CoCoNymph
Registered
First of all, I want to apologise if you get a lot of this question. With the amount of information online and from 'experts', it's quite anxiety-spiking and dizzying to try and find the best options, especially if the threads are more American-focused!
I have two hen cockatiels, and I am working on increasing their vegetable and fresh food intake. They are on Tidymix parakeet, manufacturer-recommended amount, and Harrison's pellets (which one of them LOVE and they do eat once the seeds are exhausted). Once a month on payday, they get cooked grains such as brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat organic fusilli or cous-cous as a treat, as recommended by my avian vet as they are a bit overweight.
In terms of sprouts, I use Tidymix' soaking spout mixture. I rinse them, soak them in warm water for 12 hours or a little more, rinse off then serve. They LOVE them, one bird specifically just gorges herself on it!
The latter is where I am thinking. I did try true sprouting before with a Biosnacky jar, but I was concerned about the smell of the spouts after a day. I must admit, that's probably paranoia on my part, but I just couldn't get myself to leave them damn well enough alone to properly germinate. Another three tier sprouter I tried had the problem of the rice sticking in the grooves meant to drain them, and the ventilation seemed really poor. What are your tips for what I should do better here? I checked out the sprouting megathread here, but the images don't seem to work for me.
With veg, it's hit or miss. I have used carrots, spinach, watercress, wild rocket, basil and tried bok choy once. My issue is I tend to use them for two days, then become paranoid the vegetables are rotting or 'don't look right' and toss them. I've seen a lot of posts across the web about chopping them up then freezing them into portions; I'm concerned about it as i tend to blend quite small (they seem to want to eat it more if processed into a fine chop) as this looks like it would just become mush if frozen then defrosted?
Some advice (even a 'don't be so paranoid') would be greatly appreciated! Edaphically a list of safe veg for cockatiels, a sa lot of online lists just say 'leafy greens' without a list to check
EDIT: I think they would like cooked veg, so a steamer is deffo on the planned purchase list once I find one that isn't too large
I have two hen cockatiels, and I am working on increasing their vegetable and fresh food intake. They are on Tidymix parakeet, manufacturer-recommended amount, and Harrison's pellets (which one of them LOVE and they do eat once the seeds are exhausted). Once a month on payday, they get cooked grains such as brown rice, quinoa, wholewheat organic fusilli or cous-cous as a treat, as recommended by my avian vet as they are a bit overweight.
In terms of sprouts, I use Tidymix' soaking spout mixture. I rinse them, soak them in warm water for 12 hours or a little more, rinse off then serve. They LOVE them, one bird specifically just gorges herself on it!
The latter is where I am thinking. I did try true sprouting before with a Biosnacky jar, but I was concerned about the smell of the spouts after a day. I must admit, that's probably paranoia on my part, but I just couldn't get myself to leave them damn well enough alone to properly germinate. Another three tier sprouter I tried had the problem of the rice sticking in the grooves meant to drain them, and the ventilation seemed really poor. What are your tips for what I should do better here? I checked out the sprouting megathread here, but the images don't seem to work for me.
With veg, it's hit or miss. I have used carrots, spinach, watercress, wild rocket, basil and tried bok choy once. My issue is I tend to use them for two days, then become paranoid the vegetables are rotting or 'don't look right' and toss them. I've seen a lot of posts across the web about chopping them up then freezing them into portions; I'm concerned about it as i tend to blend quite small (they seem to want to eat it more if processed into a fine chop) as this looks like it would just become mush if frozen then defrosted?
Some advice (even a 'don't be so paranoid') would be greatly appreciated! Edaphically a list of safe veg for cockatiels, a sa lot of online lists just say 'leafy greens' without a list to check
EDIT: I think they would like cooked veg, so a steamer is deffo on the planned purchase list once I find one that isn't too large
