Trying new things

I'd like to know two things... I keep finding conflicting information and would appreciate everyone's insight.

First, Soybean sprouts. I want to try offering sprouts to Zulu, and I picked up a pack of Nature's Wonder Soybean sprouts. They are supposedly all natural and GMO free. How do I feed these to him (ie: rinsed/washed & raw or cooked; the whole sprout or just the seed part?)

Secondly, Papaya! I bought a papaya and have it cut up and awaiting Zulu. But in the process of doing that, I scooped out a boatload of seeds. I've found several sources that say its perfectly safe/fine to feed raw papaya seeds to birds but found a couple of sites that indicated it's not safe. Has anyone here ever fed their birds papaya seeds?

To be honest, I don't see an issue with the seeds... I think he'll be just fine if he gets a few here and there. The sprouts, however, do concern me as I've never dealt with them before.

Thanks in advance!

JJ

I would skip the seeds to be safe [ You have to let us know how he likes it].

Soybeans actually aren't highly recommended for sprouting for parrots:

"CAUTION: Large beans: Anasazi, Black, Fava, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, Soy, are not suggested for sprouting. These legumes can cause toxicity and remain difficult to digest. Their raw flavor is also very bad. If choose to serve these to your bird they MUST be soaked for a minimum of 8 hours, water drained and beans rinsed well, and then cooked by bringing them to a full boil, boiling uncovered for 10 minutes, covered and simmered for another 20 minutes."

Papaya seeds should be safe, but I would take precaution and simply not feed them to Zulu if you're unsure. Better to put the effort in to be safe than to not and regret it later until you find out a solid answer. Unfortunately I can't give you one, but perhaps someone else will chime in with more knowledge.

Seeds are an excellent supplement to a diet in very low quantity. Sunflower seeds really shouldn't be given at all except as a treat, though, because of how fatty they are. Your birds are fine without lots of it if you do trick training anyways, because they're ingesting the amount they'd need then. Fresh fruits and veggies are far more important in the diet than seeds

If you haven't already, I would read the sprouting thread. Very useful information and very helpful.

I do sprouts often... Two favs and super easy to sprout are legume / beans and red wheat... Both spro. quickly and grow quite a bit. Our sprout kit has 3 layers and I took over sprouts to the shelter we had so much!!

Healthy for you too!! The legume sprouts are quite tasty. I can't have the wheat ones cause my gluten issues, but my daughter loves eating them!

I don't recommend any mixes sold for birds, they do not sprout nearly as well!

I get my seeds in the organic section at wegmans. Have not tried dried legumes you can buy in lb bags

Bummer! Guess the sprouts will have to hit the trash as I don't eat them and I don't dare feed them to Zulu. The seeds too, which is a real shame since there were so many of them.

As for the papaya, he absolutely loved it. It might have been a little too ripe given how a large part of it was soft/mushy, but Zulu watched me eat a piece then hopped up onto his feeding dish, tested it out and proceeded to make his happy squeak-squeak noise before gobbling the rest of it down. The only other food he treats that way are sugar snap peas which, given the name, probably isn't the best to feed him on a daily basis!

I'm likely to give up on giving him sprouts. I don't have a variety here to choose from (soybeans were it) and am not comfortable/knowledgeable enough to try sprouting on my own. I'll have to search for a good "veggie" substitute (snap peas, again, are the only thing he's really crazy about eating aside from sweet potatoes).

JJ

You can sprout your snap peas If you have any organic health food stores, they have a variety you can choose from. I just started sprouting, and it's really easy and I like eating them too! So don't feel too afraid to try, but if the selection is poor I can understand why.

You can also look into ordering sprout mixes, just be careful what are in them I was really nervous to sprout too, but with help of the forum I feel really great about it now, and I love knowing I'm helping Avery eat healthy! I value my body and my body's health just like hers, so it makes me happy her and I can both be happy and healthy

Sprouting is super easy... literally soak, rinse, put into a jar or layer on a plate and cover, keep damp... rinse daily... sprouts!

We have sprouting trays, so it makes it super super easy. The trays have small holes around the bottom edge, so you just rinse in the tray, water drains out and you restack.

I rinse with apple cider vinegar when they are ready to be feed just to make sure no bacteria, but thats it... otherwise, its literally soak, spread, rinse, repeat, sprout!

Now if I do give sprouting a try, my questions are:

1) Can I just buy a packet of seeds (like you'd plant in a garden)? There are no organic stores in my area, so other than ordering seeds online, if I can't pick 'em up locally (ie: Walmart) I'm going to be hard pressed to continue!

2) Which seeds are best for sprouting?

3) I understand the process of sprouting in as much as what JenPhilly suggested, but once they're ready to be fed, is there any special preparation? Or can you pick up several, rinse them good and feed the entire sprout (stalk, seed, etc)?

Thanks again for any help. I want Zu to have the best diet possible, and I'd hate to discount sprouts if they're rather simple and straight forward.

I'm honestly not sure in regards to normal seeds, because I'm not positive how they're treated prior to packaging.

As for which are best, broccoli seeds are great, quinoa, chick peas (garbonozo beans), green/yellow peas, hulled oat, hulless barley (I think I have those two correctly), and then there's some beans like adzuki beans which are safe to sprout.

Special preparation wise, they do need to be cleaned on a consistent basis with a good anti-bacterial like grapefruit seed extract or apple cider vinegar during the sprouting process. After that, you can store them in your fridge for up to a week, but be sure to monitor them and watch for spoiling. You can tell by taste and smell easily if they're spoiled. Also be careful of bacterial growth/fungal growth. I'm not sure how other members do their sprouting, but I do a batch that's a good enough size for a week and keep it in a container in my fridge. Every time I give some to Avery I make sure to give them a quick rinse and dab them dry with paper towel and then they're put into her food bowl.

I hope these answers helped and sorry for the late response!