Are black oil sun flower seeds safe for parrots?
At Family Dollar they carry a large bag of these for only about 4 or 5 dollars, labeled for "wild birds". (People buy them for outside bird feeders). The ingredients say "Black Oil Sunflower Seeds", AND THAT IS ALL THE INGREDIENTS SAY.
Next to that they also have a bag of assorted bird seeds which the labeling reflects is for inside birds, "cockatoos", "cockatiels", "parrots" - - - - When I look at the ingredients listing on this bag, I am appalled and shocked to read a forbidden ingredient for birds, "Salt". Salt is not healthy for birds; they should not be given anything with salt in it or on it. Furthermore, if something is containing an extremely minimal amount of salt, very sparingly, and only if salt is listed after the 5th ingredient on the ingredients listing on the product packaging.
There are different types of sun flower seeds. "Black Oil Sunflower Seeds" are indeed used for feeding outside birds. The color of the shells on these is totally black, with no white striping on them. Then there are another kind of sun flower seeds which is the more familiar look, black with some white stripes on them, which are also used for inside birds bought at "Parrot Shops". I don't know what "kind" these are called. The parrot shop near me does not carry "black oil sunflower seeds".
QUESTION: Being that there are different "kinds" of sunflower seeds, are the "black oil sunflower seeds" safe for our parrots?