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How to serve chop to budgies?

rosemary

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My babies eat their veggies, when I hang it around their cage (THANKFULLY :), but refuse to eat chop or take one bite. I usually try to cube their veggies, but they are just not interested. Should I pulse it in a food processor? But their chop will release all its water and they would turn better relatively quick.

How do you guys serve your chop? Is my cubing method just too big for them?
 

clarousel

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Preeno never liked chop so I stopped making it. He seems to eat veggies (leaves, baby corn and other veg) when they're whole. Have you tried strips instead of cubes? Sometimes changing the texture makes it more interesting/enticing for them. :)

For chop, avoid watery vegetables and you could add grains to help absorb the liquid. What veggies did you use before?
 

rosemary

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Preeno never liked chop so I stopped making it. He seems to eat veggies (leaves, baby corn and other veg) when they're whole. Have you tried strips instead of cubes? Sometimes changing the texture makes it more interesting/enticing for them. :)

For chop, avoid watery vegetables and you could add grains to help absorb the liquid. What veggies did you use before?
I tried strips for cucumber, they usually love everything that is green, but not this one. I add anything that they wont eat/snack on when it is whole, so apples, peaches, carrots, fennel (although they started munching on it more and more lately).

I try it arrange it diffrently, so that it seems more interesting, but nooo :)
 

clarousel

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You can always keep trying! Sometimes they come round to certain veggies and eat it when you're not looking. Preeno is really picky and hates wet or mushy stuff. But I noticed if the veg is tiny enough (i mean tiny like a cauliflower crumb) he'd eat it.

It doesn't help that when I'm around, he's too distracted to take notice of the veg :rolleyes:He usually eats it when he is on his own unless it's his fav stuff he cannot resist!
 

Ripshod

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It can take quite a while for budgies to approach anything new, so consistency is key. Place a few veggies around their cage, same veg in the same place for a few weeks. Brocolli (raw) is my goto veg with new budgies.
Birds don't understand it's food until they 'discover' it, something we have to accept as most of our birds haven't been shown it's a safe food by their parents.
 

Tiel Feathers

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You can also serve freeze dried chop. If the pieces are small you can get it just a tad wet and it will stick to their seeds or pellets. Then when they eat the seeds they will get some veggies too.
 

finchly

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Yes - try running it in a food processor.
MIx it with a little seed or better yet some sprouted seeds.
Other ideas...
Try giving big chunks, like a kale leaf which your bird Might bathe one (if it’s wet) as well as nibble.

Try lightly cooking things such as carrots

Try giving a broccoli floret

Try shredding t he broccoli r e a l ly small into a dish
 

Destiny

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I think you will want to do smaller pieces. I put my chop through a food processor so the individual pieces are pretty tiny. The budgies don't seem to like the bigger chunks.

I also add some cooked grains to absorb excess moisture and avoid using too many wet veggies or fruits, so it stays relatively dry and crunchy/chewy. I like to make big batches and freeze daily portions to save time and reduce waste.

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I will offer new foods in special "treat bowls" to entice the birds to give them a nibble.

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Sometimes the treat bowls have known favorites, like broccoli or sprouted seeds or egg food. Other times, I put in something a little different, like freeze dried chop or dried herb mix or a new type of fruit or veggie. Since the birds expect good foods in the treat bowls, they will sometimes try the new stuff, just to see if it is any good. If they still aren't interested, I will mix the new food with a little seed mix to sweeten the deal. I keep trying occasionally, even with stuff they reject the first or second or third time.

Persistence is key. And the more new foods you introduce, the easier it gets. So keep trying!

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Mybluebird

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@Destiny I've read other people who make large batches of chop and then freeze it. Doesn't it come out as mush when you thaw it? My two guys love freeze dried! Yes, its more expensive but I'm essentially lazy so it works for all of us. They also get fresh grass and herbs, mostly that I grow so its convenient.
 

Destiny

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It can go mushy, especially if the chop has a high water content. But if you shake off excess water before chopping the veggies and avoid using too many "wet" foods, it is just fine. You don't want to drain off the liquid AFTER chopping, because it contains a lot of good stuff. Better to soak it up or avoid letting it get too wet from the start.

I also recently tried offering Bird Street Bistro Viva La Veggies and that was a big hit with my budgies. It is more grains than veggies, so not really a replacement for chop, but the ingredient quality is great and it smells yummy.

