Parrot diets around the world
The way science often works is that you come up with a hypothesis, basically a supposition based on intuition, a little evidence, or perhaps nothing at all. Then, you gather evidence and see if it proves your hypothesis.
My hypothesis
I’ve written extensively on bird diets and specifically about the use of seed versus pellets as the primary component of a parrot’s dry diet. North America is where the pellet industry started and it retains a stronghold, whereas anecdotally, fellow bird owners around the world are less influenced by the pellet industry and the vets that go along with them.
But I’m not here to explain why I think things are the way they are, only to show how diets vary around the world, separating the world into North America and everywhere else.
Study
I hesitate to call it a study, but I took a random sample of readers of my @hazel.the.cockatiel Instagram account and asked what they fed their birds and what country they were from. Although it’s not a huge sample, I got 23 responses.
I should note here that I’ve never seen any large survey of captive bird diets around the world. I’ve written previous about the only “major” study of parrot diets that exist, which is often quoted by vets when recommending a pelleted diet. However, this study only had 3 parrots in the study group!
Results
My feeling was that pellets would outrank seeds decisively, but it turns out that outside North America, seeds predominate. I broke down the results into people that reported using seeds, pellets, or chop as the primary element of their bird’s diet.
Again, it’s a small sample, but the result is interesting nonetheless.
Conclusion
Don’t make diet decisions for your birds based on this small study, but read my articles on diet instead. And note the probably not coincidental fact that most pellet manufacturers are North American. You also have to follow the trail of money when evaluating things with money involved.