Bird Recipe: Fruity 'Tiel Bars

A reader shared recipe:
“I have 4 very picky cockatiels. They will not eat anything but seed but these bars they will fight over. I hope your birds love them as mine do.”

Ingredients:
1/4 cup each:
- Crushed dried peas
- Dried apricots
- Nuts
- Crushed bananas (Dried or fresh)

3 Tbs Seed
3 Tbs Pellets
1 egg and shell (best if shell is dried and not damp)
1/4 cup + 1 Tbs Applesauce (I use 100% natural)
3 Tbs crunchy Peanut butter

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients in order. You can add anything else that your bird loves. It should mix very easy. I crushed everything, but you can do it according to your bird size. Fold in the applesauce and peanut butter. It should end up like a paste.

Cook in a square pan, (easier to cut later than a circle pan), at 350 F for 30 min. It smells bad when cooking, but the birds love it. Hope your feathered family will like these.

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Bird Recipe: Birdie Quinoa

Did you know that quinoa is one of the few plant sources of perfect protein? You do not need to mix beans with quinoa to make a complimentary protein as you do with most grains! At Momma's Birdie Bread, we have known about quinoa for quite some time, which is why it has been in our mixes from the beginning.

Birdie Quinoa


1 cup Quinoa
2-3 cups Water
Corn kernels (or another veggie if your bird is corn sensitive)
Chopped carrots
Raisins and/or dried apples (unsulphured)
Cinnamon stick


Boil 2 cups of water, add quinoa.
Cook for 10 minutes, then add veggies and dried fruit.
Cook for another 5 minutes or until the quinoa grain is clearish and has a tiny tail sprouting from it.
You may have to add a little more water if it gets too dry too quickly.

Let cool.  Serve.  You can put almost any veggies or fruit in this recipe.

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Bird Recipe: Hanging Bird Treats

We’ve all seen how wild birds like hanging treats made with seed, but the ones that you buy at the pet store aren’t very healthy (and who knows how old it is!). The best solution to make friends with the birdies outside is to make one yourself!

In the winter, birds outside need more fat and calories, so the winter recipe reflects that.

Winter Bird Feeder Ingredients:
Peanut Butter
Seed Mix
Pine Cone

Spread peanut butter all over and into nooks and crannies of pinecone. The more area that is covered, the longer the bird feeder lasts. Once it is coated, roll the cone in seed, then sprinkle in the nooks nad crannies to get all surface areas covered.


Summer Bird Feeder Ingredients:
1 egg (including the shell)
Half a cup of seed &/or fine (or chopped) pellets
Chopped parsley or other greens, dried fruits, pellets or whatever other goodies you want to add to the treat - about a tablespoon or two worth.

Directions:

1. Break the egg into a bowl and save the shells. Beat the egg until fluffy.
2. Then add the remaining ingredients.
3. Mix well, then pour/spoon the mixture into small ramekins and use an aluminum twist tie or paper clip (bent into a wire) as an inserted hanger.
4. Set your oven on LOW (200 F) and bake the whole arrangement for about an hour to dry it out. Test forms- they are done when mixture is dried out and wire stays put.

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Avian First Aid

For more information on specific symptoms and whether they need immediate vet care, read here. Always consult with a vet about your bird’s condition, especially if it appears sick or injured. This post is intended to help you do immediate care before actual medical treatment is administered.

Short Term First Aid Instructions:

You need to provide several things in order to stabilize your bird before taking it to a vet. Most of these things can be covered by basic care and a hospital tank or cage:

Great hospital tank for smaller birds.

Hospital Tank/Cage:This is a cage or flat bottomed tank that has no perches. The bird must save energy by sitting on the bottom, preferably on a soft towel. Food and water should be immediately accessible to the bird from where they sit, they should have to make no extra effort to nourish themselves. Give favorite foods that are never turned down at this time- the point is to make sure calories are being consumed!




Warmth:

Great tank to adapt for a larger bird.

Keep bird in warm environment (unless indicated otherwise in the chart above) of 85-90 F (29- 32 C). A heating pad or water bottle under or clipped to a corner the cage (with a perch or nesting area there in the corner), a reptile heater or lamp (75-100 watts, away from where bird can come into contact), or an incubator specifically for this purpose can be used. Be careful not to overheat. Monitor the bird every so often to ensure this. Too hot would be panting, holding wings out away from the body. Too cold would be feathers fluffed up for an extended period.

Food and Water:
Keep favorite foods and water close to sleeping area, so little effort is exerted on looking for food. Millet spray or nuts are usually treats for birds and eaten.

Also a great hospital tank, without the perch.

Sleeping/Resting area:
Birds who are too weak to perch, have paralysis, or fractures should have perches removed from the cage & given a soft clean place to sleep (paper towels are insulation & can be easily cleaned up & replaced and make a good sleeping area) at the bottom of the cage.

Energy:
Small birds become debilitated faster than larger birds. A few drops of warm (not hot), strong coffee solution (That’s right! We said coffee! We KNOW it’s toxic in frequent doses, but it will not hurt your bird in this small, one-time amount) with a high concentration of sugar, administered with a syringe or eye dropper can provide a burst of energy in order to get the bird to a vet if they are on their last legs. Gatorade or Pedialyte can also be given at any point during this time for hydration.

Medications:
Do NOT give the bird over-the-counter medications from the pet shop, especially antibiotics. These are too weak to work & may skew vet lab results, delaying proper treatment.

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