Making the birdie bread...

[nar1122]

The directions say to add milk on the cornbread package. (I didn't get jiffy...is that ok?:confused::confused:)

Bitsy's Recipe doesnt say to add milk. What do I do?

[Kumiko]

Just don't add milk.

The babyfood is in replace of the milk. Just do the recipe, dude!!

It is always an experiment the 1st time. :p

[Sally]

They usually eat it, even if it is not perfect. As long as the ingredients are healthful and safe, just make it and see how it works.

I don't use milk either.

[nar1122]

I made Bitsy's Birdie Bread.....GREAT!
Oscar, his sister, and my mom's macaw loved it!!!
The recipe is so perfect, and I made little muffins.
Perfecto!

If you are familiar with this recipe, I used sweet potato and apple sauce baby foods.

They have these new little containers, that have resealable plastic lids, and come in a pack of two. Using a combination of any two of the containers, equals 1/2 cup which made the muffins perfect! I added in two types of bird seed, and pellet. And sprinkled pellet on the top.

It was great!

If you don't know the recipe, private message me. I got it from Kiwi. But my version is kind of a variation, so you can try both of our's. :):)
__
Pado, you once said that your birds prefer the Mama's Birdie Bread over homemade....
Have you tried this particular recipe?

[Kumiko]

:) :)

I am glad you like it.

Check your Pm!

I would love to make muffins instead of squares :p

[Paula0442]

where can I locate this recipe?

[nar1122]

It's not posted (I don't think). I got it from somebody. I will send you the original recipe, and my variation.

[artistnut]

If you wouldn't mind, could you please send the recipe my way also? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

Sheri

[musicjan]

Hey, Bitsy's Mom finally saw this post! I'll go to my other computer and Recipe coming soon...

[musicjan]

Here's the recipe - remember it's just a starting point and you can vary the veggies (sometimes I use fruit) and/or baby food. No milk!

Bitsy’s Favorite Birdie Bread

1 pkg. Jiffy Cornbread mix
1 egg with shell
1/4 - 1/3 c. baby food sweet potatoes
1/4 - 1/3 c. applesauce (no added sugar)
1 handful frozen mixed veggies (green beans, carrots, corn, peas)

Spray square dish or pie pan with Pam. Put above ingredients together in blender and blend till pretty fine. Thin juice till you can pour it in a pan. Pour in the pan, then stir in bird seed and sprinkle bird seed on top. Bake according to pkg. directions.

[musicjan]

p.s. - the purpose of the bird seed is to make the bread appealing to the bird if he is reluctant to try something new. The bird seed amount is a handful or less -

[nar1122]

Here's the recipe - remember it's just a starting point and you can vary the veggies (sometimes I use fruit) and/or baby food. No milk!

Bitsy’s Favorite Birdie Bread

1 pkg. Jiffy Cornbread mix
1 egg with shell
1/4 - 1/3 c. baby food sweet potatoes
1/4 - 1/3 c. applesauce (no added sugar)
1 handful frozen mixed veggies (green beans, carrots, corn, peas)

Spray square dish or pie pan with Pam. Put above ingredients together in blender and blend till pretty fine. Thin juice till you can pour it in a pan. Pour in the pan, then stir in bird seed and sprinkle bird seed on top. Bake according to pkg. directions.

That is exactly what I did the first time, with those same baby foods. Oscar LOVED it! But the second time, I bought about 5 different kinds of baby food, and mixed them then used half a cup. And he loves those too!

[nar1122]

I was thinking of eventually adding in dried fruits, and all kinds of things that they like.

I'm going to try that on the next batch.

[musicjan]

It's a great way to get the little guys to eat things they wouldn't eat otherwise. What about fresh or frozen fruits? Bitsy likes frozen strawberries, among other things.

[nar1122]

Yea, i'm going to try that too! ;);)

[jodeg]

Just saw this posting -- I'm trying this for Kiwi tomorrow! Sounds like a yummy treat for her! I should feed her this only once a week, right? How much should I give her???

Thanks! This site is GREAT!! :D

[hollybean]

I made mini-muffins (about an inch-2 inches across) so I usually give them one every day or every other day.
________
California medical marijuana (http://california.dispensaries.org/)

[jodeg]

Perfect! Thanks! I have a mini muffin pan too! This is such fun! Our 3 dogs are spoiled :o and now I have a birdie to spoil tooooo!

[chapala]

Re Jiffy Cornbread Mix - remember that it uses white flour and degerminated corn meal, not whole grains. Whole grains are much healthier for our birds. When I used to make birdie bread, I used whole wheat flour and whole corn meal (Arrowhead and Hodgson's are two brands available at natural foods stores, or in bulk bins), and made it from scratch not including baking powder. It really doesn't take much more time than using a mix.
Reta

P.S. - plus Jiffy mix has sugar in it I'm pretty sure, also not a good ingredient for the birds.

