Miss Claudia with a bit less

Two things: one, don't worry, the white rope is much to big to choke her,

and Two, Claudia loves her platform from 

Things for Wings you see in the background! It has really helped her chronic foot issues.

When I adopted Miss Claudia she was fully feathered, and beautifully so. Since her case of asper 2 years ago, though, which started an intense bout of plucking, her plumage has taken quite a beating. At times she has had all of her feathers save for those on her neck, which she keeps bare, and at times she has been much closer to nude. Right now she is somewhere in the middle. it is a bit harder than, say, Chester, who goes through similar ups and downs (he is doing fairly well now, incidentally) as he started plucking long before I got him. Despite her current appearance, though, I really feel pretty good about Claudia right now, mostly because she seems to feel really good herself!

Claudia has never been very healthy, and was quite thin when I got her, having been force weaned and not in a home that noticed the problem, rather, they just assumed she was boring and stand-offish. Likely owing to those problems, while she is confident in many ways, she is also quite a fragile bird, so it takes quite a long time after an "incident" or illness to get her back on track: playing, foraging, exploring and flying- even eating enough on her own. So I admit I was always a bit worried she was a "good candidate", if there is such a thing, for plucking or feather destruction, and just hoped I could prevent it. Not that I thought about that too often, since a happy and healthy Claudia could easily be confused with a caique on growth hormones that fell in a paint pot. Seriously. Compare that to when she is not doing well, and just sits, or sits and begs, very little else. And with an apparently weak immune system, she can get sick rather easily.

This past Spring, she was doing pretty well, then this summer she took a down turn, and late summer starting plucking again. However, I think the plucking may have stopped again now, or at least very much slowed, but more importantly, she is eating well, everything and a lot of it, and is playful, friendly, game for just about anything, and back to her toy-destructive self. So I am thrilled!

One of the ways I encourage her to get back to playing is through foraging. I know she likes simple chippable items and things easily shredded, at least when she is in the mood to play. Right now, I could hang a toy on the moon and she would fly up there just to show it who is boss. When she is not interested, though, I make sure all of her toys are as enticing as I can, and place them almost in her way by her favorite perching spots. I also make sure all of them have a way to hide or place treats in/on them. Once she is reliably getting the treats, I starting hiding them in the toys more thoroughly, making them harder to reach. Eventually, as is the case now, she remembers how much fun destroying a toy "just because" is, and will go to town destroying them, even dropping some of the treat in the process. In fact, just taking out one of the treat containers is enough to get her to go to her toys and start destroying. And as anyone with parrots can tell you, very little is as satisfactory as coming into the room to find piles of wood chips and shreds of toys lining the cage bottom!

Currently, Claudia's favorite toy, for foraging and otherwise, is this coconut head by Planet Pleasures. You can slip nuts in the holes the ropes come out of, although by now several of the holes have no ropes in them, or even coconut fiber around them to dig through. Pretty soon, there will be nothing but a shell left!

Oh, and just to note, I did finish my to-do list from the other day! Yay!

Why, hello, how are you?

Sometimes it is good to take a break, I am not sure why this is so, but it is. At least for me anyway. I am happy to see that this blog is still getting plenty of traffic, despite my absence, and I like to think it is helping someone with their parrot-related problem! I am doing better and better in my new house, health-wise and in general, a little over a year since I moved here and finally got a place that was "safe" MCS-wise for me. The parrots are likewise doing well, with any luck updates will follow, as are the dogs and cat. Also the four chickens I got last spring, that may or may not have been posted about on here before. I got them because I love chickens, and because I wanted a source of really good eggs, but it turns out if you name your chickens and give them the run of the yard to do as they please all day, they will come when you call and enjoy being petted and held, but will not be overly eager to start laying eggs. I remain hopeful.

Since I was sick this past week with a fever (with some virus I must have contracted from the mail man, since I had not seen anyone else, rather irritating) I decided this morning, as I was feeling much better, to make myself and the birds some pancakes. I love dense cakes/breads, filled with fruit or veggies and spices, and pancakes are no different, so these had chopped apple, grated carrot, oatmeal, raisins and pumpkin seeds added to the regular batter, along with a touch of clove, nutmeg and ginger. They were delicious, in my opinion anyway, a fact with which the birds mostly definitely concur! There are no pictures to prove this, however, since it was very early in the morning and as I am not a dedicated photographer like Natacha, I was not getting the camera out. Sad but true- my tea was calling, not my camera.

So now I am off to get back to work knitting for an upcoming art fair, and hopefully to finish my list of to-dos for the day: washing Gwen, re-doing Clementine's cage with fresh perches, and making up a new batch of dry mix, as well as mash for the next several days. Including the knitting that must be done, there is only a 70% chance I will finish this list. So I need to get going!

Foraging Bite

Today's work! The dry mix foraging bundles for the week. Brown thick paper for the big birds, brown tissue paper for the tiels, and white paper for the quakers. They are all filled withe appropriate amount and mix of my dry stuff- grain mix, big birds dry mix, seeds, nuts, etc. Just put one somewhere in the cage, and it is not only an "instant" meal but great foraging.

As you can see, I start with a rectangular piece of paper, (although this one was a bit too fat and not quite long enough to be optimum).....

then fold in the two long sides, before twisting the ends tightly around......

and wrapping them to one side and loosely knotting.

Done!

Foraging with fresh food is a bit harder, but it does not need to be. For example, why not get several of these mugs from My Safe Bird Store.

(Go HERE for the mugs)

or for large parrots/those not safe with plastic, these mini stainless steel pails from The Bird Safe Store.

(Go HERE for pails)

Distribute your fresh food, be it mash or whatever, among the mungs, and hang them, just alone by themselves with a hook on the handle, around the cage. Easy! Fill 3, 4, 5, however many, and just hang wherever, from the middle of the top bars, on the side bars, from a toy, top to bottom, all over. Start slow, and keep moving them to harder places to reach. Trust me, your parrots will figure it out, they do not need everything handed to them! It may take encouragement in the beginning, but it will be wonderful when they get the hang of it, just like we feel better after we take control of our own life and start doing things more for ourselves, moving around, exploring. And climbing all over for each little bit, hanging upside down, going to the cage bottom, that is all foraging, not to mention a bit of exercise. Plus, it is really not any harder than dishing the food all in to one or two dishes.

