MASH 101 by Shauna Roberts
Originally the idea of breeder John Stoodley, bird mash recipes have been around for several years now. He fed his flock a mash diet for years and though the birds appeared to be gorgeous and healthy, according to some avian veterinarians, they may have had some underlying health issues such as osteoporosis. Alicia McWatters, who has a degree in human nutrition, made some improvements on Stoodley’s recipe, and animal trainer Mike Burton continued the evolution. Using Alicia's diet along with my own research, I developed my own mash recipe. I became interested in mash back in 1997 when it was discovered that one of my Cockatoos wasn't tolerating pellets. If he hadn't been sensitive, my flock would still be eating a primarily pellet based diet.
There is still some concern as to whether a mash diet provides parrots with adequate nutrition. The most obvious concern is the way parrots often pick through food, filling up on favorites first and tossing out the highly nutritious kale, collards or whatever doesn't meet their fancy. This can be easily remedied by either finely mincing all produce or placing fresh produce into a food processor, chopping and then mixing into the grain/legume base. A mash shouldn’t be a bowl full of foot sized pieces of food - that will surely result in malnutrition....so chop, chop, chop! Fun chunks of food can be offered once a day like dessert.
It is important that parrots receive the essential trace mineral iodine in their diet. Produce isn't a good source of iodine, nor are grains and legumes. Kelp is a good source of iodine and comes in both capsules (which can be easily broken apart) and powder forms, and can be mixed into mash. Be leery of other seaweeds. They may supply iodine, but many are very high in iron.
Recently we have all been hearing about the importance of vitamin D. People get some of their D from plants that contain D2, but parrots cannot efficiently convert D2 into essential D3, so that leaves limited sources for them. D3 is essential for calcium absorption and some species, like the African Grey, appear to have higher requirements, while others like Macaws can be very sensitive to too much D3. Natural sunlight is the easiest way for birds to get D3 – thirty minutes a day whenever possible. The fresh air is good for them too! Sunlight converts secretions from parrots preen glands into D3 which they ingest while preening. The needed UV rays for this conversion cannot be penetrated through windows, so outside really is best. D3 is a fat soluble vitamin which is stored in the liver for approximately 20 days. Some pellets, like Harrisons contain D3 and recently some organic yogurts have added D3 to their ingredients. D3 is also found in eggs but the amount of eggs recommended in a parrot’s diet will not provide the recommended amount. Finally, though you must be very careful feeding fish oil to your bird, Alicia McWatters recommends 1 tablespoon cod liver oil mixed with 1 pound of seed mix. It can be stored in your refrigerator for up to one week.
A mash diet to birds is like a healthy, well-balanced diet for humans. If you offer a variety of healthy foods, the rest will usually take care of itself. The body (whether human or psittacine) is an amazing organism that uses what nutrients it needs and disposes of those it doesn't - it does a lot of the work for us!
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Simple carbs contain sugar. All those words that end in ose such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose. Of importance though is to note there is a difference between natural simple carb foods that are low in calories (and have health benefits/nutrition/antioxidants) and refined carb foods that are high in calories(cake, sugar, candy, honey etc)and not real health benefits.
Simple carb:
Fruits (apple, berry, melon, citrus, kiwi, mango papaya, plum etc), milk
Complex carb:
Whole grains including brown rice, legumes including peas, potato, sweet potato/yam and other root veggies, table corn (there are two corns...the newest one is the common veggie the other is a grain)
And that essentially was the misunderstand that showed up on the list a few weeks ago. Mash is actually the entire package....grains/legumes/greens/veggies/fruit etc but you have to start out with a base of prepared grains/legumes which may be cooked, sprouted or a mixture of cooked/sprouted.
What I found was that people thinking grains/legumes was the mash were not always adding the rest of the ingredients making it an incomplete diet OR chopping ingredients so large so birds were picking through but they thought no big deal cause they were eating the mash (grains/legumes).
I guess what it boils down to..regardless of what one might call each part is that all of the foods are combined and offered in the end.
There are several ways to do a mash and when you work it can be hard to fit it in so I have suggested if people need that time saver to chop produce a few days in advance but also let them know that doing so results in some nutrient loss after cutting. Anytime you cut something and its edges are exposed to air nutrients are lost. If schedule allows its better to maybe take a turnip green, collard leaf, a few kale leafs, piece of mango, a carrot, chunk of squash...whatever, put into daily baggies, take a minute to wash/rinse rip into chunks by hand, throw into the food processor, mincing them up that day to mix into mash. But even though that only takes a few minutes it's not workable for everyone either...so we all do what we can.
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This prepared Mash recipe features a base of whole grains and legumes that are prepared bi-weekly/monthly and then frozen in bird or flock-sized servings. The Mash is defrosted prior to serving, then warmed. Fresh ingredients are then mixed in along with added Esential Fatty Acids/Omega-3's. Good sources of EFA's include: Wheat Germ Oil, Flax Seed Oil, and Hemp Oil. This Mash Meal features: Cooked fresh pumpkin chunks, pumpkin seeds, fresh chopped collard and turnip greens, along with a few kernels of sweet corn, and a few frozen green peas.
Buying fresh greens from your local produce supplier may not always be easy - so you can substitute fresh frozen if needed.
Mash Mix-In Ingredient Ideas
Leafy Vegetables
Collard Greens
Mustard Greens
Turnip Greens
Dandelion Greens
Kale - Curly Green, Red or White Russian or Ursa Kale, and Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale
Escarole
Curly Endive
A wonderful kale resource can be found at Seeds of Change, http://www.seedsofchange.com/enewsletter/issue_57/kale.asp
Squash, Sweet Potatoes and Yams
Learn more about the nutritional content of winter and summer squashes, Sweet Potatoes and Yams.
Should be used sparingly because of the simple carbohydrate content, these vegetables can be an excellent nutritional source of Vitamin A for your bird.
To cook a squash, yam or sweet potato, simply peel, cut into small cubes and simmer in a small amount of lightly salted water. Cooking time will vary with altitude, but 8-10 minutes should produce the perfect al dente texture. Store refrigerated, tightly sealed container for up to 5 days. If cooking up a yam or sweet potato is not your cup of tea, purchase the highest quality organic Sweet Potato, Yam or Winter Squash baby food and use it sparingly to mix in.
Excellent resource links for these vegetables are:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/squash.htm
http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtocookvegetables/a/sweetpotatodiff.htm
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=113
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