An African grey’s diet is simultaneously a simple and complex thing.
They don’t need a huge amount of variety but at the same time the variety they do need is incredibly important.
Supplements are going to form an important part of your parrot’s diet, but there are so many on the market that it can be very difficult to know which ones are right for your needs.
There are lots of good options and each comes with their own benefits and downsides, so today we’re going to look at a wide selection of supplements to help you decide which might work best for you.
Let’s get started.
Best Overall: UnRuffledRx Nutritional Calcium Supplement for Birds
One of the most important supplements your African grey will need is calcium.
There are many options on the market for general vitamin and mineral supplements which, while useful, don’t always give you the full picture.
It is definitely recommended to give your parrot a dedicated calcium supplement, and the best option overall for doing this is the UnRuffledRX calcium supplement which also comes with magnesium.
Calcium is essential for maintaining the health and strength of your African grey’s bones and muscles, as well as maintaining overall good health.
This calcium supplement will promote strong bones, muscles, and nervous system, keeping your parrot’s overall frame strong and healthy.
The product is completely bioavailable and ready to use right out of the bottle.
The magnesium, as well as the vitamin D-3, will boost the absorption of the calcium as well as the subsequent utilization of the essential minerals that are found in the supplement.
Ideally you will use these three times a week and at the price of only around $30 an ounce, this product is not only great quality, but it’s also highly affordable.
The company uses only natural ingredients and non-GMO options for the best and most trustworthy product on the market.
They are tasteless and will dissolve completely in water, so you can simply put them into your bird’s water and they won’t even know they are getting these vital supplements.
One of the biggest challenges of supplements is getting your bird to consume them in the first place, so this is another area in which this product excels.
This calcium supplement is the best overall choice for a supplement for your African grey, and while you will certainly need other things in their diet to make sure they’re getting everything they need, this calcium supplement is one of the most important parts of supplementary African grey diets.
- Boost your bird’s health promoting overall strong muscles, bones, and nervous system—calcium is one of the most essential minerals in your bird’s diet.
- Highly affordable and you won’t need to buy the product over and over as it comes in large quantities for a good price.
- Dissolvable in water meaning you can easily give them to your African grey without them noticing what they’re getting.
- Some report it will not fully dissolve in water, meaning that you may have some trouble getting them to eat it.
- The bottle sometimes arrives less than completely full in some cases so you are not always getting the same value.
Summary
So, again, calcium is one of the most important parts of your bird’s supplementary diet.
Without calcium they will be weak and sluggish and this will lead to major long-term health complications.
This calcium supplement with added magnesium to ensure the best absorption will give your African grey the best possible chance at fully absorbing and utilizing the minerals in the product and so it is by far the best overall supplement for your African grey.
Best Budget: Quiko Multivitamin Daily Balance Vitamin & Mineral Supplement
On top of your dedicated calcium supplement, though, you may also want to consider a more general vitamin and mineral supplement for your African grey.
This is also really essential for making sure they are getting the best range of healthy vitamins into their diet along with other minerals which will further help them to absorb these vitamins.
But you also don’t have to break the bank to get quality vitamin supplements.
Our choice for the best budget option for vitamin supplements for a balanced diet for your African grey is this Quiko multivitamin daily balance supplement which can be used with all birds.
This product contains 14 essential vitamins as well as 6 essential minerals which will act as a really important boost to your parrot’s diet.
This includes things like Vitamin A, D3, E and B12, as well as minerals like calcium and iron.
Vitamins and minerals serve a very wide range of functions in your parrot’s body, and few vitamin and mineral supplements can boast the same degree of variety as this Quiko supplement and on a really cheap price.
Don’t let the price put you off, either—for a low price you are still getting incredibly quality.
They are also water soluble meaning they can easily be served by putting them in water or sprinkling them over the rest of the parrot’s food.
They work great for birds of all sizes including African greys.
Of course, you want to think carefully about how much vitamin supplement they are getting—it’s easy to give them too much so you don’t necessarily want to be using these on top of the other calcium supplements we’ve talked about.
If you’re at all unsure, always consult a vet.
But if you are looking for a quality, affordable vitamin and mineral supplement for your African grey, then this is the best choice for you.
It will support feathers, muscles, bones and is really easy to give to your parrot without any trouble.