Operation Mash in the Details

Since Suzanne asked several very good questions in a comment on my last post, so I decided just to answer them here!

Her comment:

"I have never made mash before so I have a few questions...

How much water to mash mix do you use when cooking?

About how long should it cook for?

How much mash do you feed the birds a day? My smallest bird is a green cheek Conure, my largest is a Green wing Macaw.

Do you feed any pellet or seed or does the mash replace all of that?"

Water 
I do not measure the water for my mash anymore. Since I soak everything first, it takes much less water than is recommended on the package. By now, I just have a feel for how much water I need, covering the legume/grain mix by about 1-1.5" of water. The first time you cook it, start there, but monitor it and add more as needed. Bring the mixture to a boil, and keep it at a steady simmer until done. I bring it to a boil with the lid on, of course, and cook it with the lid cracked. If near the end it has a lot of water, I may take the lid off and bring it to a boil to get rid of the water. On the other hand, if it seems hard near the end, I may put the lid on fully to steam it a bit more. If you seem to have a lot of extra water when you are near done, you can try boiling it off, which will get rid of some of the water, although will give you a slightly mushier texture- which many birds prefer, anyway! Never worry about having too much water, since you can always strain the extra as you would pasta. I have done that in the past, works very well, so if you are nervous about it, take that route.

Cooking Time
I would say that mine is done in about 40 minutes, but I do not time it. I check after about 25-30 minutes, to know how close I am and when to add the quinoa. Test the largest legume you have, which in my case is chickpeas. They are done when they still have texture, but smash easily and are no longer white in the center, but light tan. Try smashing one after 10-15 minutes of cooking time if you want a comparison. They can take extra cooking, although I would not feed any under-cooked legumes, so if you are unsure, err on the side of caution and give it a few more minutes.

Amount to Feed
The amount to feed will vary not just depending on size but also your individual bird's activity level. My ekkies get about a 1/4 cup at a meal, while Linus, my single tiel, gets about 1.5 teaspoons. Feed a bit more than you think they will eat, and see how much is left at the end of the day, including that which is tossed. Gradually decrease (or increase, if needed) until you are feeding a few small crumbles more than they will eat. This way, you are not wasting any, and you know they are getting as much as they need. As a bonus, this puts more value on the food, so far less is tossed, and you know they are getting all that you are feeding, and not just picking out some of it.

What Else is Fed
I feed mash as one meal a day, although you can certainly feed it as both meals. Since mine is just one meal, the other meal is dry mix, fresh foods, and perhaps some special treats like birdie bread, etc. If your parrots are picky about the mash, try putting the whole thing, veggies as well as legume/grain base in the food processor until it is quite fine.


Seed
Anything that can grow a plant is a seed. This includes grains, legumes, things like sunflower, safflower, canary seed, and nuts. Yes, all of those are seeds, and not all are that high in fat. So actually, the grain/legume base could count as part of a "seed mix".I personally would never knock fattier seeds out of the diet completely. If you feed mash twice a day, they would already be getting the grain portion of seed mixes, but all parrots, just like people, still benefit from the nutrients in things like human-grade sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, canary seeds, nuts, and so on. How much of those you offer as treats will depend both on species and an individual parrot's needs. Since I feed mash once a day, I have a basic grain/seed mix, and a larger grain/seed/dried fruit/veggie mix. The cockatiels get more dry mix than the ekkies, who get very little. I leave sunflower seeds, hemp seed, nuts, etc, separate, and feed those as treats or in foraging toys, so I can more easily monitor how much each parrot gets.

Pellets
I do not feed pellets to my parrots. There, I said it! I found through personal experience that my particular parrots, though they improved initially with pellets as part of the diet, do far better getting a very nutritious whole food diet. If you are unable to prepare, or your parrot will not eat, a good diet, I say include pellets, by all means. Keep in mind, though, that if you do not include pellets, it is a good idea to give a *small* amount of egg every week as a B12 boost (modern soil is often depleted of nutrients even in organics, so any B12 is very minimal), and you need to be able to get them outside for Vit. D. Vitamin D is stored in the liver for 20-30 days, so you do have some lee-way on how often they get out during cooler months. Try to get them out as much as possible whenever you can. There are also supplements with Vit D for parrots you could try during the winter, but do not go overboard. Here is another post you might be interested in, along with those two I just linked to, about pellets and vitamins.


Hope that helps, and feel free to ask any more questions you may have! I also highly recommend you check out the Feeding Feathers yahoo group for more information (read the files) as much of my mash is based on that, with a few changes.

Operation Mash

Today, folks. Today is the day. The day to make my bird mash base. It takes preparation. It takes stamina. It takes a tolerance of hot, humid conditions in the kitchen. It takes planning. And it will make your kitchen look like a disaster area.

Also, it gives me several months worth of cooked grain/legume mash base, so I can just take a container out of the freezer, add all the fresh produce I have, any supplements, and go! I consider it worth it, most definitely.

17 quarts from this batch!

I was inspired this time to get some pictures for you. Not the best, but my camera has an issue with randomly deciding it is out of battery, even when it is not, and today was one of those days. So not the best pictures. And no, there are no pictures of the whole disaster area. Sorry, but I do not want a picture of my cute little *clean* kitchen preserved on the internet as a terrible mess. Just picture pots and mixing bowls full of water, grains, and legumes all over, with strainers and spoons, other MASSIVE bowls to mix the cooked mash in, water spilled everywhere, rebel amaranth coating every surface, and one large boiling dutch oven. Yep, that about covers it.

Just a small sampling of some of the mix, pre-cooking.

A plus of mash base making day? The house smells soooo good! I love the smell, fresh, earthy, the quinoa a bit spicy almost. And if you add oat groats, it is just taken to the next level. Seriously. Oat groats smell so good cooking, sweet and yummy, liked baked goods! If you like your house to smell like "Fresh Waterfall at Sundown 32 Degrees from the Equator Exactly 20 Minutes after a Rain Storm" or "Cucumber Dancing the Tango with Hybrid Melon while Rose and Lavender look on Jealously" you might not be impressed. But I personally think it smells wonderful. Unless you burn it. Then not so much.

