CHOP.
I’m on winter break right now, and I’ve finally gotten enough energy together to make a proper chop—and even so, I did it in stages over
three four+ days.
Day 1: roasted sweet potatoes. Chopped up two kinds of kale. (Washed thoroughly and) cooked quinoa. Added some frozen corn.
Day 2: steamed radishes and green beans and I think broccoli. Food-processed them and added to the mix. Also added some bits of brussel sprout.
Day 3: microwaved some frozen butternut squash, as well as a package of riced sweet potato + cauliflower. Added the rest of the old package of frozen corn.
Day 4: began the process of freezing it, because I put all this work into making it, I’m going to try and make it last.
…I originally got these little trays to make A.) round ice cubes and B.) round gelatin/desserty things, but I decided to try and freeze the chop in them for “bird serving sizes.”
(…yes there are also seeds on it, which Luxie was more interested in eating than the chop. I’ve since modified my approach to serving chop “on its own” so she doesn’t just pick out the seeds and leave it.)
…After all this, here are my thoughts as I continue to work on getting Luxie to eat her vegetables:
1.) She LOVED being involved in the making process (as you probably can see from the pictures). Me letting her explore the chop as it was being made seemed to create a positive experience with it. (I wonder too if there is a kind of flock mentality here too, of her wanting to be involved with what she sees the rest of the flock ”playing” with in the kitchen?)
2.) She loved the giant bowl of chop far more than she seems interested in her little scoops of it. I wonder if this is part of why some aviary rescues I see with flocks of budgies and other small birds—places that make a giant pile of chop daily for these birds—seem to have a lot of success at encouraging veggie consumption? She hopped right into the bowl and foraged around in the giant pile of chop very happily. I don’t really have the resources (energy-wise or financially) to make big bowls of chop daily, so I’m trying to figure out how to make the smaller portions more appealing.
3.) I initially offered only one scoop, but I might have to offer two or three at a time to approximate the “large bowl” feel without having to make the whole bowl. The only downside of this is that it depletes my store of it far more quickly. …Though I suppose that does better ensure no freezer-burn-type damage to the frozen chop.
4.) I might try sprinkling some mash on the chop scoop too when I serve it.
5.) I do try to spend time poking at the chop scoop with my “hand budgies” once it has defrosted to encourage her to interact with it. Eating together is a flock/bonding activity, so my understanding is that it increases chances of success when I spend the time poking at the chop with her instead of just plunking it in the cage and leaving. Mileage for this varies with me, but I’ve seen enough of her digging at the chop due to me poking at it that it seems worth it to continue.
6.) I have noticed that shifting between chop and leaves clipped to the cage or a sweet potato “dig site” seems to encourage Luxie to eat more of what is offered, because birds do enjoy—and are enriched by—variety.
…I found a list of various things to include in the chop, as birds also like lots of things and variety (so that might be some of what will affect my success too, is if Luxie is all “ugh the same frozen chop AGAIN”)—orange veggies, dark green veggies, grains, legumes, etc.—and I suppose in an ideal world win which I have limitless energy (and freezer space) I would make several versions of chop and cycle through them. I did also read that you can “top” the chop with different things to create variety, like a bit of fruit such as pomegranate or mango, spices like basil or garlic or dill (NEVER salt or onion), or something like chia seeds or sprouts.
Winter quarter starts soon, so hopefully this freezing effort will mean I can still work on getting Luxie her vegetables even when I am way too busy and completely drained from unreasonable grad school work loads.
