Fresh Chop or Rehydrated Chop?

[ShanCaz]

Hello!!

I work at a petstore and we recently got a shipment of rehydratable chop/veggie mixes. I decided to try the package with the most variety that being peppers, carrots, squash, kale, lettuce, ect. and some peas that I had at home since it didn’t include them for whatever reason.
I gave it to my Sun Conure and GCC and they seemed to enjoy it and dig their faces right in! I’m not gonna lie, it smelled good enough that I wanted to try some. I want to use this more in the future seeing as I get up at 5am for work and I want to have something that I can quickly get ready for them.
My only concern is that it may not be as healthy or nutritious as fresh chop. I don’t mind going back to fresh if that is the case, but they clearly enjoyed the rehydrated veggies and it is much easier for me in the mornings. When I looked it up, the information was kind of vague. People do feed rehydrated chip to their birds, but there is little info on which chop is better.

Any insight or criticism is helpful! I just want to what is best for them and their health ^^

 

[wrench13]

Well of course fresh is going to be the best, but if conditions do not permit that dehydrated or freeze dried will work. One of those reduces the nutritional value a little more then the other but I forget which one is which. We give Salty a chop mix that I make up in large batches and freeze them in 5 day size freezer baggies. Thaw nightly a portion, and then I mix with either a crushed up nutraberrie or a small amount of freeze dried mix *both take up the excess moisture in the chop) and maybe some fresh veg.

 

[BirdyBee]

Well of course fresh is going to be the best, but if conditions do not permit that dehydrated or freeze dried will work. One of those reduces the nutritional value a little more then the other but I forget which one is which.

Dehydration is the one that reduces more than the other. While freeze dried keeps 90%+ of the nutrients, dehydrated can lose up to 50% for some nutrients.

 

[wrench13]

Thank you An'e

 

[ShanCaz]

Well of course fresh is going to be the best, but if conditions do not permit that dehydrated or freeze dried will work. One of those reduces the nutritional value a little more then the other but I forget which one is which. We give Salty a chop mix that I make up in large batches and freeze them in 5 day size freezer baggies. Thaw nightly a portion, and then I mix with either a crushed up nutraberrie or a small amount of freeze dried mix *both take up the excess moisture in the chop) and maybe some fresh veg.

Thanks! That was really helpful. They seem to love the freeze dried food I give them right now so I’ll let them finish that up before going back to fresh! Maybe I’ll even let them try the same combination but fresh haha.

 

[ShanCaz]

Dehydration is the one that reduces more than the other. While freeze dried keeps 90%+ of the nutrients, dehydrated can lose up to 50% for some nutrients.

That’s interesting! I’ll definitely consider freeze dried and fresh over dehydrated now that this information is in my head haha. Thank you!!

 

[chris-md]

Well of course fresh is going to be the best, but if conditions do not permit that dehydrated or freeze dried will work. One of those reduces the nutritional value a little more then the other but I forget which one is which. We give Salty a chop mix that I make up in large batches and freeze them in 5 day size freezer baggies. Thaw nightly a portion, and then I mix with either a crushed up nutraberrie or a small amount of freeze dried mix *both take up the excess moisture in the chop) and maybe some fresh veg.

Dehydration is the one that reduces more than the other. While freeze dried keeps 90%+ of the nutrients, dehydrated can lose up to 50% for some nutrients.

Dehydration destroys the water soluble vitamins, which is the majority of them.

 

[ravvlet]

I don’t think it would hurt them to have the rehydratable veg in the rotation - we have kept some on hand before for times where they run out unexpectedly or as a treat. Fresh is better, and Wrench is right on the money about batch freezing; it has saved my bacon and made feeding fresh infinitely easier.

With your schedule though that definitely sounds difficult - you could start offering them fresh in the evening when you get off work and have more time, and the other stuff in the mornings when you’re in a rush or don’t know when you can change their bowls out before you leave?

I like to think about it this way; these guys live ages when well cared for, and if in the short term doing the rehydrated stuff works best for you it will be okay. Try to fit their fresh food in at other times during the day so that they are still getting all those good nutrients; but you don’t want to burn yourself out to the point that you’ll be making care mistakes (I would for example, strongly advise against leaving fresh chop in their bowls for 8 hours as that is a real risk for bacterial contamination).

 

[onamom]

I haven’t tried rehydrated but to save time I make a big batch of fresh and freeze it in an ice cube tray. The day before I take out one cube and leave it in the fridge to thaw.

 

[Cottonoid]

I also get up at 5am and now it's dark until past 6am in my area.

What I've been doing is in the morning offering dry food (seed/pellet mix in my case) in my parrot's bowl and in different foraging places, with one big-ish slice of veggie. He'll eat bites out of the slice when he eats breakfast then throw it down so I feel ok about how long it's sitting out. ...as long as he doesn't start climbing down to pick up discards anyway 🤞