The physical composition of a parrot with respect to its food is controlled by an organ called the ‘crop’. Feeding a parrot is not just a matter of putting food in the cage and letting the parrot do its thing, it is a matter of observing how much it eats each day and how the bird reacts to the food. A parrot’s health can be greatly affected if the role of the crop in the feeding process is not understood.

Harvest Purpose.

By having a crop as part of the digestive tract, the parrot can gorge itself on food when it is available and then sit down and digest the food at a later stage. This works because the first meal eaten goes into the gizzard and then, when it’s full, the next meal goes into the crop, acting as a second “stomach.”

The crop is a small bag of skin surrounded by muscles and located approximately halfway down the esophagus on the way to the gizzard (stomach). The crop allows the parrot to store additional food that it has found. When the stomach is empty, the muscles around the crop move food to the opening of the crop and then into the stomach. This system works well for birds that cannot always find available food when they are hungry.

It is necessary to empty the culture at least once a day so that the food does not stay there and go rancid. If the food is not emptied every day, there is a risk that it will spoil and this causes a “sour crop”, which is a very dangerous health risk for a parrot. That’s why it’s a good idea to feed a parrot two meals a day with just a few nibbles in between.

From the outside of the parrot you can feel the crop behind the breast feathers. This is useful to know because if you ever wonder if the parrot has eaten, you can feel the craw and if it is full it will feel like a small bag of food. If the bird has been eating grain it will feel quite rough, but if it has been eating fruit it may not feel as lumpy. The culture should never be so full that it feels hard, it should always feel a bit soft.

Hand fed baby parrots.

Hand-feeding baby parrots needs special care because their crop will spread so much that it will harden and the skin will stretch, causing major problems at a later date as the muscles will have been weakened by this process. The process of hand-feeding a baby parrot is quite involved and if you are planning on doing it by raising baby parrots, take the time to research the proper feeding methods to ensure the safety of the baby parrot.

Bacterial infection causing sour culture.

Bitter harvest can also be caused by a bacterial infection that may have nothing to do with the amount of food the parrot has eaten. It could be that some food you ate was infected or that the bacteria in the crop, which is always present, has worsened by natural progression. This can be fixed with a visit to a veterinarian who will rinse the crop and give the bird some medication.

Parrot owners will feel much more empowered when they understand a parrot’s digestion, as it can cause major problems if not handled correctly.