Sunday, August 16, 2009

Foraging Bags

These pictures are from a while back but I thought this was something worth posting here. In an effort to keep His Royal Greyness entertained I decided to give “foraging bags” a try. I thought I'd share the step by step on making them.

Step One: Gather goodies.



Step Two: Prepare the bag.











So inside the bag we have peanuts, almonds, seed, a cracker, raw hide and paper strips.

If these bags are intended for one of my boys, the most important item cannot be forgotten:



Here's the finished product. Caesar loves these but to date my Quaker is still convinced that they will eat him.



Here are some suggestions for things to add to the bags:

Nutriberries
Avicakes
Almonds
Peanuts
Pumpkin Seeds
Any other nuts/seeds your bird enjoys
Birdie Bread
Hay
Popsicle Sticks
Finger Traps
Beads (large enough that your bird cannot swallow them)
Any other small foot toy

Shauna Roberts' Mash Diet

Recently I came across this recipe I've heard a lot of good things about it and decided to give it a try. Of course I took pictures to share here.

You start out by soaking the grains and legumes overnight or at least eight hours.

Lentils

Lentils

Grains

Brown rice and barley.

**NOTE: The recipe calls for at least 3 grains. Unfortunately I live in a small town and was only able to find brown rice and barley. I'm hoping that when this batch is almost used up I'll be able to go to a bigger city and do some shopping for ingredients.**

So after rinsing the heck out of the above legumes and grains I left them to soak overnight, rinsing every now and then. This morning when I got up I rinsed the heck out of them again.

Boil

Boil uncovered for ten minutes, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for twenty.

Base

So now we have the base (at this point I had put all but enough for a few days into the freezer). Time to add the goodies.

Category 1: Orange

Carrots

Carrot.

Sweet Potato

Sweet potato.

Category 2: Green Leafy

Kale

Kale.

Turnips

Turnip greens.

Category 3: Other Veggies.


Bell Pepper

Bell pepper.

Broccoli

Broccoli.

Then I took these beautiful vegetables...

Ground Veggies

And tortured them in the food processor.

Finished Product

Here you have it, the finished product. I overestimated a little and this food will probably last more than three days and end up in the freezer so that it doesn't go bad before it's all eaten lol.

Waiting

His Royal Greyness was ready for his taste test. I wish I could get it on video, whenever I bring him a bowl of food I let him take a look before putting it into his cage. He fluffs, looks into the bowl and says, "Oooo."

Approval

Looks like he approves! I offered some to my Quaker as well thinking that he would have no interest whatsoever and the little green brat dug right in. Looks like the mash diet is a success in this house. :)

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Recent Photo Slideshow


Birdie Bread

Earlier this week I decided to make some bird bread for the first time. I thought the process would be a good thing to share here.

First the ingredients have to be gathered of course:

CORN MEAL

EGG

PELLETS

WATER

VEGGIES

**NOTE: I would normally not feed canned veggies. In this instance I was out of frozen. If you use canned be sure to rinse well.**

RINSE VEGGIES

I used two cups of corn meal but it all depends on how big of a batch of birdie bread you want to make.

CORN MEAL

**NOTE: This is white corn meal. To my knowledge it's just as good as regular yellow corn meal but I'm no expert.**

Now, as I've stated in this blog already I have recently started Caesar on new pellets. It's only been the past couple days that he has decided they are edible. So I had to be sneaky about adding them into the bird bread.

GRINDER

TADA! One of the best inventions ever.

GROUND PELLETS

I also processed the well rinsed veggies since Caesar will pick out chunks of things he doesn't like and toss them. I actually process all of his fresh food.

Add water to corn meal and crushed pellets.

ADD WATER

Stir.

MEAL AND WATER

Add egg.

ADDING EGGS

Add destroyed veggies.

ADDING VEGGIES

Batter.

BATTER

**Note: I followed the cornbread directions on the back of the corn meal package but the batter was too soupy. I added more corn meal and it all turned out ok.**

Ready for the oven. I also added some cinnamon and chili powder, but you can add whatever it is your bird likes best or no seasoning at all.

READY FOR OVEN

Finished product.

FINISHED PRODUCT

After they cooled I offered Caesar one and he loved it. My Quaker at half of one and he is a very picky bird. I refrigerated them for a couple days and Caesar has eaten about three of them. I've since put them in the freezer. I use these as a treat not his main diet. Tomorrow I'm going to be making a batch of mash. I'll get pictures and share that process as well.

Friday, August 7, 2009

My Plan Seems to be Working

Three days ago I moved Caesar's cage from the office/bird room into my bedroom. My theory being that:

1. He would be getting better sleep because I am up on the computer late.
2. Even though I would be asleep he would still be spending more time with me.

I shoot for at least four hours out of cage with him per day. Technically I could have him out more, but I don't want him to get used to being out of his cage the majority of the time only for me to start clinicals and him to get stressed because his out time is cut down.

