Will Apple Seeds kill my Birds?

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Apple seeds do contain a compound called amygdalin which can break down in the stomach to release cyanide and as we all know, cyanide can kill but like most things is the dose that matters. If your bird eat enough apple seeds then Yes, apples seeds can kill your bird but some math done by Mike Owen calculated that a Cockatiel would need to eat 40-60 apple seeds in one sitting. I will link to Mike's article below as it's worth reading and it will tell you how many apple seeds it will take to kill an African Grey parrot.
So can we truth that Mike got it right and have people feed their birds apple seeds to see what happened? I haven't checked Mike;s numbers but like so many other bird owner I don't remove the seed from the apple that I feed to my birds and I have never had a problem with it.
In fact the seeds are what the birds first for for when I place half an apple in the aviary but most of the time I give them a full apple and they need to work there way in to find the seeds.
Bonus Facts - Seeds that contain amygdalin/cyanide are not treatments for cancer and cyanide is organic.
Mike Owen's article

If you think that I'm wrong then please email me with links so I can correct the information, Thank you.
- Dale Cray

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