Gouldian mating behavior?

[annague]

Good deal. Just be aware that food is susceptible to mold after it's been out for a while and mold can be fatal for birds so normally you want to make sure their veggies are fresh and then remove the food before the next day (general rule). Some people say just a few hours so I guess it depends on the type of food and how cautious you want to be...

Hope your birds are doing great!

[B CAMP]

Mine eat the egg food and miracle meal with sprouts and the greens kale- cabbage- collards -broccoli what ever i have at the time chopped real small mixed together next to the egg food

[DCbeachboy]

Just be aware that food is susceptible to mold after it's been out for a while and mold can be fatal for birds so normally you want to make sure their veggies are fresh and then remove the food before the next day (general rule). Some people say just a few hours so I guess it depends on the type of food and how cautious you want to be.

Good reminder. Yes, I was aware of that, but would a kale leaf suspended from the cage roof under a UV bulb still be susceptible to mold? How long is acceptable to keep a leaf hanging in that way -- 1 day? 2?

BTW, I took down the 3-day-old dried kale leaf after seeing your message, Anna, and put up a fresh leaf. Oddly, both birds soon began nibbling on the fresh leaf as well -- the first time I'd ever seen either of them really try fresh kale! They still nibble the fake plants somewhat, but for the most part they now have switched over to the kale.

So it seems to be a case of them just getting used to the leaf as a new item in their cage. My mistake in the past was not leaving a leaf up there every day for them to get used to the idea. Now that I know, I'll make a point to leave one up there more regularly so they don't regard it as an intruder in their cage when I hang it.

Thanks again to all for the input.

[annague]

Hmmm.... not sure about how long it would be before mold took a kale leaf in such a situation -- I just try to keep their food as fresh as possible and remove stuff once a day (at the latest).

They say the birds often know when NOT to eat something but I have no sure knowledge that this is true although it sounds right.

[B CAMP]

Now that they know that its food maybe they will eat more in a day ,I remove mine at the end of day. I chop what ever kinds of greens into real small pieces mine seem to eat more variety like that all mixed together,it keeps in a baggie in fridg. for 3 or 4 days
But what ever works as long as they eat there greens

[DCbeachboy]

It's quite amazing, but they've really taken to whole-leaf fresh kale now! They'll nibble on it very frequently throughout the day, often for 30-45 minutes at a time. They're turning into little green monsters -- the kale is staining the edges of their beaks green, and even their poop has turned largely dark green in the past couple of days.

I know that spinach and some other greens can interfere with calcium absorption....I'm hoping that's not the case with kale? If so, I'll need to limit the days I make it available to them. They've learned to enjoy it so much I've been keeping a leaf hanging every day, changing it every couple of days -- though I do inspect it closely for mold on the start of the second day just to be sure.

I only buy organic, but wash and dry it thoroughly before hanging. It dries out rather quickly hanging directly under the 2 fluorescent bulbs -- one UV bulb and one daylight bulb. They seem to enjoy it even more on the second day than they do the first.