So far since the move he seems to be in a much better mood and is actually seeking me out for attention. Today I was in a pretty bad mood myself so I spent most of the day in bed. He climbed down from his cage and walked across the room to the bed and stepped up for me very nicely. Then we bummed around and watched Twilight.

He decided that he wanted to go back to his cage. He crouched and put his wings up, I encouraged him to go hoping that he would figure out that he can indeed fly. He acted like he was going to make the attempt several times but never did.

I have a box fan next to my bed of course it as well as all other fans are off when the birds are out, well Caesar decided that it looked interesting and before I could grab him started climbing it. He climbed to the top of it and when he realized it was slippery he panicked and flew across the room. Unfortunately he flew in a bad direction and crash landed in my laundry basket. Thankfully it was a soft landing and he wasn't hurt. I just wish he would get his confidence up and figure out the whole flying thing lol.

He stepped up nicely for me again and we hung out a while longer until my parents got home with groceries. I had to go unpack them and start cooking. I left him on my bed while I went out to get them. When I came back in my room and he saw me he put his wings up and thought about flying to me but didn't. I went over to him and he stepped up nicely for the third time. I put him back in his cage and went to work on supper. By the time I was done with that it was really too late to let him out again since birdy bedtime was pretty quickly approaching. When I fed the turtle and said good night to him before turning out the lights, Caesar put his head down for me to rub it. He doesn't typically do that for me so yep, I think it's safe to say his opinion of me is improving and I couldn't be happier about it.

Oh and just to add, it's day two and he's still not convinced he should eat the TOP. *sigh* I really hope he comes around soon. I don't want Liz to know she wasted her money and the only other option is to go to Petco and buy a bag of Zupreem.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Diet Change

Caesar didn't have a very steady diet before coming to me. He did eat pellets but the majority of what he had was seed mix, human junk food and things that my cousin cooked. Since coming to live with me I have gotten him eating much better. He now eats sprouts, a grain and veggie mixture, fruit, raw veggies as well as healthy cooked foods and pellets. He had been on Harrison's but right now the price is just too much right now. So I've decided to change him to another pellet brand. We're trying out TOP I got a bag today and so far he isn't very interested. He has munched on a few of them but not what I would call a meal. When I put him to bed tonight I'll put some in his bowl and we'll see if they're still there in the morning lol. The poor guy won't be too happy when he finds out that I'll be cutting back on the snacks he likes until he's reliably eating these new pellets.

Caesar's Vocabulary

I did this early on after Caesar came to live with me, but it's definitely time for an update. Here's a list of all the things that come to mind that Caesar says as well as the sounds he makes. I'm certain this list isn't all inclusive as he said things in his first owner's home that he hasn't said since coming to live with me, but that I was told about. Please keep in mind that some of these things he learned before coming to live with me or from other family members. I do not yell at my bird or teach him profanity.

Words/Phrases
Hello
Caesar
Ready?
Hush
What?
Why?
Huh?
Hey Buddy
Oh
Go Yankees/Go Yanks
Come on
Come here
Savannah/Vannah (my dog)
Bubba (other dog)
Step Up
Mom
I love you/I love you Caesar
Whatcha Doing?
Scooby Dooby Doo (this one is particularly hilarious)
Ooooo/Mmmm (when he sees food he is particularly excited about)
Peek a boo
Ball (usually when I show him one but he hasn't said it in a while)
Get your ball/Where's your ball? (learned it from his 1st owner talking to his dogs)
Where's your bird? (same as above)
Marley (1st owner's dog)
Anna Pearl (1st owner's other dog)
Good boy!
Good bird!
Pretty bird
Hey! (he usually says this or Mom! when I leave the room he's in)
Car Car (my niece Carsyn's nickname)
Ok
Bye
Shut up (learned this before I got him)
No
Oh Caesar
You little brat (I just discovered he can say this, and I laughed a lot)
Nose (same as above)
Mother F**ker (also learned this before I got him or from my father)
Jack*ss (same as above)
Gimme kiss
One
Two
Ewww
Alright

Household Sounds/Noises
Laughs
Door knock
3 different home phone rings (one from each place he has lived)
2 different cell phone rings
Alarm being set
Burp (learned before I got him, I have manners)
Fart (same as above!)
Microwave being set
Microwave going off
Answering machine (he's too far away from it to learn exactly what it says, he sounds a little demonic when he mimics it)
Cell phone being plugged in to charge
Computer being turned on
Incoming e-mail
Cell phone alarm
Dog bark
Wolf howl (it's actually my dogs but I taught him wolves howl)
Cough (my cousin was really sick at one point in time)
Sneeze (same as above)
Nose blowing (same as above)
Whistles the Imperial March from Star Wars
Wolf whistles
Whistles songs of his own creation
Makes kissing sounds

Commands/Tricks

Step up (although sometimes he's a brat about doing it
What does the doggy say? - He barks in response
What does Mama say? - He responds with I love you, kissing sounds or Good boy!
What does the wolf say? - He howls
He also dances on command or if I do it. We're working on more animals and additional dance moves.