Fav foods and preperation techniques etc

[GCC2012]

Ok so before I found my GCC about 6 months ago my family consisted of just me, my Husband and Border Collie Bow.
My husband is a crazy fussy eater and it drives me crazy, as I am the opposite and LOVE trying new foods and having variety. He on the other hand is a meat and veg man and not that interested in trying new things.
Then there is Bow my baby girl (actually about to turn 9, wow time flys) who is kind of in the same category as my husband, she just loves her regulars!
So having baby Perseus come into the house has been a thrill that I can offer him up all sorts of goodies, but also new to me as I'm usually cooking the same old same old.
I'd love to hear from you all what your conures fav 'human' foods are and how you go about preperation for them: raw, steamed, mashed etc.
Also any advice on storage times would be great. I only keep stewed or mashed fruit and veg in the fridge for 24 hours but feel I may be being wasteful, just better to be safe than sorry when I'm not sure is the theory I go with!
Perseus to date is in love with green seedless grapes, strawberries and raw brocolli, i'd say these so far are the 'human foods' he is most enthused about.
Let me know what your Conures go nuts for and I'll be sure to make an offering to mine!

 

[Luke252]

Well at work our Conures, whether they're Green Cheek, Sun, Janday etc, they all seem to go nuts for Passion Fruit. They love the stuff. I also find that when we have Suns in, they go particularly crazy for the broccoli. Any Fruits and veges are worth a try though (With the exception of avocado and lettuce). And as far as storage, if well sealed, most fruit and veges should be good for up to 48 hours. Probably still being a little safe though

 

[GCC2012]

Thanks Luke, I'll up my storage to 48hrs then, i thought i was being a bit paranoid but have no kids or bird history so have never really stored chopped or cooked foods.
How many birds/ breeds do you have? You said 'at work' are you lucky enough to take them into work with you?
We are self employed so as Perseus has settled in the last couple of months I'm thinking it may be time to take him in each day along with out dog who has her home away from home there. If you do transport to and from work and home any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Are your conures ok with the seeds/pips in the passionfruit? I read some pips are bad for them but would love to offer Perseus some passion fruit, I love it myself!
Tonight I offered mashed sweet potato and broccoli which was well greeted but after further inspection I think the little bugger was just pickin out the broccoli, one of his favs!
I also put up for trial papaya but he didn't seem keen at all, I'll give a cpl more shots before I write it off the menu!

 

[kiwiS]

I grind up veggies like kale, broccoli, carrots, jalapenos with fruits like blueberries and raspberries, then put them in ice cube trays and freeze them. I also do this with cooked sweet potato, squash, wild rice, quinoa, pasta. It makes about 10 days worth of food - feeding twice a day a serving of veggie mix and sweetpotato/squash/carbs mix. All i have to do is add a little water and microwave, then toss in a few extra fresh stuff I am eating that day (apple, carrot, cucumber..etc.), oh and fresh sprouts, and a piece of crushed raw pasta.

^.^

 

[kq_fan]

Well my GCC loves yogurt and wheat thins but both are just a once a week snack. He LOVES water melon though!

 

[Gizmomania]

Red seedless grapes, blueberries, sugar snap peas and sprouted lentils are their absolute favorite foods. As for snacks: Nutriberries. They each get one per day.

 

[kellie]

kiwis- how much do you grind them up? I have a food processor, but I'm never sure how small the pieces should be... bite size? mush?

 

[Gizmomania]

I also freeze mash in ice cube trays. Just did 72 cubes of mash this morning.

 

[kiwiS]

kellie: I get it all chopped up as small as I can so I can mix it all together nicely, to make it harder on her picking out only the stuff she likes. She does like to hold food in her foot and pick at it though, so I make sure I put in a few bigger pieces of fresh fruit and veggies to keep it interesting

 

[Luke252]

Thanks Luke, I'll up my storage to 48hrs then, i thought i was being a bit paranoid but have no kids or bird history so have never really stored chopped or cooked foods.
How many birds/ breeds do you have? You said 'at work' are you lucky enough to take them into work with you?
We are self employed so as Perseus has settled in the last couple of months I'm thinking it may be time to take him in each day along with out dog who has her home away from home there. If you do transport to and from work and home any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Are your conures ok with the seeds/pips in the passionfruit? I read some pips are bad for them but would love to offer Perseus some passion fruit, I love it myself!
Tonight I offered mashed sweet potato and broccoli which was well greeted but after further inspection I think the little bugger was just pickin out the broccoli, one of his favs!
I also put up for trial papaya but he didn't seem keen at all, I'll give a cpl more shots before I write it off the menu!

Oh, I don't actually personally own any conures, but we have them all the time at work. My main job at work is looking after all the birds, as well as talking to and assisting customers. I do regularly bring my own birds into work, but thats cause I work at a pet store (I probably should have mentioned that earlier). So we constantly have many types of Conures in that I both care for and handle. From my experience with handling conures, they love the passion fruit. The seeds or pips in the passion fruit tend to get avoided by the Conures. They simply don't touch them, but just for safety, I'd remove them incase. And yeah just keep trying different fruits and veges, in the end it usually comes down to the individual bird. Although I have looked after over 20 or so different conures, each has had their own individual taste for Furits and veges.