Also, please do not get discouraged by the massive size of this undertaking for me. I have many parrots, I like to make a lot at once. For those of you with fewer parrots, you can make considerably less and still have a couple months worth.

Quinoa and Amaranth soaking. I assure you the foam is 

perfectly normal and not a result of strange bad grains. 

The ingredients:
- amaranth                                                        
- quinoa
- kamut
- barley (hull-less, not pearled)
- black rice
- long grain brown rice

- mung beans
- split peas
- garbanzo beans
- lentils

Notes:
-However it looks in the pictures, I can assure you that there are not, in fact, more legumes than grains. Actually, excluding the quinoa and amaranth, there is a 2 parts grains to one part legumes (so 1 cup legumes to every 2 cups grains); I do not include the quinoa and amaranth in my measurements, since they have all the amino acids.
- I really cannot remember specific amounts of each grain and legume, except that I use very very little rice, since it is so starchy and not as healthy. In fact, I rarely use brown rice in my mash.
- I always include a bit of black rice in my mash, though it is still starchy. As you should know from the press blueberries and blackberries receive, that dark purple/black colour is an indication of the very, very high levels of antioxidants it contains. I love purple corn, black quinoa, black rice, etc, for this reason.
- Notice I have a very short list of legumes. I stick to the most digestible legumes: mung beans, lentils, garbanzo beans, peas, and adzuki beans. These contain the fewest anti-nutrient toxins and are the safest to use.
- You can use any grains you like and that you have on hand. I mix it up every time, although never any wheat berries, since Chester is allergic to them. He seems to do fine with things like Barley and Kamut (gluten containing, closely related to wheat), no noticeable difference in the times he gets those and when I have made gluten-free mash. Many parrots, however, are fine with wheatberries, as are the rest of mine.

The soaking water from black rice can be rather alarming

the first time you see it. However, it is normal.

Method:
- The night before I plan to cook my base, or the morning before, I measure out all my grains and legumes and put them to soak in as much water as I can fit in the container with them- which should explain my references to bowls, pots, and water above. Basically, I am getting them to start sprouting, and in the process, release many of their anti-nutrients and toxins into the water. Before cooking, I strain them and rinse very, very well with clean water.
- Owing to the industrial scale at which I make my mash, I take an equal measure from each bowl or pot, rinse, and cook it in batches in my (cheery yellow!) dutch oven. I first put all grains and legumes save for the quinoa and amaranth. Once the other grains and legumes are mostly cooked, I add the quinoa and amaranth.  They normally take very little time to cook, and take just a few minutes after sprouting.
- A benefit of soaking: everything takes very little time to cook, even the garbanzo beans, and needs far less water! Saves energy, time, and pot space, three very important benefits in this endeavor.
- Once each pot is cooked, I empty it into one of my super huge massive mixing bowls and add the next batch to the pot to cook.
- Once the cooked mash has cooled some, I packaged it in quart freezer containers.

After cooking

To Use:
- Each quart container lasts me from 5 days to a week.
- I take a quart container out of the freezer when I have about a day left of my current mash, so it can defrost in the fridge.
- Once defrosted, I mix the grain/legume base with an equal or slightly greater amount of chopped or minced (depending on preference) fresh produce. I do not include fruit, as any fruit is served separately. I always include one or two types of dark leafy greens, often my greens powder, something dark orange like sweet potato or squash, and whatever else fresh produce is in season/I have. I change the type of produce around each week, so while each mash does not have a huge variety, they do get variety in their diet as a whole over time.
- I also add some Omega 3 source, such as hemp or flax oil, or flax meal. Other supplements may include various spices, some form of sea vegetation like kelp, alfalfa powder, etc. I never include other supplements (vitamins, etc) unless needed, and then I just add the correct dose to each bird's dish. Even with the kelp, alfalfa I use sparingly, as a little goes a  very long way.


Please Remember!
While this diet is based on the quite large amount of research I have done, it is also based on what I have found to work for my parrots, my specific parrots' special needs, and I suppose what you could call my (educated) opinion- since that is all there really is in regards to parrot diets, anyway.

Baking, Cooking, Eating, Repeat

This post approved by Frank. Barely. Scraped through by just this much. Seriously, Frank? 


So, been a bit since my last post. I am once again getting treatment for Lyme disease, seems every other tick bite I get develops that tell-tale rash- granted, my body is very susceptible, but in my body's defense it is very common in Virginia. This one I let fester too long before connecting the dots, though, so I got rather sick. Oh well, getting back on track now!

Anyways, I thought I would do something rather different for this post- healthy people/bird recipes. Whatever diet you feed your parrot, everyone likes some treats, right? And why have those treats be unhealthy? And further, if you are going to go to all that trouble, why not share the treats?! I love baking and cooking for myself or the parrots, and since I have to keep to a strict diet, the recipes I use for myself are usually very good for parrots as well.

I made up a second recipe using the Avian Organics fruit powders, 

which is also a delicious one to share! 

You can read it here- After School Apple Snack.

To prove my point, I pulled up four recipes online to post. With such good directions (and mouth-wateringly motivating pictures!) I think anyone should be able to give these a try. I have linked to the recipe in the title, and put some helpful notes for any good conversions, either for simplicity (no excuse not to make them!) or health reasons. These are not the typical bird recipes, full of pureed vegetables of all types (not knocking them, though!), but still quite healthy and delicious for you to share! And for picky birds, that can make all the difference.

No’Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
You can replace the sunflower and pumpkin seed with any nuts you like, if you do not happen to have these on hand. You can also replace the coconut flour with any flour you have, and if you do not have tapioca starch corn starch would also work. I do not use vanilla extract, and you can just replace that with an equal amount of any liquid, water or juice. And finally, at the bottom she notes how she replaced the honey in the recipe, if you are not comfortable using honey, take her route. You can leave out the Stevia, it is for your own sweet tooth if you leave it, not theirs. From my research it is safe (note- I do not trust truvia because of additives), excluding any additives some brands have.

