how to manage fresh foods for a single small GCC!?

[wildflower]

I recently adopted a beautiful yellow sided Green cheek love ball, he/she is my only bird and im having a hard time managing small amounts of fresh food that i can have on hand. as of now im using frozen veggies like green beans, peas, carrots, corn and broccoli with no salt added that i thaw a portion at a time with a little pot of water, i toss a blue berry in there every once and awhile as wildflower doesn't seem to enjoy them(yet). it also eats zupreem pellets 50/50 veggies mix/ fruit mix as a staple (always available), and ive also added freshly sprouted seeds of a organic mix designed for birds that contains 26 different seeds and legumes. this seems fairly balanced but ide like some feedback from some other green cheek owners, and also some strategies for preparing/ storing / keeping foods varied and available for me only feathered baby and also what other things i should add in. and also was wondering about the sprouted seeds... ive read that they contain less fat then dry ordinary bird seed while having many more vitamins and minerals and amino acids available, dose anyone think that dry seeds should also be apart of the diet? thanks for reading! any and all help will be appreciated :32::32::32:

 

[hacatta]

you could make an nice chop mix,and freeze it in ice cube tubs,this way you have small portions.
But i sounds as a good diet!keep up.

 

[Psittaciformes]

If you don't have ice cube trays you could get a zip-lock bag/any other freezer bag and fill them with a chop mix of the fruits and veggies that freeze well. Just make it really flat and get rid of most air before freezing, then you just smack it a bit and get some chunks out and either thaw them out over night or put them in microwave and wait for them to cool down if they get too hot. Check for hotspots too in the food if you microwave it.
My current mix has grapes, apple, carrot, broccoli and zucchini, I meant to add bell peppers too but I totally forgot, so occasionally I'll just add that fresh, I also chop some nuts up to stir into the thawed mix. Best way for me to get Kiwiberry to try new foods, if you're able to chop it up, chop it up fine and just mix it with veggies/fruit the bird likes and then increase the size of the food you want her to try.

Keep in mind, if you make a big batch of chop that you're gonna freeze, only add things you know your bird likes so it doesn't all go to waste!

 

[wildflower]

Thanks guys!! Super helpful! time to go shopping haha.

 

[Ann333]

you could make an nice chop mix,and freeze it in ice cube tubs,this way you have small portions.
But i sounds as a good diet!keep up.

This is what I do also. I mix chopped veggies with cooked bird food then freeze it into ice cube tray. 30 seconds in the microwave very morning for my single gcc breakfast.

 

[Kalidasa]

Another good way to get healthy stuff in him is sprouting. Easily done in a jar, super cheap and highly nutritious.

 

[Flboy]

Another good way to get healthy stuff in him is sprouting. Easily done in a jar, super cheap and highly nutritious.

Question:
I just picked up a large bag of Abba soak for this purpose. Good move?

 

[Ann333]

Not sure what that is hahaha

 

[Kalidasa]

Another good way to get healthy stuff in him is sprouting. Easily done in a jar, super cheap and highly nutritious.

Question:
I just picked up a large bag of Abba soak for this purpose. Good move?

I just looked that up. Never heard of it until now...is seems like that's geared for wild birds? Not sure exactly. Is it a pre-mixed bag? Like soak & sprout?

 

[Flboy]

Another good way to get healthy stuff in him is sprouting. Easily done in a jar, super cheap and highly nutritious.

Question:
I just picked up a large bag of Abba soak for this purpose. Good move?

I just looked that up. Never heard of it until now...is seems like that's geared for wild birds? Not sure exactly. Is it a pre-mixed bag? Like soak & sprout?

Yes, premixed, but not wild bird, looked good, and the ease of having a good mix for sprouting as apposed to buying an insane amount of sprouting seeds individually to get a good mix.

 

[Kalidasa]

Question:
I just picked up a large bag of Abba soak for this purpose. Good move?

I just looked that up. Never heard of it until now...is seems like that's geared for wild birds? Not sure exactly. Is it a pre-mixed bag? Like soak & sprout?

Yes, premixed, but not wild bird, looked good, and the ease of having a good mix for sprouting as apposed to buying an insane amount of sprouting seeds individually to get a good mix.

Excellent. Getting him off to a good start

 

[JellyBean]

I tried to freeze veg chop for JellyBean - when I make it first, he is all over the food processor; loves it. But I find when I freeze it, it looses the firmness of the veg, becomes soft and he wont eat it. Now I just hand chop a small amount of fruit and veg each morning! He absolutely adores a large floret of broccoli!!!

 

[SilverSage]

It depends on what you have time for. Your bird sounds like he is on a great diet if he is actually eating all that - it is very similar to what my birds eat except I dont feed pellets on a regular basis and feed more sprouts. Good for you! As for keeping it fresh, when I just had a few birds I would chop fresh daily, just grab several fruits and veggies and whole grain bread or pasta, chop it up, and feed. GCCs are itty bitty so it only took like a minute. Now that I have a larger flock I freeze ahead of time but I still try to sprout fresh as much as possible. My morning routine takes, well, all morning these days.