by Pajarita » Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:12 am
No, you have not done any lasting harm so don't worry about it for one single second. The important thing is that he learns to eat a large variety of foods and he is still VERY young and, as plets -in my personal experience and opinion- are excellent eaters, you will have no problem.
Now, as to how to make gloop. Well, you can go very easy or you can go more complicated. I do the 'complicated' because, through trial and error, have learned what my birds like best and, in all honesty, preparing it is like anything else, once you've done it 100 times, it becomes second nature. I started making gloop back in 1994 when my first rescue was diagnosed with high uric acid and I started doing research about it, what it is, how it happens, etc. and discovered that it was the diet I was giving her. My recipe has changed a million times since then and will continue to evolve if and when I find something better but it has been the same for a number of years now and I will share with you what I do and what you can do to make it easier and you experiment with it until you find your and your bird's 'fit'.
I cook kamut [but, for a plet, I would use millet instead because the grains are much smaller and they are also lower in protein], wheat [for a plet, I would use Soft White Spring wheat -lower in protein than the Hard Red Winter], oat groats [but for a plet, you can use steel cut oats -aka Irish Oatmeal], hulled barley [I don't get the pearled one any longer but you can, if you wish] and spelt together [I can get all the grains from my regular supermarket under the brand Bob's Red Mill except the oats which I have to get at Whole Foods] because they all take the same amount of time, more or less [but, if you use millet and steel cut oats, you will need to cook them separately because they will take less time]. I bring the water to a boil [you have to use a lot of water because the grain 'swells' with it] and allow it to boil [you can reduce the heat to the minimum that will keep it softly boiling] for about 30 to 40 minutes [this will make the grains cooked 'al dente' which is soft on the outside but still hard on the inside because the birds like them better than way]. In a separate pot and also with a lot of of water, I cook black lentils [but you can use the regular brown ones, too] and red and/or black rice [I no longer use brown rice because red and black are more nutritious and the regular brown is too high in arsenic for my taste BUT you can use brown basmati fron India or Thailand which are both OK] thoroughly [which also takes about 30-40 minutes of boiling]. Once they are ready, I mix them together, add a small amount of small white beans [from cans but I rinse them thoroughly under warm running water] and allow to cool completely [this is because I don't want the veggies that I add to thaw -I'll explain]. Once it's cool, I add frozen veggies [frozen is ALWAYS more nutritious than fresh because fresh is picked green while frozen is picked ripe] as follows: chopped broccoli [it's important that you get the chopped and not the one in pieces or the florettes which has too large pieces for a little beak], corn, peas and carrots and butternut squash [it comes already cubed] as well as sweet potatoes or yams [they need to be cooked so you can boil, bake or nuke them which is what I do -I use the Potato Express bag]. Once all these things are mixed, I add flax seed and, sometimes [right before they start their molt up until they are halfway done with it], sesame seeds. This becomes what I call the 'basic recipe' and I put daily portions in freezer baggies which go into the freezer, of course. But, because you have only one little bird, you can use ice cube trays and, every evening, take one cube out to thaw for the following morning. I add 'flavorings' to the basic recipe every morning and I alternate spicy and fruity so as to keep them interested in it but, in all honesty, they will eat it just like that, too. I do it also because the 'spices' have therapeutic and/or preventive properties, too [garlic and oregano being excellent antibacterials, for example, and they LOVE cinnamon or ginger or grated lemon rind and let's not even go into how much they adore chili powder!].
Now, a super easy gloop is to use Kashi's Seven Whole Grain Pilaf because it comes in little bags ready to be cooked and just adding the veggies. I don't use it because it has rye, which most of my birds don't like, and brown rice, which I no longer give to my birds but, if it works for you, it's an easy and fast solution.