Quinoa Crunch
This one is pretty straight forward, leave out the salt, stevia optional if you want it. But very healthy, no? And simple!

Simple Yeast-Free, Gluten-Free Flatbread
Now I love this one, so inventive. It is again pretty straightforward, leave out the salt (salt your own portion after baking, if you wish) and give it a go! You could serve it with smashed sweet potato, butternut squash, or fruit puree (organic baby food is good if you really dislike preparation) as a topping.

Savory and Sweet Crackers with Almond Flour
Now who doesn't like crackers?? That crispness lives in my dreams, seriously! I love crackers. Crackers..... Ehem, to the point- you could use any flour here, although I recommend anyone get some good flours to boost nutrition, such as nut flours and coconut flour. Chickpea flour, quinoa flour, amaranth flour, teff flour, the list goes on and one. But if all you have is oatmeal, grind that up in your blender or even a clean coffee mill and use that! Again, leave out the salt.


You can also go through these blogs, and others, for more healthy recipes, there are literally millions out there. Better for you, good for your parrots, win-win situation. And on this damp, cold, rainy, grey, and also quite wet day (there is not even mud any more, just wetness), what could be better than some baking?

Frank is terribly excited because he is now a proud member 

of Fagan's Little Green army- aka, Susan at 

Oliver's Garden latest contest for green/mostly green parrots.

Why not enlist your green pal, if you do not have facebook, 

just email her!

Powder Up!

With the approval of Chester-the-sun-loving-jester

I love fruit and vegetable powders, which, for those who do not know, are fruit or vegetables that are dried and then ground to a fine powder. If food is dried at a low enough temperature, it can still be considered raw, but even food dried at "higher" temperatures is still hardly cooked. It is incredibly, incredibly versatile. Does your bird really like toast and little else? Sprinkle a small bit of powder on the toast! Because the powder is so concentrated, even a tiny amount packs a powerful punch. It makes it extremely easy to add nutrients to anything, which is particularly important for birds that do not have a varied diet. For instance, if a parrot eats any plain cooked grain, or plain baked items, you can add the powder to them while you work on getting them to eat actual fruits and vegetables. You can get garbanzo bean flour, coconut flour, quinoa flour, etc, mix in some of the powder, an egg, and maybe some mashed banana or pumpkin and have a very healthy treat! It will be quite dense, though, so please, don't let your parrot get overweight!

I love making greens powder. I have a small dehydrator  and simply fill it up with whatever greens I have on hand, drying them at a very low temperature for around 30 hours ( I put it in one day and turn it off next, but usually it goes longer than 24, you want them really crisp) to preserve all the nutrients. Right now it is a mix of kale and collards; I remove the stems, as they stay hard and make crumbling the final product much more difficult! Besides, those are happily eaten raw, so nothing goes to waste.

If you do not have a dehydrator, you can dry greens without one. Many people dry them just with the air, and I have done this myself in the past. For a smaller amount it is a great way to go; I have so many birds now I just need to do huge batches! You can go fancy and get one of these, but you could also just get a large cookie sheet, lay the greens on that, and leave them somewhere safe such as on top of the fridge, until they are nice and dry. And yes, I am sure mold is possible, but I formerly lived in the very humid south (supposedly the mountains are better, although still the south) where chopped vegetables smelled in half an hour and steel often rusted in a couple of months.... and I have never seen moldy greens. Air drying has been used for who knows how long for various green foods (think bundles of herbs hanging form the rafters) so the odds are in your favor, at the very least. Why not try it and see? Once the greens are quite dry, I just take them out, and crumble by hand or with a small coffee grinder if I want a finer product. And there you have it, a very easy method to add greens to anything!

Some powder I also buy. Avian Organics, for one, has some lovely organic powders- blackberry, blueberry, carrot, and apple. Obviously, blackberries and blueberries have lots of antioxidants with not too much sugar, and carrots lots nutrition and vit. A (although much more sugar!) but her apple powder is also quite good, being made only with the peel of the apple, where most of the nutrition is. If your parrots are anything like mine, they eat the apple and leave the peel (same for anything, even fresh corn is peeled) which makes this powder quite useful!

Annual Spring Post

It is a beautiful day outside. Inside, I am suffering from something very much like the flu. Oh well. At the risk of revealing my cat-like tendencies, if you have to lie around, a sunny spot certainly is nice. Just ask Gwen. Not Kipper the cat though. Oddly enough, she rarely goes for the sunny spots.

I really love winter, not that we had one here this year. Despite my allergies, I also enjoy the coming of Spring- I think I just appreciate the world, period! I am terribly excited, though, because the nearby farm (beyond organic, they use absolutely nothing, no sprays, etc) I visit to get much of my food said that next week a whole bounty will begin coming in- a huge variety of greens and lettuces first, then radishes, broccoli, and the whole list. A nice change from the winter greens, squash, cabbage, and potatoes!

I cannot get the birds outside today, but they have gone out all winter (any nice day in the 50s and they are running for their carriers) and as soon as I feel better, I will get them out again. It is quite a marathon, though, I must admit, getting so many outside each day.

Instead of a real post, here are some pictures of early spring here. Forsythia, leaf buds (hard to see in the pics unless you click on them, but little yellow pompoms and red filigree), a bird's nest, grass, and the green fuzzies in the driveway.

Tidbits

I suppose you could say Clementine is fitting right in here in this house of opinion. Actually, she is pushing the limits, or just breaking them down, stirring us all up! Several of my parrots talk regularly in context, and while Frank may have the best mastery of the English language, he is by no means alone. My parrots and I have regular conversations, or at least commentaries, and while even mild Miss Claudia has adopted some of my sarcastic streak, we are all generally polite towards one another. Ok, yes, Chester does yell at the little birds more than absolutely necessary, but other than that, it is fairly friendly. Clementine, though, is more the "shake it up" type. I have yet to hear any of the foul language, trash talk, and insults I was told she knew, and for that I am very grateful, and happy since it implies, at least, she has yet to get angry enough for a screaming tirade. However, I do not appreciate the negative peer pressure she was putting on my Mom when I was busy elsewhere, asking her repeatedly if she wanted a cigarette. And I think she even has me beat with her bluntness. When I came into the room after my bath with my hair in a less than perfect wet hair mess I did not think it strictly necessary for her to ask me "What's with your hair??"

