Palm Nuts

The back half of our new place was a palm tree nursery at one time.We have different types of Palm trees ,which nuts are good for parrots ? Or are any they'll eat OK? I've feed them several different ones and they eat them great ,but are they all safe ? can find much info on this.Eat them Green or ripe?

I used to buy them at the parrot store and they were green when I got them. I don't know that they were any specific kind, I just knew them as palm nuts.

Do you know what kinds of palm you've got? I think what is marketed as Palm nuts come from the oil Palm, whence cometh (red) palm oil -- it is an african variety. Here is the picture posted on Wikipedia:



I don't know if other palm seeds are safe, but if there are coconut or date palms, the fruit would be useful.

No none of them are anything close to people food.I don't see coconut or date palms here,don't know why.I have maybe 7 or 8 types but other than Royal Palms and Cabbage Palms i can't say what species they are.The ones i've feed the birds are grape size and green, they do seem to enjoy them.

watch the wild birds, if they eat them then they are good


dusty

I don't think we have any wild birds capable of eating them ,only fuzzy tailed tree rats.

I would think if other animals are eating them, they should be safe, but thats just an assumption.

I think I'd be a bit cautious and look up the specific type of palm. There are some few exceptions to the rules about what is safe and/or desirable. Seeds/kernals/nuts seem to be in the category of things that are more likely, rather than less likely, to be universally OK. Human toxicity is probably better studied and can be cautiously applied, the differences are more a matter of dosage than kind IME.

OR pick a pair of breeders you don't much like and feed them for several months.... that sounds crass but I've considered getting a pet store budgie to use as a coal-mine canary for the other two. The problem is, I'd never be able to not get attached to it.

That's pretty much why i tried them out with jake ,because i know her and can watch for reactions,she loves them,and i only tried them because the squirrels were eating them like crazy.

idk if your still intrested in this but i saw this on a store i was looking at and found a section of palm nuts! maybe some of yours look similar? http://www.mysafebirdstore.com/cart.cgi?group=0&child=1035

I've been giving them the Queen Palm nuts here lately because i watched the crows eating the ripe ones that fall on the ground, the other nuts stay gren and only the squirrels can eat them but most of my birds love them also.I'm not sure about the Christmas Palms but i'm sure they're around here some where.The Poinseana seed pods are a big hit with the zons also.

i have no idea what any of those kind of nuts/trees are but i think its awesome that you have all of them in your back yard! It must be nice having all of those kinds of trees in your back yard. I bet you could make perches and stuff out of the branches! i always wanted to do that but honestly all trees around here look so similar i cant figure out which ones i have in my yard

Hey Coral, the palm aren't much for perches and the Royal Poinsianea trees are too pretty too cut,LOL but i have found where to cut Dragon wood and have a bunch drying, matter of fact i need to send vicki #s some large branches. How bout it vicki ?

Queen palms are fine.

As for your other ones you can always take a pic or clipping to an arborist for positive ID then research toxicity from there.

Here's a site to look up poisonous plants:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/

Thanks for that,the problem down here is we have so many nonnative plants and trees. My new Star Fruit is covered in fruit and has blossoms too, good thing the birds love them ,i may eat 1 a week and Josie doesn't eat them at all, need to find something to do with them. I did find a new (to me) bush that has seed pods that the birds love and researched it,seems it is commonly planted for Quail and Turkeys so i guess it's OK for parrots. It has seed pods that look like soybean and about the same size.I'l get the name of it and post later. How about Liche ?are they OK and how about the seeds? I have one planted now and there several trees near by that are loaded. How about Papaya seeds ? I have several plants that i started from seed and are about ready to set out.

I am confident that papaya seeds are OK in moderation. Lychee, I guess I'd use the rule that if I can eat it, they can eat it, so I'd remove the outside and seed unless someone has solid experience. Anyone know?

With the Liches it would be nice if i could just throw them in there without having to clean them. I like things like grapes that don't require a lot of prep time. I use a 1x1 or 1x2 grate in the bottom of the cages so most scrapes fall though and become chicken feed.LOL