[pam311]

I will try that recipe, I made Mommas Birdie bread, Hadji loved it Cabo turned up her nose as usual, and Ollie ate 2 entire muffins, and later threw the up on my carpet. No more BB for the Ollister.

[lineola]

Ollie ate 2 entire muffins, and later threw the up on my carpet. No more BB for the Ollister.

Awww, poor Ollie!! He probably loved it so much he just ate too much! Try reducing his portion next time maybe. And make sure he spends the next twenty minutes or so on newspaper. :)

[jodeg]

I made Kiwi this birdie bread today -- A BIG HIT!!! She went for it right away and has been going back to it off and on today -- like a buffet -- back and forth between her pellet mix and her birdie bread!

I couldn't find my mini muffin pan, so made it in a small square pan and that worked even better for me. It cuts up into little squares (cut them about 1"x1") very easily, not crumbly at all. I kept 3 or 4 squares out and froze the rest. For one bird, this recipe makes quite a few squres, so will last quite a while.

Thanks for the recipe! I'm so happy my little birdie is starting to experiment with new things. She'll be home with me 2 weeks tomorrow (3/7) and I'm very happy with her progress!

[Wilder]

I use a regular sized muffin tin to make birdie bread with, then cut the cooled muffins into quarters. One quarter feeds one parrotlet or two budgies. They get their birdie bread every other day. :)

[LyndaM]

She'll be home with me 2 weeks tomorrow (3/7) and I'm very happy with her progress!

That is so awesome Jo Anne! And may I say again that she is soooo beautiful and vibrant!

[musicjan]

I found that Bitsy likes his bread crumbled anyway. So I just use a 8 x 8 square pan. After cooling, I break it all up in little pieces and freeze in small bags.

[jodeg]

Thanks, Lynda -- I hope she stays this vibrant after her first molt! I'll still LOVE her of course!!! I hadn't really heard of Parrotlets until about a month ago, :o when a friend of mine got one and kept raving about PARROTLETS -- now I'm a complete covert! They're beautiful, wonderful and smart! Am I biased?? :rolleyes:

Did you read my posts about clicker training? I started yesterday and this method is awsome! Or else I have the smartest bird in the WORLD!!!

Musicjan, the Bitsy Birdy Bread is great -- I crumble it up too and she loves it. A nice treat for her and it makes a lot. I kept out a few squares and zip locked and froze the rest. YUMMY (for her)!

[Sprout]

Hi All,

Have any of you heard of Pro Grow Bird Bread - you can read about it here (http://www.parrotlets.com/Store/index1.html). The breeder who I got my green rumped parrotlet from used it and he has loved it since he was very young. I now still make it for him and I always wonder if it is the best thing for him or if I could be feeding him better. He does LOVE it, though!
~Elizabeth

[chapala]

I looked at the site but could not find an ingredient list for this bird bread mix. Hard to tell without seeing the ingredients whether it's a good product or not, plus I'm always a bit suspicious of products that don't tell you the ingredients.

The birdie bread mix on this site is very good, as are the other products offered:
http://www.parrotsontheporch.com/cgi-bin/quikstore.cgi?store=&search=yes&detail=yes&product=gs_bb107&category=Good_Stuff&keywords=&hits_seen=&page=search.html&and=&affiliate_id=&exact_match=yes

I am not a fan of any recipe using Jiffy Cornbread Mix for birds, because it contains refined white flour and degerminated corn meal, plus sugar. Our birds should have whole grains in their diets, not refined, and no sugar.
Reta

[Sprout]

I just read the back of my Pro Grow. Here is the ingredient list:
All purpose flour, whole wheat flour, soybean meal, proso millet, cornmeal, rice, sunflower meal, whole powdered egg, calcium, sweet potato flakes, concentrated vitamin complex, spirulina, baking powder, salt. Here is the analysis:
Crude protein = 17.3%
Crude fat = 4.9%
Crude fiber = 2.9%
Ash = 4.51%

I mix it with natural applesauce (no refined sugar) and veggies, and then I bake it, and my bird LOVES this.

I just read on the back the site of the manufacturer, and it is: http://www.progrowproducts.com/about.shtml. Any info or advice anyone has on if this is good for my bird would be so appreciated!

[dldbrou]

Sprout, If you would like any information about Pro Grow, please ask and I can tell you what you need to know. I am the daughter of Ed, who spent years perfecting this product. The ingredients are listed on the website under FAQ. As you stated the ingredients are also listed on the bag and it has been analyzed by a lab. You can add fresh, dried or canned fruits and veggies. You can use either oil or applesauce. This food is a healthy food prepared by you and given fresh to your birds daily. It is used as a main diet and can also be used as a treat to introduce your birds to it. It is also great for feeding your breeders to produce healthier babies. The breeders will then feed this food to their babies and they are then off to a great diet. This food can be given to any size or type of bird and is safe with less mess in your cage. You can serve it warm or room temp. They usually prefer just barley warm to get the smell. Just make sure that you throw away any uneaten food the next day. You can freeze the bread once it is baked and just keep a weeks worth in the refrigerator, just cut it up before freezing for easier use when thawing for later. Hope this helps.

