Treats!

[Kathy]

......................

[ArtS]

Kathy,

Try growing fresh sprouts.

My wife grows sprouts for the birds. She regularly alternates the type of grain she sprouts and usually the birds love it. However, the monsters decided to reject her last batch - apparently the type of grain my wife used is not the flavor of the month!

Regards,

Art S.

[BUUZBEE]

My 2 get their seeds, soak mix, frutis & veggies everyday. I give millet spray as a treat. Brocolli is their favorite veggie!

[ArtS]

Buzbee,

What is soak mix?

Also, try sweet potato wedges stuck between the wires of their cage. Ours love them and the orange mash all over their faces is quite ammusing.

Regards,

Art S.

[BUUZBEE]

Buzbee,

What is soak mix?

Also, try sweet potato wedges stuck between the wires of their cage. Ours love them and the orange mash all over their faces is quite ammusing.

Regards,

Art S.

I take it the sweet potato is cooked right?


from my conure forum:


you birds big & small will love this!

Here is what I use:

1/4 cup of each (dried, found by the rice at the store)
peas
lentles
white beans (small)
white rice
wild rice
popcorn kernals (regular old popcorn you would use in a pot)
you can add other beans, or lentles, barley etc. as you preffer

soak overnight, then drain & rinse the next day. Put in a pot and cover about 1 inch over with warm water. slowly simmer for about 1 hour.

drain & rinse again, then cool. for easy meals, put in ice trays and freeze, then pop them out & put in a freezer bag. Pull out as many as you need, and defrost on the counter for about 15 minutes.

(a sugestion, for first timers, try getting a small bag of the "bean soup mix" it will have a lot of beans, hopefully the peas etc. that way just add the rice, and you dont have to buy a ton until they get totally hooked to it!)

a note: dont use black bean, it makes the mix all grey & dirty looking, really gross lol

and you can also add pasta, they love it!

[ArtS]

Buuzbee,

I'll have to ask, but I think the sweet potato is raw.

Regards,

Art S.

[BUUZBEE]

maybe sweet potato is different than regular potatoes? i know uncooked is really bad to feed birds.

I will do some homework on this and make a post

[memmey]

Please God when I cook this get Bitsey Jo to eat it .It sounds so good for them and she is a brat for seed, seed ,seed and I try and try and try and try. Here goes another try...Jo thinks food other then seed are evil demons!!!lol

[BUUZBEE]

LOL memmey, good luck!

do they try any veggies? mine love brocolli, apple is their favorite fruit

[memmey]

Actually the answer to that would be.....No. Last night I offered homemade vegtable soup(barely any juice) with a little taste of the meat....No.... this morning I offered spring greens and apple....No...at lunch a little taste of natural peanut butter....No. tonight a little scrambled egg....No...... so when ya'll tell me what your birds eat...my eyes glaze over as I think to myself" How nice"....

[musicjan]

Homemade birdie bread is Bitsy's favorite treat.

[RGL]

Memmey Cosmo well not eat any of his veggies or fruit out of his bowls. So I got some clips and used them. At first He would attack it, then after a couple of time he realised it tasted good. Now he eats what ever I put there. Hope this helps.

[BUUZBEE]

Memmey Cosmo well not eat any of his veggies or fruit out of his bowls. So I got some clips and used them. At first He would attack it, then after a couple of time he realised it tasted good. Now he eats what ever I put there. Hope this helps.

Thats what I do with the brocolli too. If i put it in their dish, they ignore it! the apples i dice up small & add to their soak mix with grated carrots and corn kernals.

[ArtS]

We just wedge that kind of stuff between the bars. By the way, since we got the bigger cage, they love to root around on the floor of the cage 'foraging' my wife puts down large strips of newspaper that they can push aside and climb under - they love it!

Speaking of Parrotlet tastes and preferences; just wait, their tastes change with their mood! Soon they will no longer touch their favorites and will love what they previously hated! Ours used to love mung bean sprouts - they would go nuts for them! One day, they decided they no longer like them now they won't touch them - fortunately my wife makes different types of sprouts. The one constant in their lives is their love of millet.

Regards,

Art S.

[BUUZBEE]

thats interesting Art. it figures with the millet :rolleyes:

[ArtS]

Kathy,

From my wife:
Their favorite is wheatberry sprouts.
They used to like mung bean sprouts but now they turn their beaks up at them.
They like Quinoa but it doesn't sprout well or stay fresh long.
My wife doesn't remember the others at the moment.

They prefer the soft swollen seed parts better than the new greens.

Regards,

Art S.

