my "eggfood"

[HoangQuan]

I wonder does anybody try this before: millet mixed with egg.
Since I live in Vietnam and in here, most of the breeders can't find any kind of eggfoods for finch, I must make my own one . Actually, this is a formula been done so many years by gouldian breeders here, and for me, it works well. So I wanna share it with you.
All I needed is:
- 200gr of cover-free millet
- 5 eggs
- a little bit of sugar and salt
And the process:
Put all the millet in a pot and put it on cooker, turn the fire on, and turn the millet all around using chopsticks.


Using the whole 2 eggs and 3 egg yolks, mix them with a little salt and sugar, then use a fork to whip hard till it has bubles like this


Turn the fire down low


when the millet start to smell good, put all the egg in


Gently turn it around and around and around to mix things up together, it will get a little bit sticky at first


patiently and gently continue mixing all by turning around..dont stop for too long or it'll be burnt..


And after 30 minutes or so, when the millet smells as good as pancake, test it with your finger to know if it's dry enough or not. when it dries, all the millet-seed wont stick with each other anymore, or at least, stick together by 2 or 3 seeds.
And it's done


Wait till the millet get cool, and then put it all to a jar and keep in the fridge. It can be used as long as 1 month.

I feed my finches this "eggfood" millet everyday, together with the basic seed mix, and salad, softfood making with boiled eggs and carrots will only be provide at weekend(when I have much spare time ). So far as I see, my birds love it, especialy when they're breeding.
So, what do you think?

[lovemyfinch]

I think I am going to try a batch today....sound extremely yummy..for fids.

[Ursula]

That sounds like a great idea, "scrambled eggs with millet"... I think I have to try that too.

What do you mean with "cover-freed" millet? Is that a typo and should read "cover free" and you mean that the seed shell has been removed?

[B CAMP]

I get hulled millet at the health food store they realy like it when feeding chicks, the recipe sounds good will try soon

[HoangQuan]

Ursula, shame on me, that's a typo , you're right.

[Ursula]

I think I have to try that too.

I make my own eggfood mix as well. I mix mashed hard boiled egg about half and half with cooked organic whole wheat couscous, then add fine grated carrots, a little dried parsley, and just enough cornmeal to make the mix crumbly. My budgies raised their young on that mix, and my finches seem to like it too.

I forgot to mention that I really like your instructions with the pictures! Very nice!!

[Domenic]

That's sounds really good, I'll try that one day and see how the finches like it!

[Animal Quackers]

I really like your instructions with the pictures! Very nice!!

Me too...and it looks so good that I might want to eat it MYSELF for breakfast!

[Sally]

Another interesting eggfood to try! Why do you use 2 whole eggs and only the yolks on the other 3 eggs? Why not use 5 whole eggs?

[ikhom]

Looks nice . I'm going to try it on my next batch.

[lovemyfinch]

I have to ask, will this recipe work if instead of hulled millet we were to soak it instead.

[cindy]

I have a question...I love pure/organic honey, could I use it instead of the sugar. Do you think it would work....this recipe sounds good!

[AndreasLon]

That looks great!
I even have chopsticks to mix it with (as per your instructions)

I am sure you can soak the seed and substitute the sugar with honey (just two different type of sugars).

My understanding is that egg food is basically food that is easily digested by chicks (hence why we use soaked, boiled, cooked or ground seeds such as flour or cous cous) and then increase the protein content by adding eggs, insect paste, live food etc.

That way we provide chicks with easily digested food that has less carbohydrates than seed alone (as they are not active in the nest they need less carbs) and more protein to build their growing bodies with.

I'd probably leave the sugar and the definitely the salt out divide it in half and add a pinch of vitamin powder to substitute some of lost vitamins due to the cooking process.

The other half I'd add some honey and salt and eat it myself!

Right, I can't believe that speaking of egg food makes me hungry, this is sign that it's time to cook dinner.

[HoangQuan]

AndreasLon, thank you so much for answering to Janine and Cindy for me. Yes, we can soak the millet, but Im not sure about how long we can store the finished product in the fridge, I think as long as we make it dry enough, that's fine. And cindy, using honey instead of sugar is great, but don't use too much in one batch . And AndreasLon, I usually add vitamin powder to this eggfood to feed my finch, too, but after it's done, not in the cooking process:); sugar and salt just make it more tasty , I didnt use much.

@Sally: If we use the whole 5 eggs, the finished product will not smell good, because, you know, the egg white doesnt smell so good itself. Some of my friends use only egg yolk, but the truth is, we all know that egg white contains as much as 15% protein, and rich of nutritions, so why wasting it just because it not smell so good? That's the reason I used two eggs and 3 egg yolks.

[cindy]

Thank you also for answering my question about honey!