Next time I make some, I'll try to remember to take a few pictures. I think I might also add more dried veggies. Never enough veggies!
 
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Mybluebird

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Also, please list what you put in the chop! I think I'll give it a go. Most of the chop that people here make contain stuff I don't/can't eat like peppers. But, if freezing works I can make a big batch and not worry about so much waste. Thanks @Destiny! (BTW, haven't checked the thread about the fires - hope you see an improvement.)
 

Destiny

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For my most recent batch of chop, I used bell peppers, radishes, carrots, fresh herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme, basil), snow peas, red chard, sweet potato, bok choy, broccoli, red kale, yellow beets, zuuchini, and dry seaweed. The sweet potato was cooked in the microwave. All the other veggies were chopped up and added raw.

It turned out a bit wetter than I like, probably because I forgot to shake vigorously after rinsing the leafy greens. The bell peppers and zuccini were also pretty watery after processing. Everything else was fine. The peppers are mostly for all the pretty colors - red yellow, orange. If you don't like them, no harm in leaving it out.


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If you want to include a particular veggie, but you are afraid it will make the chop too wet. you can always make basic chop using drier ingredients only, then top-dress with additional freshly chopped veggies before serving it to the birds.

Your basic frozen chop can have a nice mix of veggies for everyday, with the bonus veggies helping to keep things interesting. And it lets you try out new foods without ruining the whole batch if your birds decide they hate it. :D
 
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LouieTiel

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Definitely try chop! My Budgies love it and don’t like eating their veggies in larger cube.
 
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fluffypoptarts

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@Destiny I've read other people who make large batches of chop and then freeze it. Doesn't it come out as mush when you thaw it? My two guys love freeze dried! Yes, its more expensive but I'm essentially lazy so it works for all of us. They also get fresh grass and herbs, mostly that I grow so its convenient.
When you thaw it out/heat it back up, you can sprinkle additional items on to absorb some of the water. Chia Seeds, flax seeds, hemp hearts, steel cut oats, etc. There’s a great chop thread around here somewhere...
 

Destiny

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I also add a blend of cooked grains to my chop mix. It adds addition nutrition and helps soak up excess moisture. For the latest batch of chop, I mixed together wild rice, brown teff, amaranth, tricolor quinoa, bulgar wheat, 5 grain cereal, and diced almonds. I also threw in some dehydrated veggies. Then I added water according to the directions for the grains and cooked the mix in a pot on the stove top for ten minutes. I let the cooked grains cool over night in the fridge before mixing with the finished chop.

If you want, you could add beans to your chop, but be sure to cook them first.

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I try to aim for mostly veggies in my chop, with grains and other stuff making up less than a quarter of the finished product.

When selecting veggies, I try to pick out at least one dark green leafy vegetable (kale, bok choy, swiss chard, collard greens, broccoli, dandelion greens, turnip/beet greens, mustard greens etc), one or two orange veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, pumpkin, etc), and how ever many other veggies as I feel like throwing in after that (brussel sprouts, peas, beet root, bell peppers, cauliflower, ginger, radishes, parsnips, green beans, etc)

The orange veggies are a good source of beta carotene. The green ones tend to be rich in a variety of good things. Avoid giving too much spinach or kale, since it can bind calcium. A little is fine.

I like colorful chop, so I try to get plenty of red, green, and yellow veggies. I rinse them, chop them, then run them through the food processor individually. When they are diced to my preferred size, I mix everything together in a large bowl, then portion the chop out into snack sized ziplock bags to go into the freezer. Once frozen, the little bags go into a big freezer bag and I put a date on it. I pull out a frozen bag the day before I plan on using it, so it can thaw in the fridge. Then I put the thawed chop in treat cups and offer it to my parakeets.
 

Destiny

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Thank you @Destiny - I'm the type of person that needs explicit directions.
My pleasure. I'm the type of person who takes pictures of her vegetables and treat bowls because they look so darn pretty. :roflmao:

I'm just happy to have an excuse to share the photos and info with people who share my passion for birdy nutrition.

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budgieluv3

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I chop it in the food processor, then serve it in a SS bowl with a bit of seed, i shake it around so the seed it stuck to the veggies and they have to eat both. My budgie loves couscous in hers, small enough for her to eat. :):budgie2:
 
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