By now you certainly know that an all seed diet is not nutritionally complete for your birds. You may have decided to feed a pelleted diet with generous amounts of fruits, vegetables, and cooked foods. However, the cost of some of the commercially prepared cooked foods can be prohibitive for those on a tight budget, or those with numerous birds. These recipes are meant to approximate what you would be buying if you choose one of the cooked food products. They are an easy way to provide a balanced and varied diet.
The diet which I feed and recommend is around 50% pellets (Roudybush, Scenic, Kaytee, Harrisons). I tend to buy several varieties and mix them together (I do not feed the colored varieties of pellets on the recommendation of my avian vet--the coloration is not digested and has to be filtered out by the kidneys). Fruits and vegetables and cooked foods make up another 45%, and the rest is seeds or other treats. The ingredients for these recipes can all be found at either health food stores, or grocery stores which sell items in bulk. The advantages to buying bulk are obvious--it is cheaper, and you can buy as much or as little as you need.
Cooked Food Mix:
Generally I have all of the ingredients listed here on hand. With these, you can make several different "flavor" varieties so that you don't bore your birds to death with the same thing over and over again. Or you can put them all in at once and give your bird a real feast!
Pearled Barley
Cracked/Whole Corn
Basmati Rice
Brown Rice
Wheat
Dried Fruit (preferably unsulphured)
Dried Red Peppers
Lentils
Green/Yellow Split Peas
Pasta (Plain or Colored--the color in most pastas
is vegetable based (beets for example--and does not have the same side
effects as the food coloring in some pellets)
Beans (the packages intended
for bean soup are fine, but do not add the seasoning and look for beans
with low sodium content)
Bring water to a boil and add the ingredients. If you are using corn or beans it is advisable to soak them for a few hours before cooking. I try to cook this in small batches every few days, so I know it is fresh. You can cook a larger batch once a week and freeze it. I sometimes use water from steamed vegetables in the mix for a little extra nutrients. The amount of water and ingredients will depend completely on how much you need.
You can add pellets after the food has cooked, and there is only a little excess water left. They will dissolve slightly and coat much of the other ingredients. I do not recommend adding them at the beginning because high heat will destroy their nutrients.
Birdie Bread:
There are many birdie bread variations out there--this happens to be the one I use. I have seen some recipes which (to me) seemed to just be human recipes with "birdie bread" as the name. I do not prepare mine this way, because I feel like some of the ingredients are unneccesary (oil, salt, etc.). You can adjust the amounts to fit your needs.
Box of cornbread mix (lowest sodium
you can find)
Egg
Chopped veggies
Pellets
Jar of baby food (Squash, Carrots, Peaches, Apricots)
Use blender to mix egg (with shell), veggies, pellets,
and baby food. Add to cornbread mix and cook according to directions on
box. You can add the chopped veggies after you "blenderize" the
other ingredients, but if you are trying to get the bird to try veggies
for the first time, you may be better off mixing them with everything else,
and then adding them as a chopped ingredient after the bird is used to
the bread.
