• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Keeping food fresh?

Shriek

Sitting on the front steps
Joined
2/1/17
Messages
15
Real Name
Kevin
I am a soon to be parent of a sun conure. I have never owned a bird before and I tend to make decisions and then second guess myself. I bought some Roudybush daily maintenance pellets and transferred the entire bag into one of those air tight glass jars that have the clamp locks on them. I was planning on placing the jar into my deep freezer and getting food from it as needed to keep it fresh for as long as possible. Roudybush says their food stays fresh for 6 months in the freezer. I don't know how fast a conure will go through this food, I doubt it will need to last 6 months but I want to make certain that doing this won't create any unforeseen hazards to my bird. Does this all sound ok?
 

Mizzely

Lil Monsters Bird Toys
Super Moderator
Vendor
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
8/9/11
Messages
39,964
Location
Northern Mitten Michigan
Real Name
Shawna [she/her]
I always repackage my food and freeze in 1 lb increments. I'd say with 1 sun conure you'll likely be going through 1 - 1.5 lbs a month of pellets, assuming that you feed at least 50% of his diet as pellets
 

AviaryByTheSea

Walking the driveway
Avenue Veteran
Joined
1/31/17
Messages
213
Location
New Jersey, USA
Real Name
Michael
I buy 200lb of pellets and 50 to 100lbs of nuts in-shell at a time and 20 to 100lbs of dry in-shell macadamia nuts at a time... I vacuum seal them and freeze in 5-10lb quantities or so... I take them out and use as needed. I have never had an issue with anything going bad. I buy 50lb bags of peanuts from time to time and bake them for 20-30 minutes or so at 375-425 to kill any mold immediately prior to use. I don't freeze the p-nuts. The other thing I do is buy fruit - bananas, apples, pears, kiwi, cocnuts, veggies etc in bulk... my birds get fresh fruit and veggies in the morning when they get put outside ( I feed them this outside to keep their cages cleaner) When the fruit and veggies start to age I dehydrate them and mix them in with the nuts. They only get the nuts and mxi when I put them in their cages at night... this their reward for going back into their cage. Peanuts are used as reinforcers during training sessions. I usually shell them and give them small pieces. Sometimes I just buy shelled.... I also make my own "asian medally golden feast" from store bought products.

Given the opportunity, if I could have people who keep parrot as pets change one thing about the way that they interact with their bird, It would be how they feed and think about feeding their animals. Unfortunately, this is the most difficult concept to teach a person to accept. People have preconceived ideas about how parrots must be fed, and many feel that they should have food available in the cage twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They then wonder why their bird does not value the treat that they are using for training. I am guilty of making food too readily available at times too (but never while free flying)... and when I am guilty, the only food available to my birds at will are pellets. Every other food source is utilized as a treat and reinforcer.

Blah... I diverge. Sorry..... that's a whole nother topic I could talk about for hours.
 
Last edited:

Shriek

Sitting on the front steps
Joined
2/1/17
Messages
15
Real Name
Kevin
Thank you both. For easing my mind and giving me a few pointers.
 
Top