Fun ways to serve vegetables

[HeatherG]

Some vegetables are naturally fun to eat. You can serve them in ways that appeal to birds but let them have some chewing and destructive fun.

Today I cooked up some sweet corn. Sweet corn is fun to eat and can be left au naturel for foraging fun. Give appropriate serving sizes to your birds. These can be skewered or served from a dish.

I cooled the cobs briefly in cold water. Then I cleaned up the ends and sliced some of it into wheels. For my small birds, I halved those wheels. Corn is a high carb vegetable and my little guys don’t need a whole wheel. I Put those slices back into cold water for a bit before packaging in a freezer bag and placing into the freezer. Labeled “8.6.22 cooked sweet corn wheels”.

 

[bonitabird59]

Ooooo I love this idea!! I usually offer corn just loose from the cans (I like the o-organics canned sweet corn!) and my budgies will go for it but my GCC is high maintenance. Thanks for the inspiration! Do you have any recommendations for other veggies? Thanks!!

 

[HeatherG]

Ooooo I love this idea!! I usually offer corn just loose from the cans (I like the o-organics canned sweet corn!) and my budgies will go for it but my GCC is high maintenance. Thanks for the inspiration! Do you have any recommendations for other veggies? Thanks!!

I cut cherry tomatoes in half so my small birds can see the seeds. Otherwise my green cheeked conure (in past) would not eat them. That might work for budgies and cockatiels, too.

Zucchini and cucumber I cut into similar slices so the seeds are visible because the seeds are enjoyed more than the flesh by some parrots.

Mostly I store away some fresh foods while I have them available—like in summer, or if I’m making stew or carrots or something—and freeze in a single layer in a freezer bag. Then I have some bags of vegetables or fruit/ berries prepared and can thaw individual chunks for dinner.

 

[aussie_wings]

I've been looking for some ideas about this. Kakarikis love to forage, apparently, and ours loves his vegetables, which we give him every morning. If anyone has any suggestions for doing this.

I'm looking on Pinterest and seeing people using ~4 paper bathroom cups, skewered, each with a different veggie inside. Also seeing toilet paper rolls (which I tried and he liked, but my boyfriend doesn't want him to have anything that would be dangerous if ingested in his cage).

I considered using a rind of a watermelon or peel of a banana, but these are said to often have pesticides and other chemicals on them...

I'm thinking maybe I could use multiple types of fruits and veggies he likes tucked inside one another?

I really have no idea.

 

[zERo]

I've been looking for some ideas about this. Kakarikis love to forage, apparently, and ours loves his vegetables, which we give him every morning. If anyone has any suggestions for doing this.

I'm looking on Pinterest and seeing people using ~4 paper bathroom cups, skewered, each with a different veggie inside. Also seeing toilet paper rolls (which I tried and he liked, but my boyfriend doesn't want him to have anything that would be dangerous if ingested in his cage).

I considered using a rind of a watermelon or peel of a banana, but these are said to often have pesticides and other chemicals on them...

I'm thinking maybe I could use multiple types of fruits and veggies he likes tucked inside one another?

I really have no idea.

I use plain paper cupcake liners and pop a treat, you could use veggies, in each then twist them shut.

 

[Cottonoid]

I've used corn husks wrapped around food.

And toys on top of food in bowls - I have some cheap small bowls placed here and there, and put different toys or crumpled paper on top of the food.

Oh I almost forgot - sticking chunks of veggies through cage bars! I clip favorites to the cage and he acts like he thinks he's super sneaky getting them right in front of me

 

[HeatherG]

Yup. I’ve got small Dixie cups, off season cupcake liners, and corn husks to make foraging bundles. The one thing you need to consider is that you don’t want old food sitting around in the cage so you could wrap up only things like nuts, pumpkin seeds, dried fruits; or you could just make sure all get removed after a few hours.

My greenCheeked conure really loved the little foraging boxes sold in bulk packs; and they all like the little raisin or candy boxes with a few raisins or some fruit inside, hung up in the cage and shook on front of the bird to show there’s something yummy inside.

 

[Percival the great]

As fun hand held toys for my sennie I get thick corrugated cardboard and cut out small shapes then stuff them with treats, veg, fruit, he loves shredding it.

 

[HeatherG]

As fun hand held toys for my sennie I get thick corrugated cardboard and cut out small shapes then stuff them with treats, veg, fruit, he loves shredding it.

How do you stuff them? I don’t understand. It sounds like a good idea, though.

 

[Percival the great]

How do you stuff them? I don’t understand. It sounds like a good idea, though.

I get the really thick cardboard like inch thick it looks like honey cone shape if you tear away the thin layer, and sunflower seeds work best and I kinda just stuff it in the sharp end of the seed first. Sorry for the late reply!

 

[onamom]

This is a great idea @HeatherG! I want to try making some for Ona