Claudia, quite frankly, was shocked.

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Alasdair (English Shepherd) is feeling quite a lot better now after his rough start in his first home. He is starting to gain both weight and muscle mass, so I am hopeful he may actually get to a reasonable size. He is not a year old yet, and is certainly, finally, acting his age, ie, he gets into everything. His toys are everywhere his blankets are everywhere, and the play fighting has left many scars in my clothing- although he is finally responding somewhat to the training for that one. This morning he tried eating the bottle lid along with his pills. A couple of days ago he discovered a tennis ball inside the house (tennis balls are, in my opinion, outside toys only) and caused a very frantic minute that was quite like something out of one of those almost painful physical comedy sitcoms, as the ball, and the large blundering dog, bounced through the house in all the wrong places. I had no idea how much glass was in here, I guess I had just been seeing right through it all.

And here Alasdair had raided the bird area for what was intended to be a new play tube for Yo-yo and the rest of the Aussies. They love playing hide and seek with each other, but I have a feeling he was not invited.

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I was soooo excited last week when I won a recipe contest held by Avian Organics- with the very generous prize being a $100 gift basket from them! Yay!!! My birds love their products, and I love that they are healthy and that I can safely be around them and feed them to my parrots- no peanuts, soy, or wheat, period. My recipe is now on their website, here, and I was thrilled to see Yo-yo's picture in their march newsletter. He is quite proud himself, too, I might add, if a little bashful at the idea. And in case anyone else has a recipe for the Avian Organics fruit powders, they are now offering a $25 store credit for any they choose to put on their website.

Now I just have to wait until it gets here!


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I am so excited by the variety as well as the huge numbers of wildlife, particularly birds, that are quite well established here. Even more amazing, they are seemingly not at all afraid of people, I suppose it has been a long time since anyone has bothered them, or even lived here. I was thrilled one morning to see four flickers feeding right outside the french doors, although I only got a clear picture of one (the video will not load). Oh, and the seeming rubbish behind him is actually leftover building materials (wood and siding bits) holding down plastic tarps to hopefully kill the current plants and give me a bit of an area to garden in. I am leaving most of the yard natural, it already has some lovely grasses, wild flowers, and shrubs, and clearly is serving the "locals" well.

Introducing Food to a Stubborn bird?

Co-written by Lola (Frank was too busy to help.)

If other food is always available, why try something new? Similarly, suddenly taking out a dish that is always available often just leads to a hunger strike. Birds in the wild do not feed all day, and as ours are getting far much less exercise than them, I see no reason why they need food all day, either! Two meals a day, with some treats hidden in toys if you like, is a more natural way to feed. Watch the birds outside your door- heaviest in the morning and evening. Allowing the stomach to fully empty in the afternoon is not just natural but healthy- it allows the body to cleanse itself, heal, and re-set for the next meal. Feeding two meals a day makes food more valuable, more exciting, and can, and often does, help your bird gain weight, and by monitoring the food to a healthy amount, can also keep their weight down- which for parrots is even more important than for us. And since food is more exciting and valued, they are often more willing to try something new.

I say get to two meals a day with your current diet. Decrease or increase the amount of food at each meal until it is just enough that there are a very few crumbs left. If they were still starving, they would clean up those crumbs, but they still qualify for the clean plate club by only leaving a few crumbs. As I said before, if you want to fill foraging toys, take some of their meal amount to do that- ie, do not feed two full meals plus many treats (even if those treats are very healthy), but include the treats in the amount of food they can eat in one day. Once they are eating all of their food, try adding new food at one of the meals, or both. Not cold turkey, but mixed in, using still the same amount of food they can eat. While doing this, do monitor weight, if they lose more than 10 percent, back off. I try to do it without much weight loss at all, although sometimes there is no way to avoid it, just like leaving your child without dinner (been there,survived, and eat everything healthy I can!)

This may not help some of you, but I yet to find a bird that it did not widen the diet at least the tiniest bit. And even if you are not trying to get them on a new diet, I still recommend the two meal system, for all the above reasons. Trust me, outside of some severe health reason, your bird will not suffer, but be healthier!

Paper Beats Dish

Providing foraging opportunities with cooked or chopped fresh food is not nearly as easy as with dry foods or even whole fruits and veggies. And as that is the main part of many parrots diets, with good reason, that means having parrots forage for all of their food is not something many people do. However, there are ways around this conundrum! Compared to having food appear at the same place, the dish right next to a perch, every day, anything is an improvement. So how about this idea?

(And yes, it is funny that my bird food tray has a cat hunting a toy mouse. 

What can I say? Cute, and it has been in the family, so many memories.)

Wrapping the top of the food dish in paper is easy, and provides a little enrichment with every meal. Decide what method is best to attach the paper to the dish considering your parrot. If your dish fits in a ring, which is the easiest, you can just tuck the paper in the edge of the ring. If not, I have used both rubber bands as well as cotton kitchen twine. In this case, for Clementine, I am using a rubber band as that works well and is safe with her.

Get a supply of whatever paper you plan to use and keep that next to the bird dishes so it is on hand. After filling the dish, or dishes, take a piece of paper the size you need and tie or wrap, etc, it on. 

In the beginning, you can just put a strip of paper around the edge, or across the middle, so most of the dish is uncovered. Gradually cover more of the dish, until it is all covered. In this example, I still have a small hole for Clementine as she is still learning about foraging.

Once a piece of paper is mastered, you can try more layers, or even thin cardboard for larger beaks. Use your imagination!

