Paper plate for feeding

[Bhatta]

I know that many members in this forum use paper plates for feeding their birds. I never used them earlier. However, recently, when I started using paper plates I faced a big problem. My birds are pulling the plates by their beaks and wasting the foods. They love to play with the plates and don't bother about the foods on it. Please advise.

[Nerien]

maybe they think they can use the paper for nesting?

How about putting a small, cleaned rock in the middle of the plate to weight it down so they can't move it?

[Toddmin]

How big a plate are you using? Perhaps a paper bowl would be better?

[cindy]

I take one edge of the plate fold it upwards and cloths pin it to the cage. I use paper plated for serving soft food to the birds

[Bhatta]

Nerien Cleaning the stones then be an additional job.
@Toddmin I am using 2.5" dia plates.
@cindy I too use paper plates for the soft food. I have 50 breeding cages, 5 aviaries and 6 flight cages with approx 200 birds now. Pining may be an option.

[finchandlovebird]

I use paper plates also. Some birds play with them; most don't

[cindy]

Nerien Cleaning the stones then be an additional job.
@Toddmin I am using 2.5" dia plates.
@cindy I too use paper plates for the soft food. I have 50 breeding cages, 5 aviaries and 6 flight cages with approx 200 birds now. Pining may be an option.

Just keep the clothes pin on the cage so you do not have to go searching for one...I have a lot of cages and flights and if I use regular dishes for soft food, I would spend to much time washing them, paper is easier

[Toddmin]

Paper is actually a good idea. I may have to try that.

[lovezebs]

Hi All.
Did I miss something important about paper plates?
What's the point of using them?
I use regular plastic plates or small trays for left over seed or soft foods. The kind that you would use for camping or what not. You can get them at $ stores usually in pretty colours or floral designs. They are reletively inexpensive, reusable and very easy to wash. For my greens/salads/ fruits and so on, I have some of those glass trays that are divided into sections, so that you can put different stuff in seperate sections. Works well, and again very easy to keep clean.

[monotwine]

all are brilliant quick solutions to doing dishes for the birds.

I have plastic containers - pot plant trays (as mine are fed outside) and I have the use of a dishwasher when large volumes need cleaning. Usually they get a hand wash and disinfect and then reused. If I keep up a small wash daily then no problem, but I hear what others say with large volumes of cages. I only need to feed one container a day in the aviary. I would be very hesitant to have 30 plus containers to clean a day! Gosh.

[Sally]

I use clay plant saucers, as well as plastic plant saucers, and I have lots and lots of them. I just stack up the dirty ones till I have enough to put in the dishwasher. If I had to hand wash plates, I'd be switching to paper in a hot second.

[Colt]

Lol Sally no kidding. I'd like to find some of the clay saucers. Unfortunately I have to hand wash all mine as we don't have a dishwasher. I use the ramikans from restaurants for egg food.

[Sally]

Colt I get those clay saucers at Hobby Lobby. I wait till they have a 50% off sale. The little ones are about 3" across, come 6 to a package. The bigger ones are about 4-4.5" across, come 4 to a package I think. I always have to check the packages closely, as many of them contain broken saucers. The biggest disadvantage to these is that when dropped, they shatter, and I tend to drop a lot of things these days.

[lovezebs]

Hi.
The only 'dishwasher' I have is me! Then again I don't have as many dishes as a lot of you do. I toss them all into sinks full of hot soapy water and let them soak while I go about other things. Then give them a good wash and rinse and dry and ready to go.

[redhead]

lovezebs
Oh that is too funny. I started using paper plates because I thought that was what YOU were using in one of your photos! I said, oh, what a good idea.
I have tons of paper plates because I use them for palettes when I paint.

However my zebs like to play tug-of-war with the plate and splatter the food everywhere. So I switched to some small pyrex dishes (yep stole em from the kitchen) and those are nice and heavy, they can perch on the side and the food stays in.

of course I don't have the multiple cages.....yet.