Hi Jorns,
If your bird is eating the frozen vegetables well, I say keep up what is working. Frozen vegetables are still highly nutritious, convenient, and they are economical. I sometimes use frozen vegetables, but my BHPi prefers them fresh or dried.
I agree that shopping at specialty stores for organic produce to make large batches of chop is time consuming, as well as expensive. I invariably end up with too much of some items. I tried making big batches of chop to freeze, but like you, I didn't like the mushy, wet thawed result. My bird didn't like it much either. My solution was to join a local CSA that delivers a box of seasonal, farm fresh, organic produce every week. The whole family eats what comes in the box, including my Pi, so we all benefit. CSA boxes are typically a bargain compared to grocery stores, and the produce is beautiful. Yes, we get a lot of roots and greens in the winter, but that is part of eating seasonally. Off season, I supplement the CSA box with organic mini peppers and sweet potatoes from the store, as they are favorites. I rough chop a little of everything we receive and put that in a plastic deli container. Your glass container is definitely better. I may switch to that. I give him a cup of rough chopped veggies in or on his cage every couple of days. Daily, I put a little of the rough chop veg into a
mini cordless food chopper. I love this particular chopper because it makes perfect little grains of food without pureeing anything. I mix the fine grained veggies with whatever whole grain concoction I have for him, usually quinoa, beans, and peas. I do freeze the cooked whole grain mix in small portions as I find it freezes very well. Most days I also add a dab of cooked sweet potato. I microwave a small sweet potato every 4-5 days for this. I mix the fine chopped veggies, grain mix, and sweet potato in a proportion of about 2:1:1. He eats this twice a day.
While I'm cooking during the week, I save a few large chunks of whatever I'm chopping to thread onto a birdie skewer the next day. I usually add a small bit of fruit to the skewer. I've found skewers to be the best way to get tons of veggies into a bird. Mine thinks it's a toy. It's fun to eat and fun to shred. There is a good but of waste, but the expense for what I use is nominal. I always include a big chunk of carrot or other hard vegetable because the wood-like texture is irresistible when hung up like a toy. He gets so excited when he sees me hang up the skewer. Definitely his favorite "toy". I also give him whole leaves of greens tossed onto or into his cage in a big pile or put into a
foraging cage. The whole greens seem to attract him more than chopped greens. He loves the stems but also eats some leaves. The veggies I get in the CSA box almost always have their greens attached, so I use carrot, radish, and turnip greens, along with whatever other greens they send.
I also feed dried and freeze dried organic vegetables and what-nots along with an assortment of pellet brands (TOPs, Oven Fresh Bites, Roudybush, etc). I leave dry stuff in his sleeping cage at night to munch when he wakes up. I transfer the leftovers to his main cage to finish as snacks during the day. I buy the dried veggies and things from a lot of different companies. I get dry veggies and other things from the following places. I usually have a couple of different brands on hand so I can offer variety:
- Christine's Chop Shop - I don't think the food is all organic but my bird really likes everything they make. I like to keep a bag of their dried "chop" mix of vegetables on hand all of the time. My bird likes the crunch of the air dried and it's great to add into grain mixes when cooking. Sometimes I even eat it myself as an add-in for a quick soup or ramen.
- Texas Natural Freeze Dried - I always buy the big beak assortments because the smaller cut things turn to dust so quickly. It's easy to break up anything too large. Along with lovely freeze dried vegetables, they make a sweet potato "cookie" thing that my bird gobbles up like I gave him a slice of pie. He didn't care much for the similar coconut one, but I imagine many birds would love that one too.
- Phoenix Foraging Rolls- They have a beautiful assorted dry mix they call "unpellet". It's billed as a substitute for pellets but I feed it as a supplement. I like to cover all of the bases.
- BirD-elicious - they have really top notch dried foods for birds, probably the nicest and most thoughtful I've seen. They make a mix that is supposed to be fed like pellets, as well as a lot of lovely dry veggie items. It's super pricy and they take a long time to ship, but the quality is the best out there. They also seem a little weird with their messaging to customers. If you've ever read the label on Dr. Bronner's soap, it's a bit like that. As with the soap, I just think of the messaging as amusing because the product is so great.
- China Prairie - I don't buy from them often. Their food quality is great, but it is way to heavy in seeds and grains for my big eater bird. They have some freeze dried mixes, but there are others that are just as nice and cheaper. Also, the item I like most from them is insanely expensive...the "flourish" blends. They come in itty bitty packages and cost a mint. They smell incredible though and my bird definitely enjoys them. When I do buy, I just feed a little pinch with other things. Just enough to get the great smell into the other items.
If anybody knows of similar companies to the above, I'd love to hear about them. I'd also love to hear about what others are doing.
My bird isn't picky at all, as long as he gets good variety. He is spoiled by the CSA produce so I can't get away with much frozen. He loves to eat, as do most pionus. Obesity can be a problem for them. Since he wants to munch all day, I try to make the food he's eating between meals of chop mostly low calorie vegetables. I reserve nuts for treats/training, and limit fruit and seeds. Occasionally I grow sprouts, but usually I just buy them freeze dried from one of the above companies. I always end up with way more than I can use when I sprout, and it's a lot of trouble.
