Q: I was talking to the owner of an avian store and I brought up the fact that Buddy, my African grey, won't eat people food and only likes grapes. The owner told me that African greys cannot have food with too much Iron. They keep it in their system rather than release it. Grapes have lots of Iron in them! Here I was giving him a few each day, and he should only get one once in a while. Can you help me understand this? How often should I give him grapes and how many?
Jean Pattison, also known as "The African Queen," explains:
Iron storage is not a real problem in African greys, or most parrots for that matter. I would think about two grapes a day would be fine. My reasoning for this is the size of the bird compared to a human. Two grapes for a bird might be like a quarter of a water melon to a human. I generally only give fruit as a treat to all my birds.