Pictures Lazy Dinner

[aooratrix]

Sweet potato & banana mashed together, frozen veggies, fresh sprouts (they got away from me a bit), a sapphire grape, red pepper flakes, and cinnamon.

 

[expressmailtome]

The fact that you still find new healthy foods to add to their chop never ceases to amaze me.

 

[aooratrix]

I try!

 

[Clueless]

I feel guilty ....

I'm running out of your chop here and trying to make it stretch.

 

[Shezbug]

Looks yum. Can I ask how many times a day you offer veg and grains to your birds?
I was originally just offering fresh chop in the morning for breakfast and a few bits and pieces from my night time meal which Burt likes to share with me but I have noticed that he prefers vegetables to pellets. He still has pellets but eats a lot more of everything if I give him a few meals of veg during the day. Lately I have been giving him breakfast chop and also offering him veg and grains differently to breakfast through the day.... soup, porridge, omelette with veg, whole fresh veg, mashed veg, pureed veg. I am now getting a little worried I may be letting him have too many vegetables as he is filling up mostly on the veg and topping up with the pellets. At night he does happily eat a big serve of powdered pellets mixed with hot water which he prefers over the actual pellets.

 

[aooratrix]

Looks yum. Can I ask how many times a day you offer veg and grains to your birds?
I was originally just offering fresh chop in the morning for breakfast and a few bits and pieces from my night time meal which Burt likes to share with me but I have noticed that he prefers vegetables to pellets. He still has pellets but eats a lot more of everything if I give him a few meals of veg during the day. Lately I have been giving him breakfast chop and also offering him veg and grains differently to breakfast through the day.... soup, porridge, omelette with veg, whole fresh veg, mashed veg, pureed veg. I am now getting a little worried I may be letting him have too many vegetables as he is filling up mostly on the veg and topping up with the pellets. At night he does happily eat a big serve of powdered pellets mixed with hot water which he prefers over the actual pellets.

Once. I offer a dry mix (Caitec OFBs, nuts, plus flaked coconut twice a week) to the macaw's for breakfast. For lunch, they get a different pellet (Harrison's pepper or Higgins InTune, plus Mom spoils them with a nut or something); around 6 PM, they get chop or something fresh (sprouts, birdie bread, seasonal veggies, etc.).

 

[aooratrix]

Looks yum. Can I ask how many times a day you offer veg and grains to your birds?
I was originally just offering fresh chop in the morning for breakfast and a few bits and pieces from my night time meal which Burt likes to share with me but I have noticed that he prefers vegetables to pellets. He still has pellets but eats a lot more of everything if I give him a few meals of veg during the day. Lately I have been giving him breakfast chop and also offering him veg and grains differently to breakfast through the day.... soup, porridge, omelette with veg, whole fresh veg, mashed veg, pureed veg. I am now getting a little worried I may be letting him have too many vegetables as he is filling up mostly on the veg and topping up with the pellets. At night he does happily eat a big serve of powdered pellets mixed with hot water which he prefers over the actual pellets.

I think you're diet is fine, as long as the bird is ingesting dark, leafy greens and vegetables with plenty of nutritional value, so not iceberg lettuce, for example. A lot of people would love to have your "problem." I have changed my basic chop template: I only use one grain as a base now. My birds simply don't exercise enough to justify that many carbs. They are very active; don't get me wrong. However, it doesn't equal what they'd be doing in the wild. Does your macaw get nuts?

 

[Shezbug]

Yes I do offer lots of variety of veg (20 plus veg in daily chop), he has only tried cucumber and lettuce a few times as there is not a lot in it for him. I sometimes add grains to his chop and sometimes he just has them on the side. I make his bird bread/muffins at home and put as many goodies in them as I can. He loves lots of veg and I offer them to him in every way I can think of, he has a little piece of fruit (mostly he only takes the juice from the fruit) and a few nuts every day and a little bit of chicken and egg each week too. I put some of his nuts in foraging toys and he also gets a few pine nuts and a few bits of macadamia and slivered almond for training treats. He has pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts all in the shell and has a couple each day. I have not been able to source palm nuts here yet so he has not tried those. He is a good eater and will try anything I have offered (so far) at least a few times before he seems to decide if he likes it or not, if he is a little wary of trying something all I have to do is eat it myself in front of him then offer from the bit I am eating and he will take it and try it. I do not think it is really a problem as such but I did start to worry that maybe he was having a little too much veg, I was going to call the vet to ask if I was maybe over doing it but I seem to remember her saying more veg is ok as long as there is a massive variety to cover all nutrient requirements.
Thank you for answering me about this, I always feel better when I know I am not doing it all wrong..... I am always concerned about messing up