Edible Flowers
Edible flowers for you and your parrots
The Importance of Quarantine
What is Quarantine?
Quarantine is the practice of keeping any new flock members in a separate cage, in a separate room preferably with different airspace from any existing flock members for a minimum of 30 days, but preferably 45 to 60.
How to Quarantine:
It is difficult to do a true quarantine in most homes, but usually keep any new birds at the opposite end of the house or floor, from the rest of the flock. It is advised to always wash hands between handling any of the quarantine birds to protect the health and safety of your flock.
Why Quarantine?
If your new flock member comes to you ill, you could lose the entire rest of your flock because many diseases are airborne and highly contagious. THEREFORE, keeping them in the same room in a separate cage is not enough.
Many people think that if the bird looks healthy, it must be healthy-- this is completely untrue. If birds were so easy to diagnose as healthy or not, vet trips would be far less expensive and we wouldn't need border control or national regulations on avian quarantines. Birds are excellent at hiding their diseases, and often a disease will become very serious before the bird shows any outward symptoms.
It is also so difficult to tell with a new bird what is normal or not since you have not established a pattern of behavior. In addition, many avian diseases have extremely long incubation periods or latency periods and may not surface for a few weeks, why we recommend a long quarantine.
The stress of moving to a new home, new cage, new environment, is often enough to make previously dormant diseases that are activated by stress flare up. Even if you get your bird from a very responsible breeder with a 100% clean record, quarantine is still considered essential. But especially if you get your bird from a pet shop, where he or she will have been exposed to an entire gang of diseases and other birds.
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Author Monika Sangar
www.pdsparrotshop.com
www.pdsnonprofit.org
PDS is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax id #46-2470926)
Confetti Biscuit Recipe [ Parrot healthy snack or meal ]
I'm writing this part that everyone will skip but I need to write it for google. Parrot handmade food is a great way to add nutrition to your parrots' diet in fun and creative ways. In this recipe, you will use colorful veggies to add to your flour mix giving the appearance of confetti, now how fun is that. Handmade parrot food is the only way to ensure your parrots get the best food. A lot of baked items contain sugars or salts, which will create problems. I try to keep my parrot recipes easy, with few items, or even easily adaptable. And of course one bowl recipes. No need to bring the whole kitchen into this.
Ingredients:
1 cooked sweet potato, mashed
1 1/2 cup flour: ( use anyone kind, I always do a mix: 1/2 quinoa, 1/2 coconut, 1/2 rye) or any other flour I have on hand. A mix always makes the dough come together better than just one type of flour.)
2 to 3 cups of Veggies: Carrots, Red Cabbage, Beet tops, Swiss Chard, and Butternut Squash add to a food processor and chop into small pieces.
1/4 cup of apple sauce
1/2 tsp: Cinnamon
1/2 tsp: Red Chill Flakes
Direction:
Oven Temperature: 350
Cookie sheet greased with coconut oil or olive oil (just need a little to prevent sticking)
Mix all the ingredients together. It should form a tough dough. Then use a scoop to get an even amount of dough and make it into a flat disk. Place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Serve with additional veggies or fruits to make it into a full meal.
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Author Monika Sangar
www.pdsparrotshop.com
www.pdsnonprofit.org
PDS is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax id #46-2470926)
Parrot diet [ balance is key]
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The number one question we get is about parrot food. We know there’s too much opposing information about everything online and sometimes it's too hard to know what is the truth. So hopefully our experience can help with simplifying bird food.
First of all: avoid avocado, tomato, salty food, junk food, chocolate.
Next: All we can do is give you our opinion, reasons for why we do what we do. At the end of the day, it’s your decision.
We provide everything to our birds because we believe everything in moderation balances the diet. We provide:
Fruits, veggies, and greens
Grains
Seed mix
Nuts
Pellets (more on this below)
What we have learned:
1) Just seed diet is bad ( this means people who ONLY give seeds, nothing else) I do use seeds. Not every day, and not only seed diet.
2) Colored pellet have artificial colors which are linked to behavior and health issue.
3) non-color pellet in moderation
**Read the ingredients carefully (not all pellets are great)
**Read the instructions carefully
4) Fresh fruits, veggies, and greens every day... make chop, steam veggies, make a fruit salad. There are many ways to include them. Add sprouts and nuts to them to make it into a complete nutrition meal.
5) Avoid dry fruit... it’s just sugar, it’s bad for humans and pets. Just eat fresh fruits.
This works most days for us.
Might not work for you, which is fine. Some birds are so picky they will not eat fresh food so few use birdie bread as a way to included veggies into their bird diet.
Medical issues need to be considered before changing the diet. If your bird is on a specific diet because of medical needs, that must be followed.
DIY seed balls [ healthy homemade treats]
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DIY Seed Ball |
We all know what nutriberries are: round balls of seeds, pellets, or veggies that birds go crazy for. In the simplest form, my version of Seed Ball is made by first creating a sticky base and then adding your seeds, veggies, and nuts to form any shape you wish.
