Homemade Treats

[Asheranne]

I have two birdies, Percy and Blair - Cinnamon Green Cheek Conures.

I wanted to come up with a new treat . . . I know they can have strawberries, and plain organic yogurt, I was thinking it would be fun and healthy(?) to do the following:

Mix a small spoonful of plain organic yogurt with flaxseed, hempseed, wheatgerm etc, and put it in a hollow strawberry, slightly frozen to firm it, so they can gnaw at it and not just flip yogurt all over.

Does anyone have input for me on the items I want to mix into the yogurt; are any of these not a good idea; are there additional items you would suggest I add? I am sticking with small increments.

They love to share things like this, and I prefer it over the store bought treats which have artificial dye, are freeze-dried etc. but I like to keep it interesting for them. Just a berry here and there bores them.

In addition, they are acting as if they are ready to start mating; the season is coming up and I want to make sure they have every healthy benefit they need at all times.

-Ashleyanne (Asher)

[Wolf]

Breeding season is already here, it is going on right now. Birds are for all practical purposes lactose intolerant so I would be very sparing with yogurt. I would see if I could find some organic sugar free peanut butter for those treats, but I would be sparing with it as well because of the fat content although if they are to have richer foods now is the time for them. Just my thoughts.

[Asheranne]

Thanks!! I have heard mixed info on yogurt, and cheese as well - My birds haven't had it before but I wanted to find a good way to give them ground hemp seed and things like that - I only buy organic/all natural foods after researching everything I can about it so I will see if they like the p.b. in a berry

[Wolf]

I am told that they can have a very small amount of the hard cheeses once in a while as it is a good source of protein, but it is also high in fat and does contain a limited amount of lactose. Birds have no way of digesting lactic acid( lactose). They can eat hemp seed as it is mixed with their other seeds.
Keep trying, creativity in giving them their food and also treats is a very good thing to be doing for them.

[Pajarita]

I don't feed anything made of milk to my birds. It makes no sense to do so because, as they are not mammals, they simply do not have the enzymes to break down milk or anything made out of it. As to treats for GCCs, I've had four of them and currently have one and, in my personal opinion, there is absolutely no need to actually spend any time or effort on healthy treats for them because they are EXCELLENT eaters of raw produce. Just give them the organic strawberries, they'll eat them if they are used to getting them -if they are not, just eat them in front of them and keep on doing it until they try them because that's all it takes with them.

Now, be careful with hemp seed because it brings them into breeding condition and, although it's unavoidable this time of the year, it's also not something you want to promote in pet birds.

[Asheranne]

They are good eaters, especially of their fresh foods - I am more in search of a way to incorporate additional nutrients such as the flax, wheatgerm etc, as it is ground.

I have seen "lactose free" yogurt does anyone give this to their birdies? I do not know much about the other ingredients in this alternative.

They also like when I grind fruits and veggies and make them into ice cubes haha