homemade dehydrated vegetables, the gouldians love it!

[dnh314]

I juice fruits and vegetables daily for myself and have always turned the pulp into compost, but today I wanted to see how they would turn out dehydrated. It was fairly quick, considering the juicing part removed most of the moisture. I popped the pulp in the dehydrator for a hour at about 120 degrees and left it in there an additional hour after it shut off and the end result was perfect and tasty too! It consisted of carrots, red beets, apples, and celery. I gave some to the finches and they seemed to love it. Carrots and red beets are high in beta-carotene and other vitamins and are often given to enhance the colors of colorfed canaries, particularly red factors. If I give this to my gouldians around moulting time or before juveniles color up do you think it will enhance their plumage? It looks like little extruded pellets that crumble up.

[cindy]

Sounds great!! I serve dehydrated/dried spinach, tomatoes, carrots...they love it!

[dnh314]

Thanks for giving me an idea Cindy! I'm glad your birds love it too, I'll have to try leafy greens next time This works out well because I won't have to worry about spoilage and exposing my birds to bacterial infections and protozoan infections by feeding wet foods (according to Gary, from friskyfinches.com)

[Perfex]

What a great idea!

[Rox]

Brilliant idea!! Need to give this a try

[dnh314]

Thanks Michelle and Roxanne, let me know how your birds like it

[debbie276]

Neat idea
So what you serve is what's in the picture or do you somehow make the pieces smaller? I'm assuming the pieces are hard also, like those little colored bits you find in seed mixes?

[cindy]

I buy mine already dried....there are sites on the internet to buy dried fruits and veggies that are organic...may try ordering some and making a mix to serve on those days I am in a rush and can't serve fresh....off season for certain veggies would be a good time to have extra dried veggies on hand.

[cindy]

go to Sub-categories http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/Dehydr ... s_c_1.html

[dnh314]

Hi Debbie, thank you. The pieces are actually a little smaller than they look in the picture and they crumble when you break them kind of like crackers.

[debbie276]

Hi Debbie, thank you. The pieces are actually a little smaller than they look in the picture and they crumble when you break them kind of like crackers.

Very cool!

[cindy]

So the pieces can be turned to powder to!!! Have you ever dehydrated veggies in the oven?