FINCHforum

Ok, this seems like a silly question...
I regularly leave the shell on my boiled eggs when I grind them up. Has anyone ever had problems doing this for birds feeding young? I mean, as far as the pieces of shell causing problems for the babies?

Also, what's the best thing to add to egg for those feeding young ones? I currently don't add anything to the egg, since egg is so nutritious by itself. But is there something I could add, just for the babies' benefit?

I always throw the eggs, shell and all, into the food processor. Some bits of shell will be bigger than others, my birds usually leave those bits behind. My birds also don't like their eggfood to be very moist, and adding wheat germ oil makes it even more moist, so I add dry ingredients to the mashed eggs. You can use something as simple as enriched yellow cornmeal, but I like what I add to have more nutrition. I vary what I add from time to time--right now, I am adding Volkman's commercial eggfood, Hagen's Tropimix (a nestling type food), Hagen's egg granules, Lafeber's nibbles. I do put my dry ingredients in the blender to grind them up smaller.

I like to dry up the egg food, too. I chop the eggs in the food processor - shell and all. I use a commercial egg food - usually rotating among two or three of them. I also add Soya Musca to my egg food.

Sally, you have mentioned Volkmann's egg food before and I have meant to try it, but never got around to it. I ordered it before replying so will be able to try it at last! I think it's kind of a west-coast thing. I don't see a lot of Volkmann products here.

Nelissa, my owls also really enjoy cooked quinoa with finely chopped veggies like broccoli, carrots, etc. It's easy and fast to make in the microwave and very good for them.

Martie, I really like the Volkman's, but I have the same problem with availability. One of our forum members sells it at the marts, but she sells small bags, and I go through a lot of this stuff, so I order direct from the manufacturer in CA. They used to make a little finer (smaller) grade eggfood, but now this is all they make. I still like it, but since I have so many small waxbills, I put it in the blender to grind it up some. I keep it in the freezer. How much soya musca do you add to your eggfood? Now that breeding season is coming up for the waxbills, I'd like to up the protein, but I can't remember how much I used to add--think it was like 1/8 cup to 6 or 12 eggs? Darn it, I forgot to write it down!

This is what I ordered: http://www.birdsupplies.com/volkman-gourmet-eggfood/ It said it was finer for finches. Did I get the right kind?

I don't measure much and mostly eyeball amounts in the egg food. I'm guessing I use about a teaspoon of soya musca with each egg. It's great stuff!

This is what I used to order, Golden Fresh Eggfood:

http://www.volkmanseed.com/products/sma ... _food.html

Then they quit making the Golden Fresh, so I ordered the Gourmet Eggfood:

http://www.volkmanseed.com/products/fea ... gfood.html

It looks from their home page that they are carryiing the Golden Fresh again, though they don't list any prices. Both are good eggfoods.

Thanks, Sally. They sure make it complicated!

Sally wrote: but I like what I add to have more nutrition.

I was thinking this too. I don't normally add to the egg since I don't want to make it less beneficial by adding something that is essentially a filler. But for pairs with chicks, I want to dry it out to make it okay to leave longer (while I'm at work etc).
I'm thinking of grinding up some of the Zupreem pellets to mix in with it. I also have some commercial eggfood I could mix in to dry it out. Maybe I will do a dish of each and see which they like better.

I just add about 1/4 cup of the handfeeding formula to the processor when I chop up the eggs and that helps it to be less moist and gives the babies nutrition.

I also don't remove the shell pieces and just add a bit of hand feeding formula to the egg to dry it out a bit without diluting the protein level.

My 6 Gouldian eggs should hatch today or tomorrow. I mashed up some egg food & pellets & put it alongside the mashed hard boiled eggs; tomorrow I will mix it in, which is what I usually do. I also add wheat germ to the eggs from time to time.

I take the shells off the hard boiled eggs. After I collect a ton of them, I will nuke them in the microwave, put them in a blender along with pieces of cuttlebone and make a "calcium powder".

http://finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19555

I've also just mashed them in with the eggshell, but my birds seem to consume more of the eggshell when its not in bigger pieces.

Ok, so I ground up some Zupreem pellets and added that to the egg. Fawkes has been chowing down on it for a good 5 min now! Just perched on the edge of the dish, going to town. I guess he approves!!!!

nelloyello11 wrote: Ok, so I ground up some Zupreem pellets and added that to the egg. Fawkes has been chowing down on it for a good 5 min now! Just perched on the edge of the dish, going to town. I guess he approves!!!!

debbie276 wrote:

nelloyello11 wrote: Ok, so I ground up some Zupreem pellets and added that to the egg. Fawkes has been chowing down on it for a good 5 min now! Just perched on the edge of the dish, going to town. I guess he approves!!!!

Hedwig is out of the nest and chowing down now! Makes me feel a little more confident that they both seem to like it. I was nervous about changing their eggfood this late in the game (eggs due to hatch any day now). But I feel good about it now!