Frozen veggies and fruit

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Missie
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:24 pm

Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Missie »

While trying to give my new baby a wide choice of fruit and veggies, which he is eating everything that I am offering at this moment, Pumpkin seeds, banana and peanuts seem to be his Favorite food so far “they are now off the menu and are used as training foods”.

To try and keep his diet as varied as I can, I have started to use the frozen veggies and fruit that I have in my freezer, like sweet corn, peas, broccoli, blue berry, mango ect.
Is this okay for him? Any thoughts on this and do others use frozen veggies and fruit?
Or should it only be fresh foods?

Missie
lethalfire
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:19 am

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by lethalfire »

Fresh is always preferred but frozen does come in handy at times when time is short or when certain things are not in season. It won't hurt them in anyway. For frozen fruit make sure it's natural and no sugar stuff added to it.

There are tons of recipes out there for "chop" that you make a BIG batch of and put in freezer bags and just pull out as needed. It has all kinds of veggies and grains and goodies for them, it might take them a little bit to eat it if they are not use to eating fresh foods (corn seems to be a golden kernal to get them to try it lol) but here at my household when I serve it I get what I call beak down and tail feathers up because they all love it.
Missie
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:24 pm

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Missie »

Thanks lethalfire,
I have been wasting a lot of food at this time, he will try some and then go onto the next thing i have in his cage. I read to only keep the veg and fruit in the cage for around 2 hours. As i am getting used to the amount he eats I can then adjust the amount i am giving him, but I don't mind to much at this stage, as he is only just off the baby formula he was on.
Great idea about making batches of food up for him and freezing them, will start to plan what I will make first :D

Missie
lethalfire
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2014 10:19 am

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by lethalfire »

You are quite welcome a lot of people will chop up the fresh food in a food processor for their chop so that the birds can't just pick out what they like but get all kinds of nutritious foods, a lot less waste that way also. Don't be afraid to sprinkle some millet or something on top of it to get them to try it either.

This is why I think it is soooo important for breeders to offer fresh foods/chop when weaning. I breed cockatiels, parakeets, and lovebirds and when they start picking at their bedding and stuff they start getting chop and fresh foods. It makes it a LOT easier for the new owner to continue to offer them fresh foods or even "share" the healthy food they are eating at the time.

If you do a search or google for chop for parrots/birds you will get all kinds of recipes and lists of safe foods that you can put into it.
Annie
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Apr 12, 2014 2:54 am
Location: Miami, Florida USA

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Annie »

Great ideas- my new adopted 7 month old was mostly eating a seed blend HEAVY with sunflower seeds- but he's taking all I offer in the fruit area, but not so much in the veggie area. I'll check out some recipes!!
Missie
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:24 pm

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Missie »

Thanks Molossus :P
I did read about the peanut shells carrying some bacteria that can be very harmful to my bird, but I did not read about the pumpkin seeds, so thanks for that. :P

With the peanuts, I just took out all the shell peanuts from his feed and only hand feed ones that I had bought with dried fruit in a sealed container.
This weekend I made my first spaghetti squash for my bird and baked the seeds for fresh pumpkin seeds, which he loves. Will start to do this more often, so I have a fresh supply of the seeds for him.

Question, if the peanuts and pumpkin seeds can carry this bacteria, and you take them out of the seeds to dry in the oven or microwave, is the bacteria not in the other seeds in the bag still :?:
Melika
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Location: Florida
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Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Melika »

Missie wrote:Thanks Molossus :P
I did read about the peanut shells carrying some bacteria that can be very harmful to my bird, but I did not read about the pumpkin seeds, so thanks for that. :P

With the peanuts, I just took out all the shell peanuts from his feed and only hand feed ones that I had bought with dried fruit in a sealed container.
This weekend I made my first spaghetti squash for my bird and baked the seeds for fresh pumpkin seeds, which he loves. Will start to do this more often, so I have a fresh supply of the seeds for him.

