Can Birds Eat Rice?

Whether birds can eat rice by pet bird owners has brought varied opinions from ornithologists and other bird professionals. The idea that birds can die of poisoning or stomach explosion from rice consumption is a myth or fallacy that was propagated by a skeptical bride who happens to be a bird lover, with the help of a columnist named Ann Landers in 1988.

If you’re a pet freak or you’re someone who just loves animal companion, especially birds. Maybe you just happen to have them often as visitors in your garden, and you’re bothered with questions regarding what to feed your little friends. Questions like “can bird eat rice?” or “which other feed can I give my birds?”

Well, I’m glad to announce to you that birds can eat rice without any repercussions or side effects. So you can go on and feed as much rice as you want to your birds. Studies and research carried out by several ornithologists, and bird experts have shown that rice is very safe and can be fed to birds without any harmful effect.

Bigger birds can eat rice comfortably while some small ones may have difficulty swallowing the rice grain. Birds such as seagull, duck, and pigeon can also eat raw and cooked rice. You can feed rice to your bird pets or the ones in your garden without worry. You only have to decide whether you want to boil it before giving it to them, or you want to serve it raw to them.

Cooked rice is easier to eat, swallow, and digest than raw rice because raw rice takes time to absorb water. Hence, an increase in time of digestion in the digestive tract of the birds. Rice is a staple food that is very rich in energy, fiber, and contains some protein.

Are Birds Throat Large enough to Swallow Rice?

We understand that you love and cherish your birds, and it is possible that you’re skeptical or concerned about the safety of your birds after eating rice, and you have a question like this. However, when you feed rice to your birds, they go through the throat or esophagus and move directly into a pouch called the crop, located around the neck region.

The crop contains digestive enzymes, a little moisture, and microorganisms that help ferment, soften, and break down large food particles. The rice takes a lot of time to absorb moisture or water. Therefore, when it enters the crop, the microbes’ digestive enzymes help to ferment and soften the rice.

Before the rice could absorb enough water to make it swell in the throat or crop, it is passed down from the crop after fermentation into another digestive part called the Gizzard. For most people, including myself, who eat birds such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, etc. the Gizzard happens to be our favorite part.

The Gizzard is where the mechanical grinding of the feed takes place. It contains grits or tiny stones that help the birds crush and grind the rice to bits and further aid the digestion process before it is passed on into the bird’s stomach. Just as humans and every other animal don’t have food swollen or stuck in their throat, the same way, birds also can’t have their throat swollen from rice (cooked or uncooked) consumption.

Birds as Pest

Many wild and domestic birds seem to fancy rice a lot, especially the white and brown rice. They love to eat so many other grainy food and fruits also. Birds have been tagged as pests by most rice farmers and are often treated as one – due to the amount of damage and loss caused by the invading birds on their rice farms.

Many rice farmers in the USA and Canada have also testified that birds often invade their farms to feed on their grains such as rice, wheat, and millet.

FAQs

Which rice is more healthy, cooked, or uncooked?

Experts recommend cooked rice for both humans and animals; your little pet birds, or the wild ones in your garden inclusive because it is easier to eat and digest. When you want to cook rice for your birds, you mustn’t add salt or oil in order not to increase the fat and iodine level in their blood, which could be bad for their health.

Adding salt to the rice can also cause dehydration and increased thirst in birds. So avoid it as much as you can! Uncooked rice isn’t unhealthy for your birds in themselves, but you should only give it to your birds in small quantities.

Pigeons, pheasants, seagulls, and doves may eat uncooked rice freely, but it’s less attractive to other birds. Your birds would most likely enjoy having cooked rice for lunch other than the uncooked one, as it’s easier to pick, eat, and digest. So you go on and prepare their favorite!

Is rice a junk food?

No. Junk foods are essentially high in calories from fat or sugar but contain very little protein, vitamins, or minerals. White rice is generally low in protein, fiber, vitamins, and mineral because the husk and the bran have been removed during processing, but they are still a healthy choice for your birds depending on how you prepare it.

However, brown rice, on the other didn’t have to go through so much processing so that they can retain their protein, vitamins, and mineral nutrients, making them a more nutritious and healthy choice for your birds. Brown rice is not usually considered a staple or junk food by most food experts.

Is rice healthier than a potato?

Like many other staple foods, both rice and potato are carbohydrates, and they can give you a very large amount of energy when consumed. Rice and potato are very nutritious and contain vast amounts of nutrients such as energy, fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Rice and potato are very healthy for consumption by humans and animals, your birds inclusive.

It is safe for you and very healthy to feed rice (either brown or white) to your birds, either cooked or uncooked, without causing any harmful side effects. However, it would be best if you always took caution to feed only cooked, baked, roast, and mashed potatoes only to your birds. Feeding fried potatoes to your birds could be unhealthy for them – due to the amount of unsaturated fat present in the oil.

Don’t feed uncooked potatoes to your birds because they contain many fiber and non-starch polysaccharides. Just like humans, birds can’t digest fiber because the digestive enzymes required to do such is absent. Take note that since rice and potatoes contain sugar, they’re both able to increase your birds’ blood sugar level when consumed.

Potatoes are regarded to contain more nutrients than rice due to the increased presence of protein, but it doesn’t necessarily make it healthier than rice because it also contains more sugar than rice. So the choice is yours to either feed rice or potato to your birds as both are suitable foods for them, but what I can guarantee is that both are very nutritious and easy to eat and digest for your birds.

Can uncooked rice swell up in their throat?

No. Uncooked or dry rice takes a lot of time to absorb moisture or water. Therefore, when it enters the crop, the microbes’ digestive enzymes help to ferment and soften the rice.

Before the dry or uncooked rice could absorb enough water to make it swell in the throat, it is passed down from the crop after fermentation into another digestive part called the Gizzard.

The Gizzard is where the mechanical grinding of the feed takes place. It contains grits that help the birds crush and grind the rice to bits and further aid the digestion process before it is passed on into the bird’s stomach.

Final Note

Rice, as already discussed, is a safe, convenient, and completely healthy food. Just as it is harmless to humans, so also it is harmless to your little friends. Feeding rice to wild birds is a cheap way to provide energy, some amount of protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber for them.

You can feed the white one or the brown one to them uncooked, and if you’ve got enough time to spare, you can cook it for your birds without adding salt. Your birds can eat and digest uncooked rice because they have a very efficient digestive system, capable of digesting rice or other grains.

You can spray uncooked rice to the birds in your garden, but to curb wastage, you can serve it to them in a plastic feeder. Cooked rice should also be served to caged birds or garden birds in a plastic feeder to reduce mixture with sand and other unhealthy particles.

You can also feed other fresh dry, healthy foods and grains such as wheat, peanuts, sunflower kernel, groundnut cake, oats, and maize to your birds. Doing this will help bring variation to their feed, giving them the right balance of nutrients they need for a healthy living.

Author Profile

Gabriel Tackett

Double major in Engineering and Geology at the University of Minnesota. Experienced shooter & hunter for over 15 years. Certified NRA officer for over 10 years working as a writer at Ballachy.com .