How To Sprout - Step By Step Guide

I find they take a good week...they start to show the little root....then that grows and is a good while before the sprout shows up. I find the white root tends to brown a little during that time, but they aren’t moulded or smelly, so I just break the root bit off and feed the sprout and bean together ....goodness knows if that’s right or not, but have been known to be consumed...unless there’s something more tasty around...he’s currently wearing a raspberry beard!
 
Wow those aduki beans are looking great @TomsMum !! Where do you get your beans from? Mine were from buywholefoodsonline. Yours look better though. :) Just started another tiny batch. Will leave them for longer and see if they get stems like yours.
 
At last I found some pumpkin seeds that sprout! Only did 4 as a tester and got 100% success! They are organic Austrian pumpkin seeds from Infinity Foods - got them from my local health shop.

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More sprouting woes @Roz :emoji_slight_smile: Quinoa does it sprout? Mine started to smell a bit rank so dumped it after quite a few days of rinsing.Maybe stick to cooking it wdyt?

The Adzuki beans have sprouted (new batch) and I have shoots! They are not very green though, quite pale, are they still OK for Plum?
 
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Quinoa should sprout @plumsmum . It sprouts very fast... after soaking it for maybe only 5 hours it usually has started to sprout. The organic quinoa I got from buywholefoodsonline.co.uk sprouts well. You can certainly cook it too if the quinoa you have isn't sprouting - it's a good source of complete protein, cooked or sprouted.

Yay for the Adzuki beans!!! I just sprout them so the white roots are showing. I find I can't get them to shoot too like TomsMum. If yours have white shoots it just means they haven't seen much light. More light will turn them green. :D Both are safe to eat. Some people believe in keeping sprouts in the dark so they remain white, others don't mind them turning green on a window sill.
 
Thanks @Roz. Yes pleased to have some results with the Adzuki beans at last. Successes are Mung beans, lentils and Adzuki if they can be bothered LOL. Giving brown rice a try, see how that goes.

It seems that I am having success with only the legumes, does this matter in terms of a healthy diet for Plum? He also gets some TOPs, and a fully locked and loaded chop everyday with some egg or a little cooked Higgins World Cuisine now and again.
 
Ooooh good luck with the whole rice. I know that definitely sprouts too... but have to admit the smaller grains aren't so popular with these guys. I still persevere though!! It took some years before Kobe realised how delicious wheat, spelt and kamut sprouts are! Apparently they are sweet. I tried a buckwheat sprout today... they are delicious!!! Nutty.

All I'd be worried about @plumsmum is an excess of protein. I asked that question to my avian vet once in Kobe's early days when he would just eat the legume sprouts. That's what he said to me - be careful of feeding too much protein. Legumes + pellets adds up to be a lot of protein which can cause problems such as gout. But it sounds like he's eating lots of other good things like the chop, etc. Just be aware of protein content. How about adding sprouted grains to your chop?
 
Thanks @Roz I am not unduly worried re the pellets/protein intake as he only gets 2/3g per day and not all of that is eaten, just reduced to dust.
Grains, I have added to one batch of chop cooked wheatberries and the other batch has Quinoa in. Plum is on a diet of sorts and I weigh his portions so he only get a little of everything. WDYT?
 
Sounds like sprouts are not Plum's main source of food as they were/are Kobe's. Just thought I should point out about the protein, but it doesn't look like he's getting a huge amount at all. :)
 
Thank you @Roz for protein info, I will definitely keep it in mind. I did not realise a high sprouts diet could turn around to be detrimental.
 
It's not really a high sprouts diet that is the problem but the accumulation of a lot of protein from different sources eg, if you were feeding cooked beans, sprouted legumes and pellets. :thumbsup: A lot of protein is hard on the kidneys.
 
Thanks @Roz there are the odd days when Plum may get some of all of those listed! Will ensure not to do this in future. I think this has slipped with me because he has been such a little booger to convert and I have had one eye on fat, another on vitamins, another on variation to interest him - yes I have three eyes LOL. Do you have a max number of 'proteins' fed per meal or day?
 
Haha Ms Triclops!! No - I don't have any info on max number of proteins. I just learned to be careful of too many proteins over the years. Know what you mean about getting so caught up in certain aspects of diet that you can overlook others - I do that myself. Are you a member of Jason Crean's FB group... Avian Raw Whole Food Nutrition? Great info on there and Jason could maybe advise on protein? They were talking about sprouting recently too.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AVIANRAW/992349954160293/
 
Did you see in Jan's Parrot's Mag that Leslie Moran said quinoa contains a lot of iron so best fed sparingly @plumsmum ? I didn't know that - I may cut it out of my mix - the birds don't tend to eat the smaller grains anyway here.
 
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