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How often should egg food be given?

Tiel lover

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I want to make egg food for my flock, how often should i give it to them? Should i give it to my cockatiel too? Also are breadcrumbs fine for egg food, and if they are, what is the ratio of egg:breadcrumb and how long can i refrigerate them for?
 

expressmailtome

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Are your cockatiels laying eggs or breeding? If so, your females will need the extra calcium.
 

expressmailtome

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If they eat pellets it is not necessary.
 

Destiny

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For non-breeding birds, you can offer a small amount of eggfood once or twice a week as a supplement to the bird's regular diet. It is a good source of protein, which is especially helpful if your bird is molting or under stress. And soft food is a useful option when giving powdered or liquid medications to birds, so I think it is a great food to introduce to all birds.

Just avoid overfeeding, since it is quite rich.

Offering too much rich foods can encourage nesting and hormonal behavior (abundant resources trigger breeding in the wild) and contribute to weight gain.


Here are a couple of recipes:



I use a commercial eggfood product, so I don't have experience mixing my own. However, I see no reason why you couldn't use bread crumbs. Like making chop, eggfood is very flexible. It is simply hardboiled egg and a binder, like biscuit, breadcrumbs or cooked grains. I would try a 1:1 ratio. If it is too wet, add more crumbs. If it is too dry, add a bit of water. You can add other ingredients, like seeds or chopped veggies too. You want the final mixture to have a crumbly damp consistency so it holds together, not too watery or sticky.
 
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BirdWorld

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I give my budgies egg food about once every 1-2 weeks.
Also are breadcrumbs fine for egg food, and if they are, what is the ratio of egg:breadcrumb and how long can i refrigerate them for?
I don't put breadcrumbs in my egg food, it is unnecessary. I put seeds and pellets instead. I also don't refrigerate it, I only make a little at a time since they don't eat much anyway. Also, I only give egg food for 1-2 hours in the morning before replacing it with plain pellets, or it will go bad.
 

finchly

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Breadcrumbs plus boiled egg creates a complete protein. It’s excellent. 2 eggs + 1can plain bread crumbs. Mash with a fork into crumbles.

I don’t know what your other birds are besides a tiel, but I give all mine egg food— finches, canaries, parrotlets, tiels, and evening the parrots get a bite.
 

finchly

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Btw this morning my birds got hard boiled eggs and the shells (ground up on the side). I mixed their green food supplement with it. You could also sprinkle it with vitamins or probiotics.

The little ones loved it. The parrots turned up their beaks.
 

finchly

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I thought one only needed to worry about complete proteins when putting together a vegetarian diet. My understanding is that all animal proteins are complete proteins.
Then don't add bread crumbs to yours.

I probably should have said complete food, or improved food, or something. I blame my ongoing COVID + a pulled back muscle.

By mixing the 2, you give the egg a "carrier" (the bread crumbs) that helps smaller birds eat the food. Often when you feed plain boiled egg, they leave a lot. In addition, by adding a can of plain inexpensive bread crumbs, you add minerals like iodine, calcium, phosphorus iron, magnesium, ... some others.

*smaller birds are cockatiels and down.

**hopefully this is somewhat intelligible.
 

Tiel Feathers

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Then don't add bread crumbs to yours.

I probably should have said complete food, or improved food, or something. I blame my ongoing COVID + a pulled back muscle.

By mixing the 2, you give the egg a "carrier" (the bread crumbs) that helps smaller birds eat the food. Often when you feed plain boiled egg, they leave a lot. In addition, by adding a can of plain inexpensive bread crumbs, you add minerals like iodine, calcium, phosphorus iron, magnesium, ... some others.

*smaller birds are cockatiels and down.

**hopefully this is somewhat intelligible.
I’m sorry to year you are sick, and I hope you make a full recovery soon!
:hug8:
 
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