Serve Your Food Waste

Waste is a huge problem in our world, and an even bigger problem in America. It has become so commonplace to throw away that it no longer even seems like waste to many of us, as we gaily find virtue in tossing grandmothers favorite afghan in the trash pile, blithely thinking about how much better a new violet throw will look rather than that old lavender one. As troubling as that is (or should be) food waste is at least as troubling to me. There is often just as much energy involved in producing the magical appearance of that food on the shelf or produce pyramid (yes, vegetables also take a lot of energy to grow, from the water use, to the tractor, to the pesticides/herbicides, to the transportation) not to mention the fact that I cannot but help think of the starving people in my own, or your own, community that would love to eat that slightly blemished apple. Food waste seems so small at the time, just a bit here and there, but taken all together, it really adds up, and I mean that from a waste-not point of view, as well as a want-not when speaking of the money waste. Soooo, end of moral, what does this have to do with parrots? Quite a bit, I think.

For example, if you buy organic vegetables, or low-pesticide-residue produce for yourself, but do not care to eat the peel, why not give that part to your parrot? My guys love peels, from cucumber, to squash ends, to the winter squash shell leftover after I bake one. Just leave a bit more of the flesh on that you might otherwise have, and let them go to town! And just so you know, winter squash peel is edible. I know. I quite like the caramelized peel myself, and the parrots have no issue with any hardness factor I might find discomforting. I save the root end of celery and lettuce for them, the tough stems of greens and broccoli, even parsley stems are well loved.

In fact, many of these types of food waste are actually more beloved by my parrots than the finer parts we generally prefer. Aside from my little Aussies, green stems are liked better than the greens themselves (although none of mine will turn down fresh greens on a skewer) and Frank and Lola will do just about anything for a romaine root. Squash stems are loved by all, even the Aussies, not only do you have sweet crisp squash, but you also have that wonderful stem to gnaw on! 

Fruit should not be left out of the parrot compost pile. Melon rinds are great edible toys, as are strawberry tops. Apple peel is very popular, and as we all know form our mothers, the peel is the healthiest part! I will occasionally give mine citrus peel to gnaw on, and that is a very well loved foot toy. Or, should your bird be a quaker,  a highly coveted nest decor item, which makes that hard to achieve fresh, clean, but lived in look well within even the reach of even the most artistically uninspired quakers reach. And no, orange peel does not mold easily, at all, it just dries up even in the hot humid south, but I do take it out after a day or two.

The outside waste is not the only thing parrots will enjoy. While many seeds and pits are toxic, some are not. Both squash and melon seeds, along with all the gloopy gunk that comes out with them, are highly coveted here. I simply scoop out and serve, just as is. Cucumber and squash seeds, should you not require them for your recipe, are likewise well received here.

I cannot help you with that beef you cooked and then forgot, or the bread that molded on the shelf, (although if you are interested in saving money and wasting less it would not hurt to check your pantry and fridge often) but at the very least, you can save money on your parrot food bill and make less waste in that department! For those of you that compost.... well, this post might not be of use to you. But for the many that do not have a compost, hopefully your parrot will enjoy some of your food waste. Obviously, having this so-called food waste requires you to be partaking of the produce yourself, but that is another story. And not one for this blog, so have no fear, fresh food haters!

Seriously, though, try some flippy floppy peels, or a stem end with your parrots. They might really like the novelty! And as long as the food is organic or low-pesticide, I say let them have it!

Never incite the scorn of a food-displeased Budgie

I was not feeling great this morning, so I took the liberty of giving myself a break and gave the birds some dry mix. This dry mix is one I make myself, and should not properly be called a mix, considering I keep most of the components separate so I can dish out the appropriate things to each bird. My dry smorgasbord, as it were, options include my seed (or grain, which is more accurate) mix, which is millet, puffed amaranth, quinoa, oats, and a few other things, plus various types of dry noodles (brown rice, quinoa, kamut, etc) dry individual larger grains (purple corn is popular) special seeds (milk thistle, sunflower, pumpkin...) dried veggies and fruits, special treats (Avian Organics Veggie Bars, Papaya Crisps, and Green Granola currently) and more. Very varied, as you can see. They do not get all that at one meal, of course. I also use parts of my smorgasbord as treats or for training, and add an item or two with my other meals. When I am giving a meal just of dry mix, as this morning, it usually includes some of the basic grain/seed mix, and several of the other items. My birds overall appreciate the variety and enjoy their shelf stable items as a contrast to all the fresh food.

Keep in mind I do not feed dry mix meals all the time, it is something I do when I am feeling particularly bad, as I was this morning. By taking the easy route, I give myself time to re-charge without getting burnt out. The dry mix meals are still quite healthy (I even have cooked and dried beans, so complete protein!) and as most people with parrots know, dry mix meals of some kind are usually quite popular. I do not think there is anything wrong with skipping the fresh food at a meal every now and again if you are particularly busy, tired, or sick. After all, for parrots living out in the great outdoors, meals are hardly devised by a nutritionist to be balanced and varied, optimum for each individual. They often eat just one, or just a few kinds of food while it is in season, and switch to another when the first runs out. They are not always at an "all you can eat health food buffet." Therefore, the occasional dry mix meal is fine.

All that said (and re-said and re-said and re-said, bored yet?), Ava was not pleased. No, not pleased at all. A sprinkling of dry treats throughout the day and with a fresh meal is fine, but all on their own? Puh-lease.

By dinner time, not only was the food still there, but Ava was giving me one of her stares, the one I call the "gentle reprimand gaze." If not attended to, it is later followed by the "disdain glare," and the "scornful air." I try my best to avoid those.

I have learned my lesson. I still do not feel well, but I have a pot of some Avian Organics mash cooking (with lots of extra dried raw kale and cilantro flakes added at the end, they love them and so easy!) along with butternut squash and peas. Hopefully Her Highness will accept my apologies for the lazy breakfast and graciously allow me back in her favor. She really is quite good about that.

And finally, a few quick pics of the Aussies from yesterday-

Miss Patty loves the view. 

I think it is funny how the reflection in the window 

makes it look as if there is a building out there....

nope, just trees and grass.

Sleepy time for Ava. Whatever they tell you about a 

goodnight sleep, Ava feels a good afternoon nap is 

equally important.

Miss Patty and Linus, hanging out.

Yo-yo, who is only in one picture since he spent most

if the time on me. In this pic he is asking to come to me.

In a minute he will fly over.

Fluffy Linus!!

