Can birds eat comfrey? Parrots, budgies, cockatiels, finches
Can birds eat comfrey? This herb grows easily in large clumps of long, dark green, tough hairy leaves. It has been highly regarded for centuries as a fodder plant for domestic animals – cows, sheep, horses, and chickens. Although they have to be trained to eat it from young, as it is not very palatable on its own. If it is chopped and mixed with other rations, the animals will eat it willingly.
Benefits:
- It contains 35% protein in its leaf, which is considered very high. Higher even than in soya beans. Therefore, it is highly recommended as a protein and trace mineral food supplement for your birds rather than for its herbal properties.
- It is rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin C.
- It is very rich in potassium, calcium, phosphorous, and other trace elements.
This is a herb with many herbal applications for external use on humans. It is normally recommended that humans should not take this herb internally on a continuous basis, unless under the supervision of a registered herbalist or homeopath. The use of comfrey root for herbal medicine is banned in many parts of the world.
Can birds eat comfrey? Info-table
Name: |
Russian comfrey |
Scientific name: |
Symphytum uplandicum |
Also known as: |
Indigenous Countries: |
Native to Europe. |
Description: |
Is a cross or hybrid of Symphytum officinale (common comfrey) and Symphytum asperum (rough comfrey). has a mauve to purple flower. |
Nutritional Value: |
good source pf PAs, but is also rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and a range of carotenoids and is high in protein. |
Feeding: |
Add the chopped comfrey leaves (not more than once a week) to chopped greens. On occasions can also place a whole potted Russian Comfrey plant in the aviaries. |
Discussion: |
A perennial herb. |
Russian Comfrey and Micro-Nutrients: Can birds eat comfrey?
By Dr Gary Fitt
Benefits of Russian Comfrey
As mentioned the plant is a good source pf PAs, but is also rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and a range of carotenoids and is high in protein – about 20% dry weight. As the table below shows it is also rich in iron, potassium and calcium. As a natural source of many beneficial compounds Russian Comfrey leaves in small amounts do seem to be valuable for birds.
We need to remember that the diets we provide for our birds in aviaries are nowhere near as diverse as they can gather in the wild where small amounts of many plants are consumed by finches. A diet study of Diamond firetails in South Australia showed that the birds consumed seeds, leaves and other parts from 80 different plants, only 44 of which could be identified. Many of these were consumed in only small quantities and must have brought some value for them.
Why the decline in use for birds?
Russian Comfrey was never widely used as a green food with finches, but it virtually disappeared from use in the early 1980s when the use of comfrey was recognized as a substantial health hazard causing hepatic toxicity (damage to the liver in humans and with carcinogenic potential in rodents due to the pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
This led the US Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of comfrey extracts for human consumption in 2001. The concentration of the pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) is much higher in roots, seeds and flowers than in the leaves and some just overdid the herbal teas. Also important to note that Russian Comfrey has much lower levels of PAs than Common Comfrey and is therefore probably safer for birds to consume.
Unfortunately this controversial ban for human consumption seems to have led to the plant being labelled as toxic for birds and there are some current bird books which claim it should not be fed to cage birds. This is despite it being used for decades by those old canary breeders who fed the leaves in moderation with no ill effects. I do not believe birds would consume Russian Comfrey leaves if it did them harm.
The feeding pattern that some of our finches show with it, where they have it continuously available but consume just small amounts regularly suggests it has value to them and we have never observed a problem.
Can birds eat comfrey? How do we use Russian Comfrey?
Cheryl Mares and I have Russian Comfrey growing in several pots from which we can harvest leaves and also have it growing in two aviaries. The plants die back during winter and don’t like the hot summer weather. They need a little shade and plenty of water at that time, and they grow beautifully during spring to autumn. For the plants growing in the aviaries there is a definite seasonality about its consumption by the finches with most consumed during autumn and spring, but not all species eat it.
No birds touch the youngest leaves, but the mid age and older leaves are eaten and it is these we harvest from the potted plants and add the chopped comfrey leaves occasionally (not more than once a week) to our chopped greens. On occasions I also place a whole potted Russian Comfrey plant in the aviaries, particularly for Song Sparrows and Siskins – they demolish the plants in a few days.
As I mentioned not all birds eat it. For example in our experience Yellowrumps, Masks and Stars didn’t touch it, whereas Pictorellas, Doublebars, Yellow Siskins, Golden Song Sparrows do. But even these take it in different ways. The Pictorellas eat a little each day and eat small holes in the leaves, the Doublebars nibbled the edges, the Siskins ate considerable amounts and the Song Sparrows demolished all the plant as the images show.
So we have found no problems with finches consuming Russian Comfrey and its rich suite of secondary compounds and other nutrients would provide benefits for the birds. You might consider trying Russian Comfrey as a minor green food component which provides a rich source of beneficial compounds.
Can birds eat comfrey? From: Cheryl Mares – Queensland, Australia
Housing and General Feeding
My birds were housed in two aviaries, each 5m x 2.5m with 2m as a covered shelter
with a bamboo divider between the shelter and the flight. A climber, Bauhinia
corymbosa, grows on the divider giving extra shelter and with some birds more
nesting sites. Both aviaries have established plants in them. These include shrubs (a
Grevillea and a Leptospermum), grass clumps (Green Panic and Stipa, red Natal grass
and Swamp grass), plus the herbaceous plants Russian comfrey (Symphytum spp.) and
wormwood (Artemisia spp.).
Can birds eat comfrey? Herbal mix
This unique herbal formula contains the following 18 medicinal herbs:
Alfalfa; Burdock root; Calendula petals; Comfrey leaf; Echinacea; Elder leaf; Lavender leaf; Oreganum; Rosemary; Thyme; Wormwood; African wormwood; Wild dagga; Yarrow; Garlic nibs; Kelp powder; Milk thistle seed; Siberian ginseng.
Available on Boegie Store in South Africa.