Nocturnal
New member
- May 15, 2013
- 207
- 0
- Parrots
- ||Mika, 23 yo senegal parrot||Cayenne, 5 yo sun conure||Katana, 6 yo cockatiel||Monk, 4 yo peachfaced lovie||Onyx, 8 yo BH caique||Pluto & Neptune, 4 yo budgies||Tauntaun, 17 yo U2||
Well, I got down to 4 cups of my previous chop mix and have been preparing for 1/2 a week to make this one. Scouting out produce, soaking beans and grains, and finally I decided to do it after coming home from work this morning.
I started by setting all my sprouts (mung, lentil and wheatberries) in a soak of water and apple cider vinegar and grapeseed oil extract. While that was soaking, I used the food processer to chop up my kale.
To the kale I also added basil, mint, oregano, nasturtium leaves, rose petals, marigold petals and lavendar flowers from my garden. I basically went outside and started snatching pretty much any greenery I knew to be bird safe.
So pretty!
After that, I remembered I had parsley in the fridge as well, and I processed that with 2 cups of cranberries I had been keeping frozen.
Then I rinsed and drained the sprouts
I failed to get photos of most of the next part, but I have to say, peeling acorn squash is a PAIN
I shredded and processed the acorn squash, along with most of a 2 lb papaya, a mango, a few handfuls of carrots and broccoli as well.
I got out my frozen peas, corns and green beans (all salt free!! check the ingredients, even frozen veggies often come with extra ingredients) and processed those too, taking extra care to squeeze out extra moisture by pressing them into the colander.
While I was doing all that, I had poured boiling water over my red quinoa and let it soak.
Red quinoa.
When it was done soaking, I drained as much water as I could off of it, rinsed it a bit and then cooked off the exess water.
Also, I cooked my 13 bean mix and then processed it.
As the beans were draining, I decided I wanted a little more greenery. Most of the dandelions aren't really available or tender right now, so I went to the back and got a handful of fresh, young raspberry leaves, I also grabbed another handful of lavender flowers and 2-3 large new dogwood leaves, just to get a little bit of variety. Also at the end, I remembered the jalapenos I had and processed those.
raspberry leaves, dogwood leaves and lavender flowers
here it is all mixed up!
In the end I filled 19 sandwich baggies with 2cups food each and placed them into larger (gallon) freezer bags to be stored in the freezer.
By the time I got to this point, I realized I had totally forgotten about the single zucchini I had meant to put in the mix. Oh well, I don't think it really needs it and I wasn't about to break my back unpackaging that all and trying to mix it in!
I hope this was informative for anyone thinking about doing a chop mix for their birds. Here's a quick overview of what got put into the mix (if I can remember it all correctly, sorry no measurements really)
one bunch of kale
handful mint leaves
handful oregano leaves
handful of raspberry leaves
2-3 large dogwood leaves,
3 handfuls parsley
a few cups of cranberries
papaya
carrots
broccoli
acorn squash
mango
jalapenos
seseme seeds
rose petals
nasturtium leaves (hadn't flowered yet)
french marigold petals (too bad my borage isn't in bloom yet or that would be included in all this as well!)
frozen corn
frozen peas
frozen green beans
sprouted mung beans
sprouted lentils
sprouted wheatberries
soaked, rinsed, starting to sprout and cooked 13 bean mix
red quinoa
I was very heavy on the greenery with this batch and am very satisfied with it's appearance. The photos don't really do it justice but it is super colorful (especially with the flowers in it!). The cockatoo loves it of course, and I know the rest will.
I started by setting all my sprouts (mung, lentil and wheatberries) in a soak of water and apple cider vinegar and grapeseed oil extract. While that was soaking, I used the food processer to chop up my kale.
To the kale I also added basil, mint, oregano, nasturtium leaves, rose petals, marigold petals and lavendar flowers from my garden. I basically went outside and started snatching pretty much any greenery I knew to be bird safe.
So pretty!
After that, I remembered I had parsley in the fridge as well, and I processed that with 2 cups of cranberries I had been keeping frozen.
Then I rinsed and drained the sprouts
I failed to get photos of most of the next part, but I have to say, peeling acorn squash is a PAIN
I shredded and processed the acorn squash, along with most of a 2 lb papaya, a mango, a few handfuls of carrots and broccoli as well.
I got out my frozen peas, corns and green beans (all salt free!! check the ingredients, even frozen veggies often come with extra ingredients) and processed those too, taking extra care to squeeze out extra moisture by pressing them into the colander.
While I was doing all that, I had poured boiling water over my red quinoa and let it soak.
Red quinoa.
When it was done soaking, I drained as much water as I could off of it, rinsed it a bit and then cooked off the exess water.
Also, I cooked my 13 bean mix and then processed it.
As the beans were draining, I decided I wanted a little more greenery. Most of the dandelions aren't really available or tender right now, so I went to the back and got a handful of fresh, young raspberry leaves, I also grabbed another handful of lavender flowers and 2-3 large new dogwood leaves, just to get a little bit of variety. Also at the end, I remembered the jalapenos I had and processed those.
raspberry leaves, dogwood leaves and lavender flowers
here it is all mixed up!
In the end I filled 19 sandwich baggies with 2cups food each and placed them into larger (gallon) freezer bags to be stored in the freezer.
By the time I got to this point, I realized I had totally forgotten about the single zucchini I had meant to put in the mix. Oh well, I don't think it really needs it and I wasn't about to break my back unpackaging that all and trying to mix it in!
I hope this was informative for anyone thinking about doing a chop mix for their birds. Here's a quick overview of what got put into the mix (if I can remember it all correctly, sorry no measurements really)
one bunch of kale
handful mint leaves
handful oregano leaves
handful of raspberry leaves
2-3 large dogwood leaves,
3 handfuls parsley
a few cups of cranberries
papaya
carrots
broccoli
acorn squash
mango
jalapenos
seseme seeds
rose petals
nasturtium leaves (hadn't flowered yet)
french marigold petals (too bad my borage isn't in bloom yet or that would be included in all this as well!)
frozen corn
frozen peas
frozen green beans
sprouted mung beans
sprouted lentils
sprouted wheatberries
soaked, rinsed, starting to sprout and cooked 13 bean mix
red quinoa
I was very heavy on the greenery with this batch and am very satisfied with it's appearance. The photos don't really do it justice but it is super colorful (especially with the flowers in it!). The cockatoo loves it of course, and I know the rest will.
