ScooterMcTavish
New member
Since having Monty, Mrs. Scooter has tried making chop a few times with little success. There is something in the ingredients or the preparation that for some reason the birds didn't like.
So based on a list of foods Cockatoos like, I made some chop last night for our new RB2, and of course Monty. Net result was I've never seen Monty eat so much. I think he pretty much ate nonstop for about 45 minutes. Obviously we had a winner here.
For future chops I may try upping the amount of veg, and lowering the amount of carbs. That being said, all the carbs are healthy and not starchy, and it seems to freeze and reheat well (tried this AM). The recipe was pretty simple. For the grains, these were the dry volumes, so after adding water, the quantity was higher than that listed.
Chop
1 small bag shredded mini carrots
1.5 cups barley
1.5 cups brown rice
1.5 cups red lentils
1 med bag radishes
1 white turnip
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
3 ears of corn
1 clamshell package spring salad mix
1.5 cups rolled oats
1 large handful green beans
I laid down the base of the rolled oats first, as I knew they would be good to absorb any extra moisture from any of the cooked grains. In fact, the only cooked item that was a bit wet was the lentils - I may try and cook them to a bit firmer next time so they don't mash up into the chop.
So the barley, rice and lentils were all cooked, and everything else was added raw. I also decided on fresh corn vs frozen and cut the kernels off by hand.
Some suggest blending the chop super fine so that everything gets mixed together. However, Monty rejected this consistency of this when Mrs. Scooter made it, so I chopped everything in the food processor to small, but still recognizable bits. He appeared to eat some of everything, including carrots (which he normally hates), and also looked like he enjoyed the foraging aspect of it.
As suggested by others, I also dusted the chop with unsweetened coconut, and mixed in a tiny bit of coconut oil before serving.
Monty "helping" me package the chop:
And him not even pretending to help any more:
So based on a list of foods Cockatoos like, I made some chop last night for our new RB2, and of course Monty. Net result was I've never seen Monty eat so much. I think he pretty much ate nonstop for about 45 minutes. Obviously we had a winner here.
For future chops I may try upping the amount of veg, and lowering the amount of carbs. That being said, all the carbs are healthy and not starchy, and it seems to freeze and reheat well (tried this AM). The recipe was pretty simple. For the grains, these were the dry volumes, so after adding water, the quantity was higher than that listed.
Chop
1 small bag shredded mini carrots
1.5 cups barley
1.5 cups brown rice
1.5 cups red lentils
1 med bag radishes
1 white turnip
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
3 ears of corn
1 clamshell package spring salad mix
1.5 cups rolled oats
1 large handful green beans
I laid down the base of the rolled oats first, as I knew they would be good to absorb any extra moisture from any of the cooked grains. In fact, the only cooked item that was a bit wet was the lentils - I may try and cook them to a bit firmer next time so they don't mash up into the chop.
So the barley, rice and lentils were all cooked, and everything else was added raw. I also decided on fresh corn vs frozen and cut the kernels off by hand.
Some suggest blending the chop super fine so that everything gets mixed together. However, Monty rejected this consistency of this when Mrs. Scooter made it, so I chopped everything in the food processor to small, but still recognizable bits. He appeared to eat some of everything, including carrots (which he normally hates), and also looked like he enjoyed the foraging aspect of it.
As suggested by others, I also dusted the chop with unsweetened coconut, and mixed in a tiny bit of coconut oil before serving.
Monty "helping" me package the chop:
And him not even pretending to help any more:
