Egg Food - How long is too long?

[paul-inAZ]

Once it is dry eggfood is bacteriologically inert.

The commercial eggfood that comes in packages requires no refrigeration and lasts a long time at room temperatures without growing bacteria.

[Sally]

yunier2002

I usually keep eggfood in the fridge for about 3 days. After that, if any is left, I generally toss it. And I don't think freezing affects the nutrtional value, though I have no proof of that. I make as many as 6 dozen eggs at a time, for my convenience.

[Learning Finch]

im kind of a spaz when it comes to my birds. I have three different egg food (dry) I mis equal portions. I mix in vitamins ( two kinds), bee pollen, herb salad, thrive, kelp, spurlina, oyster shell, real egg shell ( grind in coffee grinder) grind dry insects, I make a mix at the beginning of each week. I also sprout seed and freeze. at each feeding ( daily) I give the dry mix with some sprouted seed added. ( the birds go crazy over it) I hope i'm not overdoing it with all the added ingredients. I'm sure they are getting to much protien and I hope it doesn't have a long term affect. I have only been feeding this mix for a couple months.

[debbie276]

I would be careful of adding 2 different vitamins that you don't overdose them. Check the labels and you should be able to see how much of each is in the bottle. Not familiar with commercial egg food but using 3 different ones in a mix you should be careful they don't have added vitamins and minerals also making the dosage very high.

Here's a very good article on The Finch Information Center's site about nutritional requirements of our birds.
http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/nutrition ... ements.php
There is also a page of nutrients sources
http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/nutrients_and_sources.php
There are many very interesting and informative topics in The Finch Information Center so be sure to poke around.

Personally I think I would separate out the egg shell and oyster shell into their own dish and leave that in the cage so it's available at all times.
I'd also leave the herb salad in it's own dish also available at all times so the birds can self medicate as they need to.

[Sally]

I agree with Debbie about adding too many vitamins, you can overdo it. I do add a bit of Prime vitamin supplement to my eggfood from time to time, just to make sure I'm not missing anything and only in small quantities. I also offer a separate mineral cup and separate herb salad cup, these stay in the cage at all times so the birds can help themselves. I don't see any veggies in your menu, they can be an excellent source of vitamins/minerals, especially the dark green ones like kale, broccoli.

[Learning Finch]

I will tone it down a bit. The list I gave is just the egg food. I also mix fresh corn, carrots and spinach in a chopper. I also make another mix of corn kale and sweet potato. and I alternate the two each day. I also place a fresh kale leaf in the aviary for them to hang on and chew. fresh veggies are expensive and go bad fast so I load up what I can. the seed mix I use is also a "complete dietpremium seed" I also use there egg food and dried insects... please review and tell me what you think....

[debbie276]

The only other thing I would causion you with is the bee pollen. If you find your birds are acting over stimulated I would remove that and see what happens. Bee pollen is just too high in protein for some.

[Colt]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I'll have to try it out with them in the morning and leave it all day to see if they are brave enough to try it.