Can feeding just eggs be fatal?

[Dayna]

I was told from a breeder to NEVER feed my birds just mashed eggs with the shell but to mix it with a commercial egg food because if I dont do that the eggs by themselves are too moist and my birds will get salmonella. Is there any truth to this at all because many sites on the internet say its fine to feed egg just by itself.

[cindy]

Once the egg is cooked properly the salmonella is destroyed and mainly a concern if the egg is eaten raw....I would be more concerned about bacteria if the eggfood is left out to long.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Egg ... /index.asp

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Foo ... /index.asp

Of course it won't hurt to use dried eggfood or ground pellets in the mashed egg.

[kathmcm]

what you were told doesn't make sense - if you cook the egg thoroughly enough any salmonella bacteria will be killed, and as long as the cooked egg is not recontaminated while being handled or mashed up etc by stray bacteria on surfaces or utensils, it will be safe

not to be an alarmist, but you can ensure for yourself that a mashed up egg is salmonella free but you have to trust a commercial egg food

[CandoAviary]

The breeder may have advised to mix something, commercial eggfood crumbs, corn meal, crackers crumbs...any thing to help dry out the boiled eggs. Sometimes just mashing boiled eggs will leave them very moist and a great place for bacteria growth to take hold...with adding a dry product the eggs will dry out more quickly.
Another way to handle the egg boisture is a tip that a former member Bill (B Camp)suggested, cut the boiled eggs in half and place on a plate, uncovered in the refrigerator. The dehumidify in the fridge will dry the eggs in no time. then they easily crumble.
Also shells that contain a lot of moisture are hard to crunch up into small pieces and the finch can ingest too large of a piece that can cause problems. Dried out eggs or much easier to crush...by you or by the finches beals.

[Dayna]

The breeder may have advised to mix something, commercial eggfood crumbs, corn meal, crackers crumbs...any thing to help dry out the boiled eggs. Sometimes just mashing boiled eggs will leave them very moist and a great place for bacteria growth to take hold...with adding a dry product the eggs will dry out more quickly.
Another way to handle the egg boisture is a tip that a former member Bill (B Camp)suggested, cut the boiled eggs in half and place on a plate, uncovered in the refrigerator. The dehumidify in the fridge will dry the eggs in no time. then they easily crumble.
Also shells that contain a lot of moisture are hard to crunch up into small pieces and the finch can ingest too large of a piece that can cause problems. Dried out eggs or much easier to crush...by you or by the finches beals.

Thanks Candace. That was really helpful. I will definitely have to try out that method for drying out the eggs some. That also makes a lot more sense to me than just "dont do it or you will kill your birds".

what you were told doesn't make sense - if you cook the egg thoroughly enough any salmonella bacteria will be killed, and as long as the cooked egg is not recontaminated while being handled or mashed up etc by stray bacteria on surfaces or utensils, it will be safe

not to be an alarmist, but you can ensure for yourself that a mashed up egg is salmonella free but you have to trust a commercial egg food

Didn't make any sense to me either but I thought I'd ask other people just to be safe.

Once the egg is cooked properly the salmonella is destroyed and mainly a concern if the egg is eaten raw....I would be more concerned about bacteria if the eggfood is left out to long.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Egg ... /index.asp

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/Foo ... /index.asp

Of course it won't hurt to use dried eggfood or ground pellets in the mashed egg.

Thanks Cindy. Really makes you think twice about how you handle/store your food.

[cindy]

You're welcome Dayna.

[kathmcm]

I'm don't know much about finches yet, certainly not experts like you all, so my perspective to this question is based more on the bacteria.

I had been thinking about this question before this thread started, because with just 2 finches i was trying to figure out a way to give them home made eggfood without a lot of wasted eggs.

It seems to me there are two separate issues - making certain that the ingredients in the egg food aren't contaminated with bacteria, and then making sure that the food doesn't spoil when in with the birds. If you've killed all of the salmonella (or whatever bacteria) by heat when you are making the food, then that bacteria is gone for good. Then the worry is whether the food can pick up and grown new bacteria while in the unsterile cage with unsterile birds. Cracker crumbs mixed in with the smushed egg would absorb some moisture but it will still take some time for the moist crumbs/egg mixture to air dry at room temp. I can see it helping but not eliminating bacterial growth.

So, my question is, does the egg food have to be moist for the birds to eat it? If not, could we dehydrate the mushed egg (or mushed eggs/crumbs/whatever), in a convection oven on low maybe? Or a food dehydrator (we've come this far, we might as well buy something else for the birds. ). The egg food wouldn't start to spoil during the drying process, and we could put excess in the freezer to pull out another day.

Thoughts?

[debbie276]

I don't see why that wouldn't work. When I make my egg food I just add some handfeeding formula to the hard boiled eggs to dry them out a bit. When I feed the mixture I put it thinly on a plate so it gets very dry pretty fast. I only feed what I think they will consume in about an hour or so, keeping the rest in the refrigerator. I put a fresh plate out in the morning.

[ac12]

For dry eggs, I think it will depend on birds. Some want the moist eggs not dry, others will eat dry egg. My societies eat Orlux dry egg food, so for them dried egg would probably work fine. The only way to know is to try giving them dry egg and see if they will eat it.

The only place where the moist egg would be of benefit is for hatchlings, where the moist egg would be easier to regurgitate and because it is wet easier to digest in the chicks vs a dry egg that needs moisture to soften.

I also use the method of putting a shelled boiled egg into the fridge for a few hours or overnight, to dry it out some. That way when I chop it up it isn't mushy.

I do 2 or 3 eggs at once, depending on how many birds I am feeding at the time. My wife get the whites of one of the eggs, I get the yoke for the birds, so reduce the 2 or 3 eggs by the egg white that my wife gets. The eggs get chopped up in a mini-foodprocessor with a teaspoon of corn meal to absorb moisture. I put in into a plastic food tub that is lined w paper towels, to absorb more moisture. This lasts me 3 or 4 days.

[kathmcm]

I haven't found anything yet that my green singers WON'T eat

I'll have to do some experimenting. I want to find a way to make up a good sized batch of egg food, dehydrate it, and store it in the freezer so that i can take a little out at a time.

[debbie276]

My wife get the whites of one of the eggs, I get the yoke for the birds.

There is more protein in the whites then the yolk.

[Dayna]

I haven't found anything yet that my green singers WON'T eat

I'll have to do some experimenting. I want to find a way to make up a good sized batch of egg food, dehydrate it, and store it in the freezer so that i can take a little out at a time.

I wouldn't make a huge batch and freeze it to start out with. When you freeze eggs and then unfreeze them the consistency changes and your birds may refuse to eat it if they don't like it so it would turn out to be a huge waste for you.

[Sally]

My birds all like a much drier homemade eggfood, so I add lots of dry ingredients. I put the eggfood in their cages in the morning, and it stays all day and through the night, being replaced with fresh food the next morning. I have not had problems with this.

I have always made up fresh eggfood, but I go through a lot. Last night, I boiled 3 dozen eggs, added the dry ingredients, and divided it all into 6 freezer containers. One is in the refrigerator, the other five in the freezer. I'll have to see how this works--sure would save me having all this mess every few days!

[cindy]

Sally can I ask what your recipe is? Since my flock has grown I would like something that is not just grated or dried egg.

[Chichireeo]

I don't try anything fancy anymore. My GS won't eat second day egg anyway. So i just cook one fresh egg, mash it, leave it for only 1 hour. I myself wouldn't eat eggs left out for too long. The rest of the time there's packaged eggfood free choice. I find the moist food is good for blending in supplements.