Eclectus mash - I think I have a problem 😊

Can't do food every week due to my health so I put together mash based on advice from diets

Vacuum sealed in jars in the freezer. I was hesitant to use bags because of the potential for leeching and unknown effects. This is 6 months worth of food.

Wow! 6 months worth?!? You don't play! Lol! How long did that take?

When making 6 months worth of food, I reckon vacuum sealed jars would be the way to go. Glad to see you referenced that ekkie diet site. Isn't it the best?

What ingredients did you wind up using for your chop?

It took an hour to grocery shop. Soaked everything in water/vinegar for an hour, used my Bosch mixer with food processor attachment for anything not leafy, and chopped leafy greens by hand. That took about 30 minutes.

Cooked rice in one pressure cooker and beans in another while I was waiting for the stuff to soak. I also blanched the carrots based on what I read about beta carotene being activated when blanched.

Overall, three hours, and another hour to put it into jars (a total of 21? 32oz jars.)

Because I have such limited mobility, making mash every week was out of the question. This was truly my only option, as I only have maybe one good day a month. I will let the veggies thaw in the fridge the night before I need them.

I also did not jar the mash immediately. I waited about 2 days so the flavors melded.

Here's just some of what's in it, everything is fresh.

Eclectus Breakfast Mash:

Green beans
Broccoli complete head
Cauliflower
Sweet potato
Kale
Bok choy
Carrots WITH tops
All lettuce except iceberg. Organic!
Radishes with tops - grate to release antioxidants
Red giant mustard greens
Snow peas
Sugar snap peas
Yam - true yam is not the same as sweet potato
One Apple -Granny Smith for tartness

Cooked items mixed in:
Barilla Rotini Veggie Pasta (made with zucchini)
One small bag of brown rice
Red beans
Navy beans
Chick/garbanzo beans
Pinto beans
Split green peas
Green lentils

Add quinoa as it is the best complete super food for the Eclectus.



Fruit Mash for dinner:
Bananas (added fresh, not mixed in)
Honeydew melon
Kiwi
Papaya
Pears
Pineapple
Pomegranate
Plums
Small watermelon (SMALL) seeds are good
Mango

My advice is not to use watermelon. It's way too watery, so is honeydew melon. So I would skip it.

Wow Brittany741 that lot looks fantastic. Brill idea putting in the jars and next time I do some I will use some jars too. Your girl has a fantastic mommy!

Most impressive, Brittany. Beautiful variety and great nutrition. I bet she'll love it!

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You are such a blessing in your bird's life. That mash seriously looks like something I'd eat!

Great job Brittany! Your dedication shows and your method works well!

The mash is GOOD! I won't give my babies anything I wouldn't eat.

Thanks for the kind comments. We have a stand up freezer that has a dead start relay, can't wait to get it back up and running so these jars can get as cold as they need to.

I will say I'm surprised she doesn't like the fruit mash much at all. She likes bananas but she goes nuts for the veggies mash. Every morning since the day we brought her home, her butt is in the air and her beak is covered like a little addict.

She actually prefers the veggie mash?!? Sweet!!! Lisa's (drlisaort) Oliver has much the same "problem". Lol! Trust me, that's a way better situation than the other way around... and far less common. Even though ekkies are virtually obligate frugivores in the wild, the fruits to which they have access are actually far more nutritionally dense than the ones we can typically provide in our homes. So the closest analog would be the vegetable portion of their chop.

Some fruits do bring a heavy nutritional punch, such as blueberries and pomegranates, but many others are largely enticements for the veggies, anyway. (Yeah, grapes! I'm looking at you!)

There are, of course, veggies that also suffer from the "window dressing" syndrome, such as celery and cucumber, but generally speaking a diet richer in veggies is the way to go. Especially the greens, which I see you have represented quite well in your chop! Two other favorites for me in that category are endives and (nutritional powerhouse) dandelions.

I'm loving how completely she's accepted the conversion to fresh foods! I can't tell you how heartwarming it is to read these threads about your rescued ekkie girl. Beautiful.

Seriously, she practically turns her nose up at the fruit mash but she will come at me like a T-Rex for the veggie mash!!

It is incredible. She's an amazing eater. One day, I came out and heard her crunching on Golden'Obles and when she saw me, she immediately dropped one and started towards her bowl when she saw it was breakfast time. She definitely is THE best eating animal I've EVER had- including the 4-legged ones.

Hmm... I wonder who's little birdy is %100, totally, not at all, spoiled.. Hmm.

GracelynNBirds said:

Hmm... I wonder who's little birdy is %100, totally, not at all, spoiled.. Hmm.

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<looks around>

This is really cool Brittany! I'm a bit lost though. This is all frozen right? How is it portioned out, if not in bags. That to my eyes looks like a solid frozen mass so removing each individual portion to feed must be a pain? What am I missing?

chris-md said:

This is really cool Brittany! I'm a bit lost though. This is all frozen right? How is it portioned out, if not in bags. That to my eyes looks like a solid frozen mass so removing each individual portion to feed must be a pain? What am I missing?

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Each jar contains 4 days worth of food for ALL my birds. I simply move one jar from the freezer to the fridge to thaw the morning before I need it. This allows the veggies to stay fresh and solves the problem of having to prep food every week or few days.

I've always wanted an Eclectus but never got one due to their demanding nutritional needs. This led me to devising a plan.