Pretty Miss Patty. She is really showing her age, 

and her bald spots on her face just keep inching bigger and bigger, 

but she is just as sweet and nearly as active as ever.

And she certainly keeps Yo-yo on his toes!

Fruit

How much fruit, or rather, how much sugar, to feed parrots is a matter of great contention. Some say it is a natural part of their diet, there are those that like only certain kinds of fruit, many feel moderation is the key, others are adamant it is just useless sugar water, and some do not say much at all. I think it is really a rather complicated subject, however it may at first appear, and in some ways all of the above people (particularly those that refrain from entering heated fruit arguments) are right.

Fruit is a natural part of all wild parrot diets. Fruit is the edible (although if it is poisonous it would be a one-time affair) product formed from the flower of a tree or plant. This means that many things we call vegetables, nuts, or grains are actually fruits, such as oats, millet, squash, almonds, and most things besides greens and root vegetables. If, for the purpose of simplicity, I exclude all those and leave fruits as meaning anything that is not a tree-nut but yet grows on a tree or climbing vine, I could still say that fruit is a natural part of most parrot diets. However, there is a big problem with that statement- the fruits we commonly consume and have available to feed our parrots are not found in nature, and have been bred to be as sweet as possible, chock full of sucrose and fructose.

Many animals, including ourselves, are ingrained with a desire to eat sweet things. Historically, this desire served us well, and continues to be useful to other animals- sugars were not easy to come by but would provide an easy source of quick energy. Most wild fruits are not as sweet as those found in the supermarkets of today. Figs are often thought of as a very natural food for many species of parrots. This is true, but wild figs are not nearly as sweet as domesticated fogs, being high in raffinose, a fiber-like sugar (also found in high concentrations in the cabbage family, like broccolli) and I once read their taste is comparable to compressed straw. Sounds lovely!

If you were to plant an apple seed, you would have no idea whether the apples on that tree would taste anything like the apple the seed came from, or whether they would even be edible. If you want to grow a specific type of apple, you must graft part of an already existing apple tree of that variety to an apple tree root. Sweet apple trees, or sweet varieties of wild cousins of apples, are actually quite rare. Whenever one grows, it becomes something of a fruit tree celebrity with all the animals in the area .Still, most of the wild apples they eat will not be very sweet at all. The case of man domesticating fruits and breeding them to be ever sweeter is true in most cases. Even some berries have undergone this process, like strawberries. 

On top of the fact that our food is often far sweeter than food available in the wild, our parrots need far less- even flighted parrots are getting very little exercise in comparison with their wild counterparts. Just about the only fruits you can get that are not (in my opinion) ridiculously sweet are berries, besides some varieties of strawberries, and a few of the apple varieties, like granny smith. The tropical fruits are still quite healthy, even if sweeter than the originals. However, if you are trying to lower the sugar intake of your parrot, be aware that some vegetables, like carrots, are actually extremely high in sugar, as high or higher than some fruits.

My philosophy on fruits and sugar? It varies per bird. I never feed any of the highest sugar/lowest nutrients, like most apples, grapes, etc. I do not feed bananas because of my latex allergy, but I am very interested in feeding some of the cousins of bananas, those that are starchy but much lower in sugar. The ekkies, because they seem to do better with it, get higher amounts of fruit, and the cockatiels and budgies get some berries. The quakers get almost no fruit, or high sugar veggies, because Frank starts acting funny (i.e. high) after too much sugar! I always include berries in my parrot diets, as I feel they are closest to a natural food, and are full of incredible nutrition, being the little superfoods they are. I tend to feed seasonally, though, so what fruit they get besides that depends on what is available. 

I already have lots of wild berries around my new house. I would really like to plant some apple trees from seed, though, in hopes I would get some non-sweet apples in several years. I think I will do that and see what comes up! At the very least it will mean nice apple branches to chew on, right?


Note- If this post seems dis-jointed, blame the Spotsylvania fault. I was in the middle of typing philosophy when it threw its temper-tantrum, and my attention span does not allow for interruption when writing!

Local Food Choices are Widening!

We had our last taste of "new" winter yesterday- snow! I say new because even an inch or two of snow was formerly an occasion down here, and now we have snow (not a lot, but still) at the end of March! When will we all get serious about climate change? I mean really. Anyway, despite the chill now in the air (just a bit over a week ago it was in the 70s,which seems closer to normal to me, instead of today's 45) spring is here. The daffodils are out all over the place, in all the shades of the sun, the violets are peaking from under the magnolia, the fruit trees are out in all their legendary glory of pink and white, and the trees in the woods are rushing all their energy into the leaf buds on the tips of their branches; first small barely noticeable and now just beginning to unfurl. While birds are present year round here, their spring exuberance makes their numbers seem to grow far beyond any migration. They seem to be everywhere, always busy, and the flicker reminds us hourly that this part of Virginia, in particular, is his. The air often has that unmistakable odor of the grey and brown waking up, starting to become green. The same delightful scent, by the way, that is already bring on my allergies. Ignoring that, (and learning to ignore that is an ongoing process) it is a lovely time of year!

This Ode to Spring does actually have a correlation with parrots, and a very important one at that! With warm weather comes farmers markets, and farmers markets are the best place to find local, hopefully organic or even better, unsprayed, produce. Not only can you support local farmers by buying their produce, you will be getting food that is far healthier than that which is in the store, as it is fresh. Fruits and veggies loose their nutrients rapidly after being picked, and since many foods, particularly fruits and tomatoes, are picked green to ripen on the way to the store, they will never have the important enzymes available in food picked when ripe. And besides the health reasons to get the freshest (and hopefully organic) food, I also think it is lots of fun to watch the seasons change in the food available, and to get a sampling of all the different foods so you can run home and try to find recipes to use them in. And don't worry if you aren't quite known as a fabulous chef- even simple salads are raised to new heights with fresh ( both literally and figuratively) flavors!

Your parrots will also appreciate the fresh foods. I find my parrots are picky about how "old" their food is, and a parrot that may have formerly shunned a store-bought food like, say, kale, will not be able to resist when it is fresh and crisp, just picked that morning, and hung from the side of the cage or on a skewer. Really, it can make all the difference. And if it doesn't for your parrot, well, don't blame me, please!

