Birds' diet

[shiraartain]

I'm still a bit confused, but I'll google it to figure it out. Thanks for the explanation!

Parjarita, about the sprouting-- at what point do you serve the sprouts to the birds? How much do you let them grow?

[Pajarita]

Oat groats are the whole grain.
Steel cut oats (aka Irish oatmeal as well as pinhead oats) are the whole grains chopped into little pieces.
Rolled oats are the grains put through heavy rollers so they become flat flakes.
Oatmeal can be made of actual oatmeal (rolled oats chopped up) or rolled oats (as in porridge).

I only give them sprouts during the spring, summer and a bit when they are molting. I don't give them any sprouts whatsoever during the resting season (winter) because I believe that making the diet richer in the warm months and poorer in the cold ones helps their bodies to mark the different seasons.

I use a soaking/sprouting mix for canaries I get at ABBA which is made of small seeds (http://www.abbaseed.com/Seed_Products/SOAK/soak.html - but you can get it in the net from bird food places like foryourbird.com or allparrotproducts.com) and sprout it until I see green 'tails' (they grow white ones first but I wait until they have the green ones) then I mix them with the gloop. I only make enough for two days because you don't want it to go sour.

[Navre]

How would I add oats into our usual gloop recipe?

I ave some instant, organic oatmeal. I was just going to make up a bowl of it and spoon mix some in with the thawed gloop.

Things that are easy to do at dawn, while half asleep, while a GCC tries to bite/eat/attack everything are a bonus.

[Pajarita]

I never use instant anything so I don't really know what they do to it or if they add anything so, please, read the label carefully before you add them to the gloop but, if it's just oatmeal and nothing else, add it to it dry as it is a few minutes before serving it. It will absorb moisture from the gloop itself and that will be more than enough to soften it.

[seagoatdeb]

I would never add instant oatmeal it is so processed, I only use oatgroats but they can be cooked and do make a porridge (some call it groat meal), just not an oatmeal, they arent as creamy. Rolled oats that you have to cook the longest are the healthiest. I sprout my oat groats and feed them raw to the birds. I make an raw oatmeal for me out the sprouted oat groats, I put them in the blender with warm water, sprouted almond milk, and a pinch of cinamon and a date and blend up.