Again, balance and variety are always important, and so in many cases in terms of your vitamin and mineral supplements, something like this may be all you need—they are rich in calcium and so you are getting that most essential mineral in adequate quantities while also getting everything else your parrot might need in a supplement.
- Highly affordable option while not cutting any corners in terms of the quality of the product.
- Water soluble meaning they can easily be mixed in with other food items to get those clever parrots to eat them without even realizing.
- Contains a wide variety of essential vitamins and minerals in great quantities.
- Some report that their parrots will not eat this even when dissolved, so some creative solutions like using them over their favorite foods may be needed.
- Some report it does not dissolve as well as it might and that this can make it a struggle to get the parrots to eat it, again.
Summary
Though you might be on a budget, you needn’t worry about the quality of this product.
This supplement will provide a wide range of benefits for your African grey that will support just about every aspect of their health, in an easily dissolvable solution that you should, in most cases, have no problem getting your parrots to eat.
While some have reported more difficulty than others in getting their parrots to eat it, ultimately most people have no trouble with it.
If you’re looking to splash out a bit on another of the most important supplements for your parrot, then our choice for the best premium option are these HealthyGut Avian probiotic supplements.
Probiotics are another really important part of your African grey’s supplementary diet.
Probiotics promote many health benefits and extend beyond simple nutrition.
They can prevent illness and most importantly strengthen the immune system against disease and pathogens.
They can also aid with digestion, as they assure the optimum microflora of the gut which are really important for good digestion.
Probiotics themselves are live bacteria which survive through their host’s digestive system.
They help in the development of native beneficial bacteria which does remain in the system after the probiotics have gone.
The best probiotic available is this HealthyGut option.
They promote holistic normal digestion, as well as helping to regulate your bird’s pH and defending against the effects of tress like feather picking.
They will also prevent digestive upset which can cause a great deal of stress for your African grey.
Preventing this kind of digestive discomfort is a really important part of your overall effort at helping their diet, and these probiotic supplements are a really important part of that.
They will want to be served over your parrot’s ordinary food and used in this way makes them very easy to administer.
Just find your parrot’s favorite food or a range of its favorite foods and you can easily serve them this supplement daily.
They, too, are all natural, containing eight different species of freeze dried probiotic organisms which will work together to promote excellent immune and digestive health for your African grey.
It requires only a single daily intake and it is purity tested from human grade ingredients and to human grade standards, again being a non-GMO formula.
Each container houses 600 servings, so while it is on the more expensive side, you are still getting a great deal of supplement for what you pay.
Large birds like an African grey will want a full scoop of this supplement.
Again, it is hard to overstate the importance of probiotic supplements in your parrot’s diet.
Unlike mineral or vitamin supplements, these stand entirely alone and have entirely different effects, meaning you need to consider this supplement on top of your parrot’s other supplements and ordinary diets. With all that in mind, this is the best choice for such a supplement.
- Complete probiotic protection containing eight different species which will ensure a full and complete probiotic profile for your African grey.
- Can be easily sprinkled over food without your African grey noticing and it will get it all down.
- All-natural formula that is made to the standards that any comparable human supplement or food would be made to.
- More expensive option and while there are cheaper probiotics available, this is one area where you really don’t want to cut corners.
- Not dissolvable in water which can, for particularly picky parrots, make it a bit harder to administer without trouble.
Summary
Once more, the importance of probiotic supplements for your African grey is tantamount.
Without probiotics you will notice considerable differences in your bird’s health, and only a single 24 period after taking these probiotics you’ll start to notice huge differences in their health and wellbeing.
It is true that this option is among the more expensive on the list, but again, quality probiotics do come at a price—and the price of not using them is far greater.
Alternative budget: United Pet Group Wild Harvest Multi-Drops for All Birds
Another cheaper option for a specified vitamin supplement is this United Pet Group vitamin drops for all birds.
It’s a high quality product which once again comes in at a very affordable price.
These high potency vitamin drops are really great as a supplement for your African grey.
Vitamins in particular are of course very important, and in general your parrot can get a lot of its vitamin needs from the foods it eats—to an extent, the same is true of most minerals.
But at the same time, your African grey’s diet, as mentioned, can be a delicate balancing act.
It’s not always possible to fill them up on the kinds of fruits and vegetables which provide the vitamins and minerals that they need.
