My bantams have been eating my big parrots left over chop for years and loving it. It gives a fantastic beetle sheen and feather luster! However I don't suggest Chilli as it gives some avians the runs. Mustard greens and Chilli are both that way.
Making cheap chop just for chooks, means a chop freezer for a big flock, finding cheapest greens year round, manual food processor it into little portions while fresh, then freezing those cheapest greens year round. You will keep a fine selection of baggies to choose a mixture from and defrost the night before, in the sink, each time you serve!
A bantam will eat two to three tablespoons per day, depending on season, morning and evening, and her scratch mix the rest of the time during the day.
Chop can occasionally have a lot of tinned Fresh Water Tuna thoroughly mixed in, once or twice a week to boost vitamins, minerals and omegas. Or other no-fat, fine diced, lean meats. So no skin if you give them chicken or Turkey.
3 times a week is optimal for these meat/fish boosts for the premium diet.
Amazon Cheap ~$30AU Manual Food Processor
or
Tupperware ~$130AU Manual Food Processor
Either will get you to approx quarter inch square pieces for bantams or just under 1cm square pieces for big chooks aka large fowl.
Whole peas, whole corn kernals, whole grapes, whole small berries, add all these for interest UNchopped. (I buy frozen berries in bulk packets and add them in by the handful, defrosted, as in Australia the fresh berry selection of small berries is minimal).
No onion and no mushrooms, not healthy and dont want fungi spores growing in their crops.
Any fruit works perfectly fine to freeze and defrost ideally already mixed, like frozen poultry fruit salad portions in ziplocks ready to go in with their vegetables.
No it wont look look pretty, but it will taste fantastic. Only citrus doesn't work so well except with very small mandarin segments.
Once it's all a pile of soggy ziplock bags in the sink in the morning, open each, drain any excess moisture out, and empty each into a mixing tub - a plastic washing up tub or baby bath works depending on flock size.
Then get out your wooden spoon and gently start turning it all in, mixing it gently.
Pre cook any grains to make them swell entirely for safety so they don't swell inside a bird after being eaten!!! DO NOT serve hot!!!
Mix in once cooled.
Add whatever you have fresh, fruit or veg, in with the defrosted stuff, to give more texture interest too.
Serve once ready!
Final Note - Remember that apple, though they love it dearly, temporarily restricts their egg laying for about 6 to 12 hours, depending on how much they eat.
Hopefully this helps!
Good Luck,
Dr Alicia Manolas
Avian Specialist Trainer
Western Australia
Making cheap chop just for chooks, means a chop freezer for a big flock, finding cheapest greens year round, manual food processor it into little portions while fresh, then freezing those cheapest greens year round. You will keep a fine selection of baggies to choose a mixture from and defrost the night before, in the sink, each time you serve!
A bantam will eat two to three tablespoons per day, depending on season, morning and evening, and her scratch mix the rest of the time during the day.
Chop can occasionally have a lot of tinned Fresh Water Tuna thoroughly mixed in, once or twice a week to boost vitamins, minerals and omegas. Or other no-fat, fine diced, lean meats. So no skin if you give them chicken or Turkey.
3 times a week is optimal for these meat/fish boosts for the premium diet.
Amazon Cheap ~$30AU Manual Food Processor
or
Tupperware ~$130AU Manual Food Processor
Either will get you to approx quarter inch square pieces for bantams or just under 1cm square pieces for big chooks aka large fowl.
Whole peas, whole corn kernals, whole grapes, whole small berries, add all these for interest UNchopped. (I buy frozen berries in bulk packets and add them in by the handful, defrosted, as in Australia the fresh berry selection of small berries is minimal).
No onion and no mushrooms, not healthy and dont want fungi spores growing in their crops.
Any fruit works perfectly fine to freeze and defrost ideally already mixed, like frozen poultry fruit salad portions in ziplocks ready to go in with their vegetables.
No it wont look look pretty, but it will taste fantastic. Only citrus doesn't work so well except with very small mandarin segments.
Once it's all a pile of soggy ziplock bags in the sink in the morning, open each, drain any excess moisture out, and empty each into a mixing tub - a plastic washing up tub or baby bath works depending on flock size.
Then get out your wooden spoon and gently start turning it all in, mixing it gently.
Pre cook any grains to make them swell entirely for safety so they don't swell inside a bird after being eaten!!! DO NOT serve hot!!!
Mix in once cooled.
Add whatever you have fresh, fruit or veg, in with the defrosted stuff, to give more texture interest too.
Serve once ready!
Final Note - Remember that apple, though they love it dearly, temporarily restricts their egg laying for about 6 to 12 hours, depending on how much they eat.
Hopefully this helps!
Good Luck,
Dr Alicia Manolas
Avian Specialist Trainer
Western Australia
