FINCHforum

I was just wondering what type of soft food do you guys use in your part of the world? And what else do you mix it with?

I just want to see how it if any differs from us here in South Africa?

Mine get everything all mixed together in one, eggs, veggies, soaked seed, and their vitamins and additives.

I make my own eggfood.
But still like to have Orlux brand eggfood mix on hand.

Jerry

Pretty simple. Chopped up hard boiled eggs + veggies (various green leaf veggies, carrots and yams). That gives them egg + green and orange veggies.

I used to add Orlux dry egg food to the egg mix, but I don't do that any more once I learned the trick to drying out the egg. I think it was Liz that told me to stick the peeled eggs in the fridge, the fridge will draw out the excess moisture in the egg, so it isn't sticky.

So you guys boil your own eggs for the eggfood most of us use the commercial dried eggfood and still add our own 1 or 2 boiled eggs.

Do you get only Orlux eggfood there or do you also get Cede?

The last bird mart that I went to no one had any Orlux egg food, they all had Cede egg food.

I do add dry eggfood to my mixture. My preference is Orlux for Exotic finches.

hi
i have always used ce-de eggfood with a few soaked seeds added i always fed my greens separate only because i was used to doing that for many years and it never failed so i didnt feel the need to change....you can also feed chickweed,shepherds purse seperate if you want or mix it in your eggfood

ken

Which one would you guys recon us the best cede or Orlux?

I learned the trick to drying out the egg. I think it was Liz that told me to stick the peeled eggs in the fridge, the fridge will draw out the excess moisture in the egg, so it isn't sticky.[/quote]

Do you grate the eggs before you dry them out or leave the whole?
How long can it stay in the cage before it spoils?

I make my own egg mix too. I mix hardboiled egg in a small chopper (I think it's actually an herb chopper) to mash it up and then I add a little cornmeal. That dries out the egg and makes it crumble. I keep the mix refrigerated up to about a week. I serve the mix on a plate where I put the following in seperate little heaps: egg mix, finely grated carrots, finely chopped raw green vegetable (usually zucchini or broccoli), chitted seeds, and sometimes rice. I put that in the aviary in the morning and take it out at night.

Here's a picture that shows one of my orange cheeks eating from the plate: https://picasaweb.google.com/udmoran/My ... 4158001010

ac12 wrote:I used to add Orlux dry egg food to the egg mix, but I don't do that any more once I learned the trick to drying out the egg. I think it was Liz that told me to stick the peeled eggs in the fridge, the fridge will draw out the excess moisture in the egg, so it isn't sticky.

What?!?!?! That's it? Just leave the peeled egg in the fridge? For how long?
...and after all this googlin.

My birds really don't like any egg I give them other than the shells which they can't get enough of. I have started giving them Mineral Meal with F-Vite sprinkled on top along with the following:

Hatched Shells Mix
Oyster Shell
Charcoal

Along with greens and their custom millet mix that I make them b/c they throw out all the ingredients in the store bought finch blends. They won't even touch spray millet anymore.

Please let me know about the drying of egg and if there are any other supplements or vitamins that I should give them.

Well, there is always more for me to learn. What do you mean by "custom millet" and where do you get that?
Regarding eggfood. I boil a dozen eggs by setting them in a pot, just barely covered with water, turn on heat to high and cover. When it comes to a rolling boil, I turn off the heat, keep covered and set the timer for 13 minutes. Then I emerse them in ice water to cool. I crack the eggs/smash sort of and put them in the fridge for about eight hours to dry out. Then I chop them in a food processor using pulse, not the "on" processing, to control the pace so t won't get gummy. I only pulse about 5 times and "whallah!" All done. I sometimes add a little of the LeFeber pellet and/or handfeeding powder to the eggfood, as some of my finches won't eat it plain. I serve veggies separately. When I added veggies to the eggfood, they refused to eat any of it.

How long with the dried egg keep like that? I am always afraid that it will spoil. Eating eggs in general just grosses me out for the most part so I am a little apprehensive, I guess, in feeding egg that may have turned sour so-to-say to my birds. Opened one old Easter Egg when i was little and that was ENOUGH for if you get my drift. #

The custom millet mix that I make contains:

Japanese Millet
Dove Proso Millet
White Millet
Browntop Millet

but the majority of what they eat is the Browntop or at least that is what they mow through first. I have done several experiments with the different varieties in different bowls and they go right to the Browntop bowl. Once that is gone they seem to be indifferent on the rest. So, I just mix them now so they get a variety.

I am in the seed business and have been selling seed for feed and for wildlife restoration for both domesticated birds and wild.

My next step is to introduce niger thistle, which again they haven't seemed to fond of, and reed canary grass. This is something that I have been playing around with specifically for my Gouldians but if you are in the U.S I will ship you a small sample or you can try to find it from a reputable distributor near you.

JUST MAKE SURE THAT IT IS SEED GRADE AND NOT FEED GRADE SEED. The seed may be more expensive but trust me when I say that they prefer it over the feed grade considerably. Feed grade seed can contain a lot of filler and sometimes they coat the seed to increase the inert matter of the bag - so you end up with 1/2 the seed you purchased to begin with. To clarify, if you purchase a 5 lb. bag of feed grade or coated seed you may easily only get 2.5 lbs. of actual seed.

ac12 wrote:The last bird mart that I went to no one had any Orlux egg food.

Evidently importing it has become a major PITA. I stopped selling it because my distributor was having a hard time getting shipments imported, and she stopped distributing it as a result.