I am bed bound over 22 hours a day and use a wheelchair. This makes food prep a huge undertaking for me, even with assistance. Preparing and storing the food in this manner solves both the issue of demand as well as providing them an extremely high quality diet.

This also saves a LOT of money. No wasted food due to spoilage (something I care about very much, I HATE wasted food!) plus buying in bulk means lower overall cost.

The 12-pack of jars is around $10, and while I have a heavy duty vacuum sealer, you can get one plus the FoodSaver jar sealer kit to use with any brand vacuum sealer for under $50.

Another suggestion I have for this method is to package different combinations of food in each jar. Using Eclectus-friendly spices and so many vegetables means no more diet boredom.

When my new baby Ekkie comes home Thursday, I'll have four birds. I did the math of how much each bird gets per day, and decided four days was the longest I want to store fresh vegetables. Based on both factors, I bought the jar size which will accommodate the perfect amount of food. Any smaller would mean more expense to store all the food, and any larger would mean wasted or spoiled food.

The only continuing expense is buying new jar lids once I get through all this food. Using jars means no risk of plastic leaching into their food. Although the risk is minimal and I don't mind using bags for the humans in the house, jars are a one-time expense and the vacuum bags are insanely expensive.

Plus, I can simply re-seal the jars after each meal, whereas the bags would be a total pain and likely require the use of a storage container once thawed. I tried to think through each potential issue and this is the method I determined to be the most convenient, cost effective, and bird safe. Providing a proper diet to an Ekkie is overwhelming and complicated, and it doesn't have to be and shouldn't be. That's why I'm glad I took the time to create a food plan. Feeding my Ekkies is as easy as feeding a pelleted diet to any other species. The only additional task is taking a jar from the freezer and putting it into the fridge every four days.

Oh my gosh, Im just now reading about all the diet things. I have only had my little ekkie since January. The breeder was very clear about what I should feed him. But I didnt know about the mash and what you listed here. I did do a "soak" for him that beans and other stuff, but it came already pre mixed. I had to get it out and cook it down. I cant wait to try this and see what Azaiah does with it. Thank you so so much!

ok, so I have my ekkie and an African Grey. I think The grey can eat the same for the most part as my ekkie. So one jar would feed how many birds for 4 days?? I really wan tto make this!

AsaiahMom43 said:

ok, so I have my ekkie and an African Grey. I think The grey can eat the same for the most part as my ekkie. So one jar would feed how many birds for 4 days?? I really wan tto make this!

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This mash is great for everyone, but your grey can have more nuts and things that aren't great in bulk for an Ekkie.

I did the math for just the veggie mash, which is one meal a day. Add in fruits for the second meal (or vice versa, I give fruit in the morning now and the mash at night.) Basically 1/4 cup per bird, per day for 4 birds equals the 32oz jar. If I was only preparing for ONE bird, this food would last a lot longer and it would be six months' worth.

I just defrosted my first frozen jar and I must say it took FOREVER and I ended up needing to let the veggies thaw quite a bit at room temperature before they were edible. So I would suggest taking the jar from the freezer to the fridge at least 36 hours before you need it. I opted NOT to microwave to thaw in case it would kill any nutrients. Plus, this stuff stinks when microwaved.

For the fruit meal of the day, I made a fruit mash and it went over like a lead balloon. I've decided to do fresh fruit in the morning and offering different varieties each week. This week it's banana, papaya (and she loves the seeds!) kiwi, pear. I am going to change it up every week so she gets more variety and also so I can have my husband buy what looks best and what's in season. I am slightly bummed the fruit mash was a failure but I don't blame her. She goes wild for the fresh stuff and her face is now covered in food 24/7.

One suggestion, Brittany. (Though, given Persephone's apparent utter rejection of fruit mash, this point is now rendered wholly academic.) I wouldn't split meals 50/50 between fruits and veggies. The ratio of veggies to fruits should actually fall heavily on the veggie side. When prepping my chop, I actually make the ratio maybe 6 types of veggies to maybe 2 types of fruit. Or even as high as 8 veggies to 3 fruits.

I do this because the fruits available to ekkies in the wild are simply more nutritionally dense than what we have here, and are more comparable to our domestic veggies than our fruits.

But again, since Lady Persephone - darling that she is - actually prefers veggies, you're set anyway. Lol!

Anansi said:

One suggestion, Brittany. (Though, given Persephone's apparent utter rejection of fruit mash, this point is now rendered wholly academic.) I wouldn't split meals 50/50 between fruits and veggies. The ratio of veggies to fruits should actually fall heavily on the veggie side. When prepping my chop, I actually make the ratio maybe 6 types of veggies to maybe 2 types of fruit. Or even as high as 8 veggies to 3 fruits.

I do this because the fruits available to ekkies in the wild are simply more nutritionally dense than what we have here, and are more comparable to our domestic veggies than our fruits.

But again, since Lady Persephone - darling that she is - actually prefers veggies, you're set anyway. Lol!

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That's exactly what I'm doing

She has started eating fruit - finally - so at this point it's about an 80/20 mix. As her palette develops, she is liking fruit more and more, thankfully! I hope to get to 60/40.

Brittany741 said:

GracelynNBirds said:

Hmm... I wonder who's little birdy is %100, totally, not at all, spoiled.. Hmm.

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<looks around>

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Who, me? Not me, officer!