[Stephen]

Try Snap Peas clipped to the cage...Wendell goes nuts over these..chewing the pod then the peas inside....all the while saying "that's good!"
Stephen

[BUUZBEE]

hehehe wendell it a doll! i dont remember if i've tried snap peas with them. i know my conures like them. i will get some when i go out today

[birdiemom]

Try bell pepper seeds..they are Paulie's absolute favorite! He does also love COOKED sweet potato, and 100% whole wheat bread is good for them

[ArtS]

Kathy,

I'll have to ask my wife. Unfortunately (for you - fortunately for her) she has fallen asleep. I'll try to get her to write something up on sprout care for birds tomorrow.

Regards,

Art S.

[Pado]

Buuzbee - I've printed up your soak mix recipe and hope to make it soon - thanks for posting it !

Art - would love it if your wife gave instructions on sprouting and care - have always wanted to try it but have always been afraid of doing it wrong and causing mold or feeding it with some kind of bacteria growing on it from preparing it incorrectly.

[ArtS]

Kathy,

From my wife:

I keep them usually no more than 5 days. Once I move them to the refrigerator, I rinse them just before I give them to the beasts. I usually take a sniff first, to see if there's any funky smell. If the funky smell goes away with rinsing (I rinse 3 times no matter what), I assume they're okay, but you can taste them, too. I'm still not always sure what is "root hairs" vs mold.

If there's any doubt, I get rid of them


Pado,

I'll see what she comes back with.

Regards,

Art S.

[ArtS]

Sprouts being consumed:

[ArtS]

By the way,

The only way I have pictures opening automatically is by using photobucket. My uploaded images appear as clickable likns rather than pictures, does anyone know why and how to correct this?

Regards,

Art S.

[memmey]

Wait your the one who told me how post pictures. You clicked the last one it offers you. There are three at the bottom of each picture and you click the last one..right? I click the picture and then the last one is that what your doing?..you've been posting pictures what happened? Oh I see what your saying it works with photo bucket but not just using your computer...my Gosh why am I trying to help..Jes I must be nuts I don't know squat. Let's change this post... Hey Art howya doing?...lol

[ArtS]

Hi Memmey :) ,

Photobucket isn't a problem. However, I just wanted to transfer pictures to this site directly (using the attachment manager). In my post, two posts above this one, there are three links to pictures (rather than the pictures themselves) generated using the attachment manager. I want to have the pictures come up as pictures instead of links without the extra step of photobucket.

Regards,

Art S.

[ArtS]

Pado,

This is from my wife Ellen:

Seriously, I got a sprouting book from the healthfood store and asked the guy there which grains sprout best. In my experience, it's soft summer wheat, spelt, barley and mung beans (except that the beasts don't like them). A couple of days (5, maybe) is the maximum I'd keep them. When getting them to sprout, I rinse them twice a day (three rinses per). Once they start sprouting, I put them in the fridge. Our beasts don't like the sprouted part; just the seed, so I don't let them go too far.

Regards,

Art S.

PS. My wife bought 'sprouting lids' for the jars she uses, they make the job easier.

[ArtS]

You're welcome, I think - we may have created a monster!

Warm regards,

Art S.

[ArtS]

Thanks for your picture input Kathy.

Pictures taken this morning by my wife Ellen. Sparky was being camera shy but MeMe couldn't have cared less - nothing gets in the way of sprouts. The pictures with her face totally covered in mash and sprout bits were, unfortunately, too blurry to post.

Ellen covers their food with shreddedd newspaper so that they have to move it out of the way to get to the goodies.

Here is the photobucket version:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/Suckewer/IMG_1721.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/Suckewer/IMG_1718.jpg

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n10/Suckewer/IMG_1722.jpg

[Pado]

Ah thanks Kathy for the link - its awesome - I've printed it and will see how it works out - seems pretty straight forward, so I shouldn't be able to goof it up.

Art be sure to thank Ellen for me - I appreciate the advice and will be sure to put it to good use - looks like your guys sure like them.

[Sally]

Bitsey Jo, you need to start eating for your momma!!! Memmey. I just read your story on your member page. WOW. What a story! I am so happy you saved Bitsey!!!

Here is an idea you have probably tried. Mix sweet potato and cooked froz. veggies and mash it in the food processor and put lots of seeds in it. Chipper loves it, have you tried that?

All you can do it keep trying. Oh, have you popped some birdie corn and let her see if she wants to chew it off of the cobb?

She is a lucky bird to have you!

[Sally]

Cute photos, Art!!!

[memmey]

Thank you for your kind words. Today she got necterine..No, then Egg white..No Purple grapes..No..She's calling me now I'm on the computer and she's in the kichen. Let me go...thanks again.

[ArtS]

Ellen wanted me to share this link with you:

http://www.birdsnways.com/birds/recipes.htm

There are sprouting tips as well as recipes and other info in here.

Regards,

Art S.