 

[kellie]

View attachment 8218
Lukahs first ice cube mash tray! Jalapeños, raspberries, carrot, kale, broccoli, and apple!

If he likes it or not has yet to be determined!

 

[kiwiS]

mmm looks yummy! Lukah sure is a lucky ducky!

 

[kellie]

Not sure if he quite agrees with you yet! He was wary of it at first and then started picking at it as I left for work! I'm going to make another mix with beans and quinoa pasta too!

 

[GCC2012]

Yum Kellie, Lukah sure is lucky that looks like something I would enjoy! I'm so glad I posted this thread, I hadn't thought of the icetray idea that's brilliant.
The last couple of days I offered Perseus a sweet potato and brocolli mix and he wsn't keen at all, I'm sit sure if it's the texture or the sweet potato flavour he doesn't like but I'll keep offereing different mixes till we get it right and then I'll use the ice tray trick for sure.
What is Kale? I'm not sure if we have it in Australia or maybe we call it a different name (like your cilantro we call corriander).

 

[Calace]

Yum Kellie, Lukah sure is lucky that looks like something I would enjoy! I'm so glad I posted this thread, I hadn't thought of the icetray idea that's brilliant.
The last couple of days I offered Perseus a sweet potato and brocolli mix and he wsn't keen at all, I'm sit sure if it's the texture or the sweet potato flavour he doesn't like but I'll keep offereing different mixes till we get it right and then I'll use the ice tray trick for sure.
What is Kale? I'm not sure if we have it in Australia or maybe we call it a different name (like your cilantro we call corriander).

Kale is still called kale in Aus but it's not readily available. I think it's a member of the cabbage family Anyway, you can SOMETIMES find it in Woollies or Coles but rarely!

 

[Chipper10]

I grind up veggies like kale, broccoli, carrots, jalapenos with fruits like blueberries and raspberries, then put them in ice cube trays and freeze them. I also do this with cooked sweet potato, squash, wild rice, quinoa, pasta. It makes about 10 days worth of food - feeding twice a day a serving of veggie mix and sweetpotato/squash/carbs mix. All i have to do is add a little water and microwave, then toss in a few extra fresh stuff I am eating that day (apple, carrot, cucumber..etc.), oh and fresh sprouts, and a piece of crushed raw pasta.

^.^

I love this idea!
I have a dumb question though. Do I just thaw the cubes in a small dish? I guess my question is what type of consistency should I be shooting for? Sort of a mush but with some texture, ie adding fresh extra stuff?

 

[GCC2012]

Kale is still called kale in Aus but it's not readily available. I think it's a member of the cabbage family Anyway, you can SOMETIMES find it in Woollies or Coles but rarely![/QUOTE]

Wow I don't think I've ever seen it. Have you or your birds tried it in the past when it's been available?

 

[kellie]

You can just microwave them! put them in a small dish with a tiny bit of water and a paper towel over it and put it in for like 30 seconds!

Also I made mine so the consistency is like tiny bite size pieces so that Lukah can't pick out just the pieces of apple and eat them (which he would totally do! haha) Really it depends on what your bird likes!

 

[kellie]

Yum Kellie, Lukah sure is lucky that looks like something I would enjoy! I'm so glad I posted this thread, I hadn't thought of the icetray idea that's brilliant.
The last couple of days I offered Perseus a sweet potato and brocolli mix and he wsn't keen at all, I'm sit sure if it's the texture or the sweet potato flavour he doesn't like but I'll keep offereing different mixes till we get it right and then I'll use the ice tray trick for sure.
What is Kale? I'm not sure if we have it in Australia or maybe we call it a different name (like your cilantro we call corriander).

Kale is kind of like... lettuce or spinach... but with a stronger flavor and it's better overall health wise (I think) but if it's not readily available you could definitely just use spinach or romaine lettuce! I think Lukah would actually like the mix more if I put spinach in because he likes spinach a lot more than kale, but kale was on sale!

 

[GCC2012]

I love this idea!
I have a dumb question though. Do I just thaw the cubes in a small dish? I guess my question is what type of consistency should I be shooting for? Sort of a mush but with some texture, ie adding fresh extra stuff?[/QUOTE]

Hey Tyler - brilliant idea the ice trays hey!? I think you could defrost or just zap in the microwave from what I've read. Texture wise I think your conure may have to decide! Everyone has been saying their birds go nuts for sweet potato so I have been trying that mashed but Perseus doesn't seem keen. I'll have to try it in chunks next to determine if its the texture of mash or the taste he's not into.
i had trouble getting Percy to eat his nutriblend pallets at first then got a tip off a Conure owner at our pet supply store to mix it with stewed apples. Now he loves it so I'm not sure if it's the change in texture or taste that is appealing to him? Either ways its great for him and he's eating it so I'm not phased!
So much personality with these lovely creatures, someone whould open a restaurant for parrots and their owners to try more foods prepared in different ways!