Question, if the peanuts and pumpkin seeds can carry this bacteria, and you take them out of the seeds to dry in the oven or microwave, is the bacteria not in the other seeds in the bag still :?:
Please read this entire topic for more information on peanuts (and other nuts). http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 13&t=11110
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I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
MissK
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Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by MissK »

Our go-to girl! This is exactly the kind of special interest I keep yapping about when I say we all have our own bit to contribute.
Melika, as always, you rock!
-MissK
Missie
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:24 pm

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Missie »

Thank you Melika, I had read that thread, but it took a second read to intake all the information :D
So if I understand this right, as long as I feed human grade peanuts to Clyde and give him a healthy diet enriched with vitamin A. I should at least be on the right path when it comes to feeding him peanuts.

Missie
Melika
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Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Melika »

Missie wrote:Thank you Melika, I had read that thread, but it took a second read to intake all the information :D
So if I understand this right, as long as I feed human grade peanuts to Clyde and give him a healthy diet enriched with vitamin A. I should at least be on the right path when it comes to feeding him peanuts.

Missie
Right. I live in FL and basically my bird is going to get a lot of exposure to Aspergillus spores via the outside and/or his cage if it gets damp and isn't changed quickly. If pet parrots aren't keeling over left and right in outdoor aviaries here from aspergillosis, why are we freaking out so much over a peanut?
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I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
Missie
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:24 pm

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Missie »

Because we love our babies and some times too much information is bad for us!!
With too much reading we see lots of things that don't exist, well that's how I see it!!

Example: omg!! He's standing on one foot and always his right is he sick ?

I have been feeling his chest bone to make sure he is not under weight each night!!

Omg !! I think I have lost it lmao is it me or others thinking the same?


Missie
MissK
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Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:46 pm
Location: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by MissK »

Well, there's a learning curve, too. Individuals will have their own thing, maybe you didn't know parrots might do that, or maybe it means something good and you just didn't know. Think how many people must have flipped when they heard their bird grinding his beak in the evening for the first time.
-MissK
Melika
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Re: Frozen veggies and fruit

Post by Melika »

Sometimes it's also sensationalism spreading over from the human-health fads. We also have animal-health fads. There was widespread panic a few years ago about aspergillus in nuts, because it relates to aflatoxins which are a carcinogen. The alarmists suggested that it only occurred in bulk nuts (which we here know to be false) and health food stores all over the place had a hard time selling bulk nuts for a while.

Then there's things like BPAs. But it has been shown that BPA-free plastics may have even more estrogenic activity because it isn't the BPA that's the problem, but rather the estrogenic chemicals, of which BPA is only one.

Then there are some human studies, and rat studies, on cedar that clearly (sarcasm) show cedar will kill all animals. Those same studies also show that pine shavings contain the very same chemicals, in the same amounts, that cedar is accused of killing animals with- yet every sensationalised article suggests using pine shavings instead of cedar. After all, cedar will kill your pet don't you know? The change in liver enzyme in the rat studies is only considered bad because it changes how medications might be metabolised- which is a big no-no for lab studies/lab rats. The human studies, if examined, are related to occupational hazards like breathing in sawDUST all day every day and getting cancer. It's like black lung for coal miners- dust lung for lumber workers.

Cholesterol will kill you. Of course, the study used to support that isn't used in it's entirety. If you read the study, it actually says that 50% of people who had heart attacks had high cholesterol. Yes, that means a whopping HALF of the people who had heart attacks did not have high cholesterol. Not to mention that dietary cholesterol has been proven to have no effect on blood cholesterol levels because it's your liver that makes cholesterol- it doesn't just filter out of your stomach into your blood. Cholesterol is a major part of EVERY cell wall in your body, which is why the liver will make it for you. But hey, it'll kill you right?

Soapbox: We as humans bemoan our frail health and always want to blame something- something easy. A chemical added to our foods, etc. We don't want to take responsibility for what we put into our bodies, so we'll find something to blame. I'm not saying there aren't any issues with the chemicals/horomones/etc. that enters our foodstream- not saying that at all! But we look for something specific to blame then it all gets blown out of proportion. We will take ONE study, ONE part of the study and ignore the rest and blog about it, then share on Facebook and before you know it we have anothing thing to worry about in our diet/environment. We're basically a bunch of suckers.

When I first started learning about birds, I was taken in by some of these things. Then I began doing research. I really hate being lied to. :roll:
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I've been called 'birdbrained' before, but somehow I don't think this is what they meant. say:hah-nay
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