This is where supplements like this come in.
You can give them this vitamin supplement even alongside mineral and probiotic supplements to ensure that their diet is a complete one.
Vitamins, again, serve a whole host of functions in the body, from promoting health cells, to strengthening the nervous system, and aiding digestion.
Any number of these functions, if allowed to deteriorate by the lack of proper vitamins, could cause serious health complications for your African grey.
It’s also often a case of individual preference; you may find that your particular African grey is far more open to using this supplement than it is to using another on this list. Trying out multiple supplements is a great way to see what they respond best to.
Though in a smaller container, this option remains a good budget choice because the vitamin drops are so high-potency.
Even for a large bird like an African grey, you will need only one or two drops to give them the full benefits of this vitamin supplement.
Again, this supplement also dissolves into water making it really easy to administer to your African grey without them ever knowing.
The vitamins thus supplied will help to support proper growth in your African grey and give them the boost they need whether they are in old age or still growing up.
This 8-in-1 product provides everything your parrot will need in terms of its vitamin profile when supported by a balanced diet.
That is one thing that is always worth stressing.
These are supplements, meaning that they are only going to be of benefit if they are used on top of an ordinary diet.
They alone cannot provide all the nutritional benefits your parrot needs.
Indeed, the function of many of these vitamins is simply to aid in the absorption of other parts of the diet.
So, again, if you’re looking for a high quality, affordable vitamin supplement which manages to remain cheap without cutting corners on quality, then this is another great choice for you to try.
- Affordable, high quality option that provides a good range of benefits without needing to break the bank.
- Easily distributable by putting the drops in water making it very easy to administer to even a very fussy parrot.
- High potency drops mean you only need to use a very small amount of the product for the full benefits.
- Some report the product has arrived past its expiry date on some occasions so it is worth keeping an eye out for this.
- The smell is potent some report, to the extent that it can put their parrot off.
Summary
Again, when there is so much question of personal preference in parrot personalities, alternative options are always great to have available.
But that is not to say that this product in any way lacks the quality of our other choices.
It is highly affordable and comes with everything you might need out of a vitamin supplement when that supplement goes hand in hand with the rest of their diet.
Finally, one supplement we have not so far mentioned are dedicated feather growth supplements.
Our choice for the best feather growth supplements, as an alternative premium option, is the Equa Holistics BIOFeather growth supplement.
Feathers are naturally one of the most important part of your African grey’s health.
Again, many of the vitamins and minerals they get in their ordinary diet will be vital for promoting healthy feathers.
Unhealthy feathers will make your parrot very uncomfortable and may lead to self-destructive behavior.
Furthermore, any issue with the feathers is likely to be indicative of some deeper, underlying problem.
This supplement will support healthy feather growth in luminous colors.
The formula provides natural nutrients for your parrot which will aid in the health of their feathers and give them a better chance of staying happy and comfortable in their bodies.
Again, the ingredients are all-natural and contain supplements for birds of all sizes, ages, and species.
They contain a variety of minerals, vitamins, and even amino acids.
When molting, you may want to give your parrot an extra scoop of the mineral to help them along.
They are tasty and with only a single daily intake they will get all the benefit your parrots need out of this.
They are formulated to human-grade standards and thus you know you are getting the best quality out of this product, with a natural, simple, pure and highly quality controlled product.
You are paying somewhat extra for the quality you’re getting out of this product, but again, when it comes to supplements like this, there is no reason to cut corners.
This supplement will help keep your parrot in healthy plumage and not needing anything extra in terms of supplements in order to maintain healthy feathers.
Combining things like riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, B5, choline, manganese and many other essential vitamins and minerals, this product is holistic and will keep your bird very happy and healthy.
- Holistic product which provides a complete formula to keep your bird’s feathers healthy and covered in terms of all the nutrients they need.
- Only a single daily intake, easily spread over food or in water, is all your parrot will need from this product
- Natural ingredients
- More expensive than other options though comparable with most feather growth formulas.
- Can be difficult to get some parrots to eat it.
Summary
So, again, if you’ve got the spare money to spend, then this supplement is one of the best on the market for promoting healthy feather growth.
With a wide range of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, your parrot is getting everything it needs and more out of this fantastic supplement.
While it’s certainly a bit more expensive than other options on the list, you are getting more than good quality for the price you pay.