tea & tiels

Question
Linnie,
I recently visited a tea website (stashtea.com). They have a section about how people use tea on their pets. A lot of people said that they give tea (chamomile and peppermint) to their cockatiels and parrots, mostly because the birds discovered it on accident and they liked it. I noticed that most of their teas are caffeine-free. I was thinking about trying the chamomile (caffeine-free) tea on my cockatiel. From your experience, what do you think about this?

Kim

Answer
Hi Kim,
First, let me start out by saying that I have no knowledge concerning teas and parrots. This was a first for me. I've been around the block caring for/raising/breeding parrots for many years, and this is the first I've heard of this. Kim, let's start out this way. The first question you should ask concerning any food/drink item you are thinking about introducing to your bird is: "Is there any *good* reason for giving this". Secondly, ask yourself: "What harm could it do"? If there is no good answer to the first question, I'd not bother going onto the second question. Parrots are not lil' people. They have specific nutritional requirements, a lot of which doesn't include 'human foods'. You'd be surprised how harmful some 'human' foods can actually be to parrots. Especially given their ratio of "body porportions" to ours. A question I often ask myself is why some people feel it necessary to offer things to their birds that they, themselves, enjoy. I know dog owners who find it so cute to offer their dogs ice cream. Which isn't a very good idea, at all. Things we enjoy doesn't always equal good for your bird. What concerns me a little bit is where you said: "I noticed that most of their teas are caffeine-free". Which indicates to me that some of the choices had caffeine. Caffeine is pretty harmful to parrots. Even chocolate, which contains a "caffeine-like" substance, Theobromine. I just can't find any good reason to offer a bird teas of any kind. As with children, what tastes good for them isn't always necessarilly good for them. Same with your birds. In fact, with birds, due to their small body masses, what some children could withstand could prove fatal to birds. I wouldn't consider it, Kim, for I can't find any reasonable explanation for why they would benefit from it. If you do a search, Kim, or search through some books in book stores, or your local library, you'll find a pretty good resource of 'good nutrition' concerning parrots. There is so many food sources out there that would be more beneficial to them. I just don't understand what benefit tea would bring. A rule of thumb is to think of where your bird is from, in the wild, and think of their food choices that would be found. I'm sure tea wouldn't be one of them. I thank you for questioning this, and appreciate your trusting me for my opinion. I'm using logic and common sense here, like I mentioned before, due to the fact that I've not read anything that promotes the giving of teas to parrots. If I can't come up with a reason why I should, I'd rather not. There are too many other things that can be offered to your bird that would be more nutritionally beneficial.
Best regards,
Linnie