is there a safe fruit and/or veggie to feed on a daily basis

[Musetta]

Hi all,

So, I am still trying to figure out this fresh food thing. I am familiar with the Safe/Toxic/Unsafe Foods on the finch info page, although it seems to list only foods that finches may have in moderation (or not at all). Is there any fruit or veggie that is safe to feed to them every day? Of course, I feed them a seed/pellet diet as well, in addition to their cuttlebone, millet spray and the occasional egg food.

Thanks!

[Martie]

Greens are always good and can be fed every day. Just take it easy with spinach - but kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, endive, etc... shredded carrots are good... corn... lots of choices!

[Musetta]

Oh, really? I thought kale and carrots were on the safe in moderation list? Maybe I am not remembering correctly...

[cindy]

I rotate the selection so they don't get bored. Mine love romaine the best. I use kale, frozen veggies, brown rice, soaked quinoa, shaved broccoli tops and grated carrrots throughout the week

[chirpy]

How much is "moderation" does this mean once a week is OK?

I am currently sprouting some seeds in hope they like it. I am staring at it like a science experiment!

[Perfex]

I feed greens every single day. Broccoli and bell pepper is on the menu daily. I rotate out other veg like kale, frozen corn/peas and fruit like papaya or whatever is on hand to add variety and nutrition.
Veggies are good! Right now I'm still finishing up the kale that's left in the garden and so they get it 4/7 days +/- the kale is good and healthy. It's the spinach you need to ration.
My parrot finches in particular are real vege lovers and have trained my other birds to eat more healthfully too.
What is left over on the cutting board after filling all the dishes goes in with the dog food.

[Martie]

Cindy, Thank you for mentioning the Quinoa - I forgot that! Do you just soak it? I've been cooking it - maybe I don't need to do that?

[Musetta]

Argh. To be honest, my main problem is that I don't care for most vegetables (at least not by themselves) and I don't eat much fruit on a regular basis. I know, I know. The finches eat a much more well-balanced diet than I do. But anyway, this means that I am limited to the stuff my husband buys to go in his smoothies, as I just end up wasting most of them otherwise bc I can't give them to my finches often enough to make much of a dent before the food goes bad! They LOVE spinach, and my husband puts it in his smoothies, so that's always on hand, but I don't give it to them more than once a week. We get kale when we go to Costco, but our last bag perished before I got a tenth of the way through it! I like apples but...they don't. We always have bananas on hand but...they don't like those either! They do seem to like cheese (which I realize is not a fruit or a veggie, but at least the finches and I can agree on how good cheese is!). How often is it safe to give them cheese? My second problem is that I am hopelessly inept in the kitchen. Seriously. Husband does all the grocery shopping and cooking. So when you say shaved broccoli tops, quinoa, and grated carrots, cindy, I'm like,wait, there are STEPS involved? Martie, I'm not even just really sure what collard greens and endive are. chirpy, sprouting seeds=complicated (to me). I am mostly not even joking. Oh! perfex, bell pepper is ok daily? I think we have some of that...hopefully I don't confuse it with some other kind of pepper.

I should probably just stop this confessional right now bc I am embarrassing myself. But seriously, is it safe to give them kale, lettuce, broccoli, and/or carrots every day? Is spinach the only veggie on the "somewhat safe" list that I should really limit? Sigh...I'm hopeless! But surely I can handle single-step veggies. ... ...

[Martie]

Rachel, I remember this - before I had so many birds, it was difficult to get them greens because I had to buy so much. I found other things, though, that worked. At many grocery stores, you can utilize bulk greens where you just package what you want out of a bin. You can take just a little. If you are shopping for fresh broccoli, just take a small crown. Micro greens can work. Expand your husband's smoothie recipes (Just kidding!)

You can also feed frozen veggies. Frozen peas and corn are wonderful and you can just take out what you need and put the rest back in the freezer for next time.

Think of just a few things to try - then you can expand as you get comfortable. I would think it OK to feed spinach once a week - and if you just get a few other things that are manageable sizes, you can rotate throughout a week.

Hope that helps. Sometimes you just have to dive in and go for it.

Keep us posted!

[Musetta]

Martie, thanks! So I can give them the frozen veggies...still frozen? Or do I have to cook them?

[Martie]

You can feed them raw - some people microwave them for a few seconds or run warm water over them to thaw them out - but they really thaw pretty fast without that. You could feed them straight from the freezer - they will thaw quickly.

[chirpy]

Musetta I know the feeling, I am your husband in our house no oft eats veggies... So it's like I don't even bother buying from the supermarket cause usually its about enough for a family of four or so and when it's just me that's just too much green! My daughter eats fruits so its always available but they don't like bananas, but my female likes apples she pecks away!
The sprouting (night 2), well I did lentils last night and I woke up this morning to NO SPROUTS! So I got pee-offed so I went ahead to try bird seed omitting pellets by hand lol annoying job. Come afternoon the lentils sprouted a little so I should be able to give it to them tomorrow I hope! It wasn't hard to do.. I even snacked on a few!

[cindy]

I warm the frozen veggies in a pan of water on the stove for a bit...today I served brown rice and mixed veggies (were frozen in a bag) to everyone, the budgies, scarlets, bourkes downed it as did most of my finches.

[Perfex]

You mentioned that you're a Costco shopper. That's where I buy my bag of broccoli and bell peppers. They're the big roundish red ones that come to 6 to a pack. Or you can get red, yellow, green packs etc. the bell peppers last two weeks in the frigde. But we eat them too so its on our weekly shopping list.

[debbie276]

How much is "moderation" does this mean once a week is OK?

Everything in moderation, once or twice a week.