapeseed and canola oil through searching on the internet and, well, maybe some of you can understand how I felt about it. It's very personal. So you see, I'm not a fanatic or a "weirdo", just someone who never wants another pet to go through what Hamlet did. I'm sorry if the website offended anyone. If you believed everything on the website, you'd have to live in a bubble communicating with UFO's all day. Yep, it's pretty weird.

My family has all been blessed with naturally low cholesterol so we can eat pretty much anything we want.(we use olive, coconut, and occasionally soybean oil and only real butter, nothing hydrogenated) If canola oil has saved any lives then God bless it.

Continue your quest for the healthiest life possible for your pets and yourself.
Never stop learning!
Peace.

[XoKasey315xo]

i dont think mine has rapeseed in it, i dont see it in the ingrdents, i fed mi bird, Fusion parakeet food, from Kaytee

[XoKasey315xo]

OMG, i was just looking at the bird seed, and i saw a few stuck together, thinkin it was mold, i oulled it apart, and found a caterpiller in the food, and i found 2 others so far :confused:

[Kaye]

Uh, that's bad XoKasey315xo! Definitely time to get new food. Always check for that stuff before you feed it to your bird and make sure the baggy/container is sealed. :)

[Squawksx3]

Interesting info.. thanks for sharing it. :)

A tip on keeping bugs out of the pellet bag is to put it in the freezer.. especially if you have some that wont be used for awhile. We buy large bags because we have 5 large birds.. we put half the bag in the freezer until we're ready to use it. I've had bugs in sealed bags before :confused: .

[crazeemama]

I buy food (all food for parrots whether a pellet or seed or nut/pellet mix) in 20 - 25 pound bags. I put it in gallon size zip locks and freeze it. It is great and NO moths/caterpillars worms etc. Critters are found in OLD seed.You might want to change where you are buying it.
I started using Hagen Tropimix about 6 months ago. Contains no seed (in the larger parrot foods) All natural pellets and nuts with a FEW corn kernels. I order every 6 months around 200 pounds altogether. I get a very good deal (distributor prices and no s&h) so it works out really good. Much better than the packaged food I was getting. They all still get their 'hotdish' at night and their sprouts too.

[Kris0430]

That article was horrible, something I would never know to look for. We don't feed our bird seed, our vet recommends ZuPreem which comes in all sizes for all types of birds. Our bird loves it and we had no problem switching him over, he won't even look at seed now! Thanks for the info.

[lianatch]

it is probably a stupid question, but can anyone tell me what exactly rapeseed looks like?! how small is it first of all - similar to millet size or what? from what i found in the links below, to me, rapeseed looks identical to mustard - at lease on these pictures. i dont want my bird to eat rapeseed after reading this, but i cant figure out if i have it in the mix or not (it is sold by weight):
http://www.usda.gov/agency/gipsa/reference-library/graingallery/Rapeseed.jpg
http://www.usda.gov/agency/gipsa/reference-library/graingallery/mustard.jpg