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Living veggies for the birds,

Talk about bird illnesses and other bird health related issues. Seeds, pellets, fruits, vegetables and more. Discuss what to feed your birds and in what quantity. Share your recipe ideas.

Living veggies for the birds,

Postby Bird woman » Mon Jan 01, 2018 1:39 pm

Recently I've been experimenting with my grow lights and have been growing small trays of alfalfa and micro greens for the birds to snack on. I start with a sterilized soil and add my own nutrients so I know it's safe for the birds. These ceramic pots have secured bottoms on them so they can't get to the water underneath and I grow them very densely packed that they don't get to the soil. My birds are allowed to fly and roam free in the bird areas I've set up for them and really enjoy foraging on these containers of greens that I put everywhere. At night I just pick them up and water and put back in the grow room where several other trays are started and rotated. These are wonderful to place on cage play tops too and the birds can't get enough of them. I have always been scared to death of sprouting for them and this way the plants just keep on growing :D happy growing B. MY HOT NEW YEARS TIP !
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Bird woman
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 869
Location: Southern , Oregon
Number of Birds Owned: 10
Types of Birds Owned: 2 mollucans, 2 LSC'S, 2 macaws, 1 bare-eye, 1 grey, 1 goffin and max the quaker
Flight: Yes

Re: Living veggies for the birds,

Postby Pajarita » Tue Jan 02, 2018 12:10 pm

I would not recommend feeding sprouts in the winter - it makes the birds hormonal as sprouts are strictly breeding season food for them. And this plus the frequent baths are, most likely, why your toos are so hormonal this time of the year, Patti. Solar schedule needs to be accompanied by the proper diet and 'weather' conditions or it doesn't quite work...
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: Living veggies for the birds,

Postby Bird woman » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:04 am

In the winter I do a combination of micro greens and fresh herbs. These aren't sprouts they are live growing trays of green assorted plants that I grow in small ceramic pots and leave all around for them to munch. :D
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Bird woman
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 869
Location: Southern , Oregon
Number of Birds Owned: 10
Types of Birds Owned: 2 mollucans, 2 LSC'S, 2 macaws, 1 bare-eye, 1 grey, 1 goffin and max the quaker
Flight: Yes

Re: Living veggies for the birds,

Postby Pajarita » Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:33 am

Any tender green [as in any seedling] is a sprout in the sense that the seed germinated into the beginning of a plant - and that only happens during the growing [breeding] season. I know that lots of people think that feeding them the most nutritious food all the time is the way to go but I don't agree. I think that following nature's 'cycles' is best. Birds don't eat well all the time and they certainly don't eat balanced meals. They go from rags to riches, from being hungry to having a plethora of choices, it depends on the season. And there are birds that completely 'flip' their overall consumption - like Northern cardinals, for example, which diet is 90 percent insects and 10 percent grains during the warm weather months but 90 percent grains and 10 percent insects in the cold months. And, if you feed them a lot of insects all the time, you end up with a very sick bird! Not that I don't give my birds enough food or crappy stuff during the winter, mind you! But I do lower the protein for my winter gloop drastically and I do reduce the overall nutritional value of their diet during the winter as well as give them 'summer' produce much less frequently replacing it with winter produce. I think that the seasonality of their diet is part of the reason why my birds are never overweight, stay healthy and they only show hormonal behaviors in season. Nature always knows best and, when it comes to birds diets, less is more most of the time.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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