FINCHforum

Just a thought...

I have had a hard time getting the finches (as well as my canaries, conures, Quakers, and Cockatoo - seems only the doves and the cockatiels like them!) to eat carrots. I have tried LOTS of different ways (raw, boiled, sliced, cubed, skewered, etc.), but on their own, they will not eat them, and I really WANT them to eat them because of the high vitamin A content in carrots.

I have found a couple ways to get them to eat them, and thought I would share:

1) Chop the carrots REALLY fine, or shred them with the finest shredder you can find, and add them to scrambled eggs, birdie bread, or something else your birds really love. I have found that my birds will dig in with such gusto that they do not take the time to pick out the carrots!

2) I have been buying organic carrot juice at the store and when I make rice, barley, cous cous, pasta, quinoa, etc. I use the carrot juice to boil instead of water, and let the rice, barley, pasta etc. absorb it all. I have not found that any of my birds ignore it that way, and I know that they are getting the benefit of SOME of the vitamin A at least!

I used carrot juice when I cooked for my Gray. They also said to cook carrots just a little to help release a chemical in the carrots that help the parrots/birds break it done in there systems a little easier. Carrots are excellent vitamin source. I have a pumpkin, carrot zucchini recipe somewhere my gray and parrotlets loved.

A big caution in using the mini carrot if feeding raw, The mini ones in a bag get that way by going through a peeling and shaping process involving machines. If the machines are not cleaned well it can get contaminated, we had a recall on bagged mini carrots 2 years ago due to salmonella concerns.

If you use the mini's keep an eye on the expiration date, wash them and microwave for about 10 seconds before using them for your birds. Better yet I switched to regular unpeeled carrots, cheaper and I don't have to worry.