For the sticky base, you can use any dry fruit and add additional ingredients to your parrot's liking. I added half of the mashed sweet potato, for added nutrients, like vitamin A. Nut butter or a mashed banana are a few ideas to add to your sticky base.
Next to the base, you add flax seeds. Flax meal will work better because it will create a binding effect when water is added. If you don't wish to use Flax or Flax meal, one egg white can be added.
The most important step: using a blender make the smoothest paste with your dry fruit mixture by adding small amounts of water. Transfer the bowl and add your seeds, nuts, greens, veggies, and fruits to the dry fruit mixture. The mixture should hold its shape so as not to be too sticky.
If it is too sticky, add more of your seed/nut mix. If the mixture became too dry and won't stick together, you need more base. The beauty of the recipe is that it is easily adaptable and you can easily change it to fit your purpose. If all fails, spread the mixture on a cookie sheet and bake.
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Basil eating her Homebaked Seed Ball |
Ingredients:
5 dates or any other dry fruit
1/2 sweet Potato
1 Tablespoon of Flax Meal (or flax seeds)
Water as needed.
1 cup total of any seeds/nuts/greens/veggies etc
My favorite mix:
2Tbls millet
4Tbls minced dandelion greens
2Tbls Chia and Flax
2Tbls Hemp seeds
1Tbls Milk Thistle
2Tbls Safflower
2 Tbls Oats
2 Tbls Hemp Hearts
Directions:
Add the first three ingredients into your blender and make a smooth stick mixture. Add water when necessary.
Transfer your mixture into a bigger bowl if needed, then add all your seed/nut/greens and mix well.
Make balls or any other shape.
Bake 325 for 15 minutes
Cool completely before freezing or giving it to birds.
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Kismet testing the home-baked seed ball |
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Author Monika Sangar
www.pdsparrotshop.com
www.pdsnonprofit.org
PDS is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax id #46-2470926)
No Discrimination
No kinda of discrimination goes on between the munchkins at the sanctuary. The eclectus especially love new parrots which are introduce. Doesn't matter to them if they are small, or big, yellow or blue.
We are usually more afraid, because we don't know if they will get along. But eclectus' have such a warm heart that they welcomed everyone with a big kiss.
Sharing meals together has become a norm in our sanctuary. All the little munchkins eat together. They will even share a bowl of food together.
Its refreshing to see no discrimination in our sanctuary among our little one. We are truly grateful.
Birdie Bread Recipe [parrot recipe]
1 carrot
bunch of dandelion green
bunch of fresh cilantro
1 apple, chopped plus water
1/4 cup flax meal
3 tbls flax seeds
2 tbls chia seeds
2 Tbls Sesame seeds
1/4 cup almonds
3/4 cup to 1 cup rice flour
2 TBLS chill flakes
Directions:
1) In a food processor add your chopped apple and pulse, adding water to make apple sauce.
2) then add carrots, dandelion greens, cilantro, to the food processor and grind well.
3) add almonds to the food processor and grind roughly.
4) In a bowl, add all your ingredients together, from food processor, sweet potato, seeds, flax meal, chill flakes, and rice flour.
5) mix well until a slightly wet dough forms.
6) put the dough into your pan, spread so it's about 3/4 inch thick.
Oven 350 F for 20 minutes.
Cook until the dough leaves the edge of the pan and the edge is slightly brown.
cut into squares and serve.
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Author Monika Sangar
www.pdsparrotshop.com
www.pdsnonprofit.org
PDS is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax id #46-2470926)
Quick Understanding of Bird Chop [diy]
Now for the most famous list of all, foods to avoid. If you haven't seen this list already, then the parrot community isn't doing its job. So let me show it to you.
Foods to avoid
AlcoholApple seedsAvocado
Raw dairy (milk, fresh cheese, ice cream)
Raw onions
Raw mushrooms
Rhubarb
Now for orange veggies, we need to cook them. We can add them to our boiling water at the beginning of our cook time. The reason is that cooking them increases the beta carotene which is what we are looking for as nutrition value. Beta carotene is converted into Vitamin A in animal bodies. For more information about cooking orange veggies, follow the link.
Sweet potatoes are not to be consumed raw because they are hard on digestion. Cooking them eliminates this effect.
Now all is left is to try it out. Here is my favorite recipe, with additional notes so you can change it as you wish:
- Boil your water
- Add your grains and sweet potato to the water, let it boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the grain cook in the hot water. After 20 minutes, strain the grains/sweet potatoes.
- Mix your veggies, greens, and seeds/herb mix with your grains and sweet potatoes.
- Sprinkle with bee pollen
- Roughly chop your greens and then finely chop them in the food processor. (if using nuts, you can add them with your greens and finely chop them) **
- Mix all your seeds, and dried herbs together.
Indian: Coriander and cumin seeds powder (*you can grind yourself) with red chill flakes and fresh ginger.
How to make your own Birdie Chop made Easy and Simple.
Just follow the the simple steps and you will have your chop ready in no time.
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Author Monika Sangar
www.pdsparrotshop.com
www.pdsnonprofit.org
PDS is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (tax id #46-2470926)