[chapala]

Maybe as an occasional treat, it's fine, but the protein content is very high, too high for a food that makes up a good part of the diet. Just my opinion.
Reta

[dldbrou]

If you are saying that Pro Grow should not be given daily to your birds, I am here to say you are misinformed. It has been developed to be given to birds as a daily diet and has been proven to be safe. I have fed many different breeds this food on a regular basis and this includes very sick birds with only positive outcomes. I have never had a bird that was allergic or could not tolerate this bread. I have raised all of my parrotlets on this food and had great results not only in the breeders, but the babies as well. Whether you use this product or you develop your own, your birds will do better with fresh food rather than seeds or pellets any day.

[chapala]

Now I'm curious about this site's policies - most parrot boards allow people to mention and recommend products they've found and used and liked, but don't allow people to promote their own products. It seems you are doing just that as the daughter of the founder, plus telling me I'm wrong ("misinformed") rather than just stating your opinions and letting me have mine. My opinion continues to be that over 17% protein is excessively high for most parrots as a significant part of the diet.
Reta

[chapala]

Some added information on parrot needs for protein, remembering that parrots' nutritional needs have been poorly studied so far, and there are gaps in the facts available to us. Depending on species, breeding status, and age of the parrot, between 10 and 20% protein in general is recommended with the higher amounts being for young, growing birds and breeding birds. The recommendation for Macaws is 15% protein, for African Greys 12%, for Pionus 3 to 6% (very susceptible to gout on higher protein diets). Harrison's Lifetime formula contains 15% protein.

I also have a couple of comments on the ingredients in the product mentioned above. The first ingredient is all purpose flour which is refined, degerminated wheat flour generally with artificial vitamins added back in. What is recommended for parrots for the grain portion of the diet (about 30% of the total diet) is 100% whole grains, no refined grains at all. Some additional ingredients that I would not include in any food for my birds are baking powder, salt and added synthetic vitamins (no analysis given of quantities for any of the vitamins).

As most of you know, I am a proponent of a whole food, varied, natural diet for our parrots that includes a lot of fresh food, whole sprouted grains, legumes, some fruit, some seed, and natural supplements such as organic powdered alfalfa, flax seed or oil, and the teeniest bit of kelp for minerals. Cello does not receive any pellets, though the two larger parrots do have a small amount of pellets in their diet (about 15%).

For those who want to make bird bread, a very good product is one I've mentioned before, made by: www.parrotsontheporch.com (http://www.parrotsontheporch.com). Check out their list of ingredients as a comparison and then decide what you think is best for your birds. They also sell an excellent sprouting mix of grains for small birds, and a separate legume mix.
Reta

[chapala]

One other bit of information for the new poster here. I looked at the site rules and here's one that appears to apply here:

Commercial Posting Rules:

Please do not post any messages on this site that are primarily for the promotion or advertising of any website, forums, email address, business, MLM, activity, sales or other entities that you have an affiliation with. (i.e. No self-promoting).

Reta

[dldbrou]

Chapala, I did not come to this site to promote this business. I came upon this site because of my love for parrolets. Sprout asked if anyone could let her know more information about the product and I was trying to give her the facts about the product. You say that the protein is too high. What you are saying is true if you were to feed them the entire mix at one time and they would somehow eat it at one time. The amount that these birds are given on a daily feeding is so little that there is no way it would harm them. I applaud you for your ability to feed such healthy food to your birds. I hope everyone would feed their birds as healthy as possible. Anything is better than a seed diet, which is the easy way out for quite a few people. I was not trying to ruffle anyone's feathers, but just trying to answer someone's message as to a product that I know a lot about. I never told anyone to go and check out the site, but I did state that the ingredients were listed on the site that may have been overlooked.

[aprilluv2]

Well I am not in any way related to anyone or paid top speak or trying to get ales.
I will share a recent experience with my own little girl Pro Grow and my Vet though and hope that it helsp others.

I recently had a situation with a little hen who I got. The breeder said she was on Roudybush Crumbles but darned if she would eat.
She niobbled here and there but wa not producing poops. I ended up offeroing handfeeds twice a day.
A friend had came to visit and gave me a bag of Pro Gropw after another friend on a group for Parrotlets mentioned her little picky eater eats it daily.
So I baked it up adding some extra goodies and i fed it and she ate it up.
Her poops started to become normal and her Vet Viisit went well.
I did take the package to the Vets when I went and I had labs done and She is very healthy and the Vet said that the bread daily is Just fine for her. She did say to keep trying other stuff but that the Pro grow is a perfect fit for her.
She does eat a few other items now but she still can not wait to see me come in each morning with her bread.


Again I am not related Not paid Just sharing my experience and what my vet said

Jo Is that You from the old Delphi message forum??
It's me April <WAVES>