I recently been fighting back a swarm of horse flies that some how invaded my home and made me wish I could turn my pet quaker Spike lose on them. That got me to a wondering if the quaker eats insects as a part of their natural diet. I do not remember seeing anything posted on the subject. Is it all right to give my bird a cricket to eat? Will he eat a bug if I offered it to him. Is this bad for him if he does eat a bug.

I actually found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot

And I'm sure my fids have eaten their fair share of bugs, knowingly or unknowingly on my part. I just try to keep them apart.

Hope this helps!

Well I know for a fact that my Tiki has hunted down the odd fly or two that has come to close to him, and he is fine, I figure in the wild they would not refuse a bug or two.

Elwood has tried to eat the occasional ant that has walked across the carpet (can't seem to get rid of them!) He mouthed it for a while and then spat it back out...it was still alive!

I should think instinct would tell the bird if he ought to eat a bug or not, and if he wants to eat it, it must be all right. On the other hand, some of the stuff my dogs want to eat ... ... well, I don't know about THEIR instincts, but mine go ewwwwwwwww!

Not too long ago, someone on this forum posted that their quaker liked eating mealy worms.
My quaker and my conure gobbled up a little bit of chicken last week, so I know they like protein!

Our birds and cats will eat most insects. The only things we have ever offered them are meal worms and crickets. Anything else was a bug the slipped in when the doors were open.

AMEN to that!