Another wonderful edible that makes an appearance in spring is flowers, for either your parrot or you! Obviously, make sure they are not only safe for consumption and not poisonous (trees and flowers), but also 100% free from all pesticides or any other chemical residue (this means anything picked beside a road, for instance, probably isn't a good idea.) Fresh flowers are a great foraging treat for my parrots, some, like Claudia and Frank, devour them, while some just like shredding them to little pieces, and throwing all those little pieces to the wind. I haven't quite decided whether the latter is just same-old same-old parrot behavior, or some form of parrot perfuming.

And finally, just in case anyone needs any inspiration in the food and recipe category (or even if you don't), I am going to link to my review of the always fabulous Phoenix Landing Cookbook. It really is wonderful. I think it is a great human cookbook to, but then, I have a different diet than much of the U.S. public! Even factoring that, I think anyone will find recipes for both their parrots and themselves in it, so I highly recommend it!

Claudia, Claudia, and Cookies

Just a note about the large funky-looking toy in the last post- Claudia has demolished the colored slats on it! Interestingly to note, she went immediately for the natural slats, tested several, made a few dents, but then tried the colored ones and just didn't look back! She has since tried the natural ones again a few times, but they are a different kind of wood and she just doesn't seem to get into them. I got the slats as a free gift during a sale from here; now to get them un-dyed! I can get that from the couple that makes them, but she is recovering from surgery so there is currently a 3-4 week wait. Worth it, after seeing Claudia go for this wood!

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In another story about Claudia (hasn't she been busy this week?) she has once again shown that however "slow" she may be compared to my other birds and indeed other ekkies, she is still, as the saying goes "not stupid!" Few of us are, really, but that is another subject....

I regularly rotate the foraging toys Claudia has in her cage. Several of those foraging toys are these. This week, I put one of those toys in her cage; one that looks like this one:

(Just as a note, NEVER give this toy to smaller parrots that can fit their head in the track where the rings slide. They can hang themselves)

I know Claudia has not seen this toy in at least two and a half years. Still, when I hung it up, with the treat already in it, it took her under 8 seconds from "launch" to get the treat out. No messing around! She went straight from her perch, across the ceiling of her cage and, hanging upside down since I don't make my foraging toys easy to get to, she immediately grabbed the bottom ring, turned until it dropped, and then repeated with the top ring. She must have even remembered what position the handles are in when the notch is lined up so it will drop, since mine sticks (clean, just doesn't meet right or something) and you have to tug (or push if you are operating bat-like) it at that moment to get it to drop. She wasted no time, no mistakes, absolutely flawless, and all from memory! Now I can't say that competes with an elephant's memory yet, but ask me in another 50 years!

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As my final story, I will answer the question I am sure you are all wondering, or if you aren't, you may start wondering now: what exactly was in that snack rack that Claudia wanted so badly? It was the parrots' new obsession, the thing they will currently defend to death from any number of creatures, including all the eagles, ospreys, hawks, owls, coyotes (you get the picture) outside. Seriously.

They are lovely pink mish-mash cookies!

My own invention, and I am ever so proud of them! I have never made anything so well and universally liked! I desperately wanted a pic of Linus, or at least Ava, eating these, to show that even they adore them, but they weren't co-operating. I did try for a while, really! No luck, so just take my word for it.

Unfortunately, I did not measure a thing, which is how I usually cook and even bake. I thought it would be like my usual "creations"- liked some, but not something you need to remember how to make ex-act-ly-as-it-was. So as soon as I realized what a gold mine I had hit upon, I sat down to try and remember what and how much I put in. Fortunately I have a pretty good picture memory, but since much of the stuff was added in little piles, not even each ingredient all together in one big pile, it was hard. Still, I think I am pretty close, and I will definitely be measuring next time, so I can work towards getting the exact measurements for perfection! And in case anyone is interested in trying for themselves, here is the recipe as I think it was!

Oh, and just to add the extra caramel sauce (or whatever your favorite topping is) these cookies smell absolutely beyond fantastic!! Seriously. Really. Good. They left the kitchen perfumed for the rest of the day, and now, after a few days in the fridge, they still smell amazing every time I open the container!


Notes:
- I made this recipe to use up a couple different kinds of dried foods I had. They were dehydrated low-temperature, so essentially raw before cooking, at least.
- I tore my mango into pieces roughly 1/4' square, perhaps a bit bigger at times, and the sweet potato I crushed, so size varied.
- ALL ingredients are guesstimates, and your guess is as good as mine as to whether the actual amount was that, or a bit more or less.
- the rice flakes are similiar to oatmeal, but drier, but oatmeal would make a fine substitute
- The dough should be similar to oatmeal cookie dough, but barely sticky at all, and if anything, er on the drier side. Hopefully the last mixing step won't be needed in the future!

Pink Mish-Mash Cookies!
- 3/4 c chopped dried mango
- 1/2 c dried sweet potato
- slightly packed 1/2 c goji berries
- 2 cups pure no sugar cranberry juice

- 1/2 cup minced broccoli stem
- 1/2 c coconut
- a tablespoon at least dried ground ginger

-3/4 cup flour, half corn, half rice
- heaping c of rice flakes

- red palm oil from sustainable sources that do not endanger people, forests, or orangutans (I get mine form Tropical Traditions) OR other oil for coating pans


Mix together the mango, sweet potato, and goji berries. Bring the cranberry juice to a boil and pour over fruit (it should nearly cover it). Cover fruit and allow to sit for at least 15 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

After fruit has reconstituted, add the broccoli, coconut, and ginger and mix. Add dried ingredients and mix well. Adjust dry or liquid as needed and mix again.

Coat pans very well with oil. Make dough into patties about 1/3" thick and 3" across, or any diameter you like as long as they are all the same. Bake until they are ever so slightly brown and look fairly dry, or drier anyway. For 3" cookies, this was aorund 12-15 minutes in my oven. Allow to cool slightly on pan before transferring to rack to cool completely.

Enjoy the wonderful, wonderful aroma in your kitchen!