| GREENS & VEGGIES |
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| In the wild, Nature offers birds a wide variety of foods throughout the changing seasons, so it stands to reason that your bird would enjoy variety in his diet also. It will also ensure that he is getting a well-balanced diet. Canaries are especially partial to greens such as red leaf lettuce, kale, romaine, dandelion, turnip greens, mustard greens, etc. (Note: iceberg or head lettuce should never be given to birds) When picking dandelions, make sure the green shoots are young, tender leaves. It's also best to pick them in an area you are assured they hvae not been contaminated by other animals. We also offer our birds a variety of other vegetables such as corn, peas, grated carrot or sweet potato (excellent source of vitamin A) We use frozen veggies because they offer the highest nutritional content, are easy to store, and keep for a long time. When it's time for their veggies, I simply put one teaspoonful per bird into a coffee mug, add a tiny bit of water and microwave for a few seconds. You don't want to cook them, just heat thoroughly. I pour it out into a strainer to drain the water and by the time I'm finished dividing it up onto paper plates, it's cooled enough to serve. We use paper plates because it allows good air circulation around the food to inhibit bacterial growth. This allows the food to dry out rather than become moldy. The USDA has listed the nutrient content found in greens and many other foods. We have found it a very useful site, not only for our birds, but for ourselves also. There is a link to the USDA site found on our Links page. |