Corn Cobs

[Jeff McKee]

After everyone in my family (the humans) finished their corn cobs the other night, I broke the eaten cobs into pieces and tossed them into the Zebra and Society finch cages. All the birds immediately migrated to the cobs. They were quickly picked clean, except where the kernels were whole! I think this is the first time I ever introduced a new food, and found most every bird willing to give it a try!

Corn is a starch. High protein. I suspect feeding corn to the birds too regularly would make them fat.

[cindy]

Jeff, I am glad the birds enjoyed the corn obs but I will tell you what my Avian vet adviced me when she ran test on my handfed Gray (the breeder way putting the heated syinge to her mouth to make sure the forumla was not to hot for the birds...the correct way is to use a candy thermometer to check the temp).

This is what we found in my bird, the results surprised me and I told the vet of the breeders habit....bird and humans both have gram positive and gram negative bacteria in their system. Birds' grams are opposite from what humans have, by doing as she was doing, introducing salivia and bacteria into the food over and over as she handfed each time she literally changed the birds good bacteria it needed in it's system to bad bacteria which made the bird ill. The vet told me not to share my food I have bitten into with the bird, do not let it drink out of your cup and not let the bird in your mouth. http://www.petparrot.com/Illnesses.htm (E-Coli is found in human saliva)

You may not make the birds sick by doing this once but if you do this often it could make them ill. Might I suggest boiling up a few ears of corn for them to have and you toss the cobs from your plate in the trash.

Scroll down on this site to human saliva... http://www.cleos-corner.net/ParrotGener ... ation.html

http://www.quakerparrots.com/health/tra ... ts-humans/
quote:
"Because our systems are gram opposite (one gram positive, one negative) most bacterial diseases and even most viruses can not pass from human to bird or vice versa. One exception that most everybody knows about is Salmonella, but it is very rare in birds. There are, as I found out to my chagrin, a few nasty bacteria that can “mutate” and cross from human to bird…I just happened to have a sinus infection with one of those and lost some birds to it, but those also are very rare.

Of more concern is the bacteria which is “friendly” to humans, being part of our normal digestive flora and present even in our saliva, which can sometimes make a bird very ill or even cause death. This is why some vets and “experts” will warn you not to let your bird in your mouth or let it eat after you."

[debbie276]

I wouldn't say that corn on the cob is very high in protein.
According to the Nutrition Data web site a whole cob only has 2g of protein http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/veg ... cts/2986/2
For comparison a large hard boiled egg has 6g of protein http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dai ... ucts/117/2
I always thought corn was a filler.

[cindy]

I also see corn as a filler...it is also not digested as easily. I agree with Debbie...eggs are a better protein.

[Martie]

Good point about the bacteria, Cindy! I didn't know this.

I do know my birds love, love, love corn. When we buy corn on the cob for ourselves, we always get a couple of extras for the birds. These get sliced into rounds and distributed to the flights where they are always devoured very quickly. In the winter, I often add a small amount of frozen corn to their quinoa or chopped broccoli.

Corn is a small part of the diet here, but definitely an important one according to them!

[cindy]

Martie...good idea in regards to adding a bit of orn to the quinoa and broccoli. Mine like it as well.

The gram issue in my Grey took a long time to correct (possibly because his immune system was so young)...he was pretty sick from it. I would definately pass on giving my birds corn cobs that were eaten off of. Consider the food particles, bateria build up on the teeth/gums/tongue/saliva in general and the gram differences in humans and birds I would opt for buying a few extra corns or a bag of frozen and let them have that as their own. The idea of tossing eaten corn into the cage kind of grosses me out a bit. JMO.

[dfcauley]

I don't think that corn really has any nutritional value, but my birds love it also. I give them fresh corn on the cob, but I don't cook it at all. I just shuck it, clean it and give it to them. They certainly love it and they get one ear a week in the aviary. Just for fun....