My cockatiel was “helping” me prepare dinner one night and she started to nibble on some uncooked white rice. She really liked it.
Whenever I take a bag of rice out of the cupboard, she gets all excited.
She really wants me to give her some. However, I know at weddings we now throw birdseed instead of rice as I am told that if a bird eats uncooked rice, it will swell up inside the bird and hurt it.
The rice I give my cockatiel never seems to bother her. I am not sure if I am doing the correct thing by allowing her to eat some every now and then.
That story about uncooked rice swelling up inside a bird’s body to the point of hurting it is just that – a story.
Rice does not expand when swallowed by a bird any more than any other grain a bird may eat.
However, since your bird does enjoy the rice so much, I would advise you to buy a bag of all-natural wild rice or brown rice to give her as a treat. It would be more nutritious than polished white rice.
You have said many times how important and helpful it is to feed the wild birds in our backyards, so why is it not legal to feed the birds in our state parks?
There are signs all over our parks prohibiting feeding of the birds or other animals under threat of fine or imprisonment.
How could something that is so good for animals in one place be so bad in another?
In our backyards and neighborhoods, where we carefully manicure the lawns and shrubs in order to keep our property values high, there is very little in the way of natural foods to feed the few species of birds or other wildlife that live there.
So this is why a helping hand from us is so welcome and needed.
In a state park or wildlife preserve, there is plenty of natural cover and food for the animals that live there, so any supplemental feeding from humans is not needed and actually can harm the wildlife.
When wild animals living in a habitat that has not been disturbed by humans become habituated to accepting handouts from visiting humans, they lose their instinctive wildness and no longer can function in their habitat in a natural manner.
So the rule in any natural setting is to not feed the wildlife for their own good and protection.
To contact Marc Marrone, email petxperts2@aol.com
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