What do you feed your bird every day?

[patdbunny]

Here's an article on sprouts: http://www.landofvos.com/articles/sprouts.html

kaylayuh - I don't have budgie keets, but I have bourke keets. The bourkes also tend to not eat anything but seeds. I have very good success getting the bourkes onto a variety of fresh foods by sprouting the small seeds. I buy keet mix that doesn't have anything in it but seed and I sprout that. Once they're eating the sprouts, then I mix the small sprouts in with carrots, broccoli and apple that's been run through the food processor to make the fresh items into small bits.

The keets also take to egg food very readily, especially if the small sprouts are mixed into it. My egg food - 1 hardboiled eggs, 1 slice multigrain bread, pellet powder (I make pellet powder by running pellets through a coffee grinder), run all ingredients through food processor. You want the egg food consistency to not be sticky, kinda crumbly so adjust ingredients as necessary.

Tiels are also notorious for not trying different foods. This feeding plan also works for tiels. The key seems to be mixing in the sprouts to whatever new item you're introducing. Oh yeah - when I introduce any of these new items including the sprouts in the beginning I sprinkle them over their normal seed mix. They have to dig through the "good" food items to get to their seed mix so I think that helps them get used to the idea of getting some of the good stuff into their beaks and at least getting a taste.

[kaylayuh]

How do you sprout seeds? I've read about it on a lot of different websites, but it all sounds very confusing.

Do I just put the seeds in a cup of water and change the water twice daily? Or is there more to it?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

If you can get a good sprouting mix, the rest is easy. I get mine from one of the local bird-specialty stores, but you can also order them online. You want one with a good variety of grains and legumes ideally, although if you can get good quality organic items from a grocery, you could experiment with that.

I use a plastic container made especially for sprouting, but you can easily rig something similar up with yougurt tubs or even just use a jar. The steps are easy (although there are many variations, I expect any one probably works fine). This is what I do:

Step 1-- Rinse -- Pour seeds into container. Rinse three times. Cover with water. Add 6 drops of grapefruit seed extract. (the GSE is supposed to cut down on mold or bacterial growth. it may actually be the preservatives in the GSE, but I use it anyway... it came with the sprouting kit I bought. It isn't essential).

Step 2 -- Soak -- Put container on counter and cover. Let stand 8-12 hours.

Step 3 -- Drain and Rinse -- Drain the soaking water out and rinse 3 times. Allow the seeds to drain thoroughly, you don't want them sitting in a pool of water.

Step 4 -- Wait -- cover loosely (you want air to circulate) and let them stand for 24-72 hours or until they seem "done enough". Optionally you can shake periodically to aerate or rinse again and drain throughly. Smell and/or taste occasionally to make sure they aren't developing an off odor indicating contamination. If they don't smell like fresh growing things, toss and try again.

Step 5 -- Use -- feed and/or refrigerate for use over the next few days. Again check for "off" odors or flavors before each feeding and discard if you have any worries. So far in 6 months of sprouting I've never had a batch spoil.

I have this device: http://sproutpeople.org/easysprout.html . It has two characteristics that make it particularly nice to use. It's bascially two pint-sized plastic containers that nest, with about 1/2" space between their bottoms when nested. The inside container has small holes in the bottom so water drains easily without losing smaller seeds. It has a snap on lid with big air holes.
If you don't want to spend $10 or so, two ice cream or yogurt containers would accomplish much the same... punch small holes in the bottom of one container and big holes in one of the lids. Use a bottle cap or something in the bottom of the solid container to hold the inner container off the bottom. Viola!

[MaineFiddler]

I feed Clyde a cooked mash I like to call 'Glop'. It contains:
brown rice
pearled barley
bulgur wheat
steel cut oats
hulled millet
quinoa
whole wheat berries
tri-colored pasta
mixed beans
boiled, mashed eggs with shell
untoasted wheat germ
frozen carrots, peas, string beans & lima beans
jars of various vegetable baby food
I make a big batch of it, and then freeze into portions that I would use in a couple of days.
The I feed whatever veggies I have in the house. Some good examples would be oranges, apples, bananas, bell peppers, raw carrots, fresh baby spinich, etc.

[patdbunny]

I sprout with no special equipment. I just use a household sieve and plastic storage container. New post at my blog with step by step how I do it with pictures. Two different sprout mixes, one for my larger birds and one for the smaller ones.
http://staringatbirdsandgoats.blogspot. ... uting.html

You can also sprout spray millet. Soak the entire piece in the plastic container and then put it in the sieve to drain and rinse. Same instructions as for sprouting anything else. Once the spray millet seeds grow little tails you can serve to your birds. Since most birds love spray millet, they may really like that.

[kaylayuh]

I sprout with no special equipment. I just use a household sieve and plastic storage container. New post at my blog with step by step how I do it with pictures. Two different sprout mixes, one for my larger birds and one for the smaller ones.
http://staringatbirdsandgoats.blogspot. ... uting.html

I'm definitely going to try this method, all I need to get is a sieve and a plain seed mix. Hopefully it works and they'll eat at least that! Thanks!

[TheNzJessie]

I should preface this by saying that my budgies refuse anything that isn't a seed mix and will completely ignore it.

But, every day I try some whole grain bread, crackers or rice. I try berries, banana, mango, pineapple, apples and dried fruit when I'm eating them. I try jalapeno peppers, dark leafy greens, beans, broccoli, carrots, peas, corn and other vegetables when I'm eating them. I try eggs, chicken, ground turkey, pizza crust and red meat on days when I eat those. Basically, whatever I make for myself to eat, I make some to give to them.

I show them fresh foods daily, but they completely ignore it and I end up throwing them away after about 2 hours depending on what it is and how long I think it's safe for them to have. For dry things like breads and crackers, I tend to leave those in longer. For dried fruit, I've started cutting them into smaller chunks and mix it in with their seed mix hoping that they'll feel froggy one day and nibble.

try spinach leave or silverbeat clipped to the side of the cage by there favorite perching area, my budge cant resist
So far, I've had no luck getting them to eat anything other than seed and millet. I've seen Pigpen drag around the jalapeno pepper, and then I realized she was pulling it from her food dish and throwing it to the bottom of the cage.

[kaylayuh]

try spinach leave or silverbeat clipped to the side of the cage by there favorite perching area, my budge cant resist

What is silverbeat?

I've never thought about clipping it to the side of their cages. They like to shred stuff, so maybe they'd think it was a toy and try to shred it and then figure out they can eat it?

[TheNzJessie]

try spinach leave or silverbeat clipped to the side of the cage by there favorite perching area, my budge cant resist

What is silverbeat?

I've never thought about clipping it to the side of their cages. They like to shred stuff, so maybe they'd think it was a toy and try to shred it and then figure out they can eat it?

maybe silverbeat haa another name in different countries, its also called chard

[kaylayuh]

In the US, that's what we would call Swiss chard! I don't really eat that one, but maybe I'll buy a little for the birds and see if they like it.