So last night I made my very first batch of bird CHOP!!! Behold...
The ingredients....
- One package of frozen mixed veggies (peas, corn, green beans, carrots)
- 1 cup broccoli
- 1/2 cup cauliflower
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 Mango
- 1 cup red quinoa
- 1 cup whole grain pasta (angel hair)
- 1 cup 9 bean soup mix
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
- 1/3 cup spray millet
- 1/2 cup Tropimix seed/pellet mix
How I did it:
1. I soaked the beans overnight, then rinsed them thoroughly.
2. I boiled the beans, red quinoa (rinsed), and pasta in water, all separately. The beans cooked for 30 minutes, the quinoa for 15, the pasta for 10.
3. As they were cooking, I peeled the sweet potato and chopped it up in the food processor. I threw that into a very large mixing bowl (raw), along with the frozen veggies.
4. I chopped up the broccoli, cauliflower, and mango in the food processor and put into the big bowl.
5. After the grains and beans were done cooking, they were all drained, rinsed, and went over top everything in the bowl.
6. I added the dry ingredients -- oats, flax seed, millet and seed/pellet mix.
7. Husband helped me mix thoroughly
8. I put 2 cups of chop into each freezer bag and threw them all (but one) into the freezer done!
Here's another shot of the mix....
And here's how much I got out of this batch. About 7 1/2 bags!
So I have two birds -- a male and female cockatiel. They have been fed a seed/pellet mix their entire life, and I just felt as though I wanted to give them the nutrition they deserved. I researched different recipes for chop and came up with something I could handle, not too many ingredients, but enough to give them a good well-rounded base.
I tried to stick with the formula of 40% vegetables, 10% fruit, 40% grains/beans and 10% dry ingredients.
I think I made enough for a month, maybe a little more. I'm not really sure yet as its my first real batch. Because my birds are not accustomed to a chop diet yet and aren't huge on new stuff, I am transitioning them into it. I used the 3:1 ratio of their old seed/pellets and chop and mixed it all together so the seeds ended up sticking to the chop.
Here they are pigging out on it this morning:
I'm not sure how they like it so far, but they were eating from the moment I filled their bowl to when I left for work, so I can only assume it was good to them. I will slowly transition them until they are eating all chop in the morning, and then I will add fresh chopped veggies and a little fruit with it, as I know chop is meant to be a BASE, and not the only source of nutrition. But overall, I am SO happy with how it turned out and how the birds seem to like it!!
So, what I learned from my first batch of CHOP:
- It really helped getting all of my ingredients one day, and preparing the chop another day.
-I probably won't use angel hair pasta again. I think it added more moisture than spiral pasta would have. (The only reason I got it was because my local grocer is smaller than the one across town but also lacks the variety of pasta at the other store. I had to make do)
- I think I was supposed to soak the quinoa overnight with the beans (separate), but I did rinse them and cooked per package instructions.
- The mango was very wet. I think next time I will use less moisture-laden fruits, like strawberries or something.
- I think next time I use sweet potato I'll cook it so its softer.
-It took me way less time than I thought it would take. I was seriously ready for a 3 hour chop session but I started cooking the grains at 7:30 and got done with mixing and bagging by 9pm.
Overall....
This was such a fun experience and actually really EASY! I do have smaller birds and only two of them, so I think that makes it a little easier. I am going to continue my CHOP Chronicles in the hopes of helping others figure out how to do it, and every time I make a new batch I will be posting it here in this thread! As I'm a beginner to this, I would love tips and advice, too! Thanks guys for reading this long post!!
The ingredients....
- One package of frozen mixed veggies (peas, corn, green beans, carrots)
- 1 cup broccoli
- 1/2 cup cauliflower
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 Mango
- 1 cup red quinoa
- 1 cup whole grain pasta (angel hair)
- 1 cup 9 bean soup mix
- 1/2 cup oats
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
- 1/3 cup spray millet
- 1/2 cup Tropimix seed/pellet mix
How I did it:
1. I soaked the beans overnight, then rinsed them thoroughly.
2. I boiled the beans, red quinoa (rinsed), and pasta in water, all separately. The beans cooked for 30 minutes, the quinoa for 15, the pasta for 10.
3. As they were cooking, I peeled the sweet potato and chopped it up in the food processor. I threw that into a very large mixing bowl (raw), along with the frozen veggies.
4. I chopped up the broccoli, cauliflower, and mango in the food processor and put into the big bowl.
5. After the grains and beans were done cooking, they were all drained, rinsed, and went over top everything in the bowl.
6. I added the dry ingredients -- oats, flax seed, millet and seed/pellet mix.
7. Husband helped me mix thoroughly
8. I put 2 cups of chop into each freezer bag and threw them all (but one) into the freezer
done!Here's another shot of the mix....
And here's how much I got out of this batch. About 7 1/2 bags!
So I have two birds -- a male and female cockatiel. They have been fed a seed/pellet mix their entire life, and I just felt as though I wanted to give them the nutrition they deserved. I researched different recipes for chop and came up with something I could handle, not too many ingredients, but enough to give them a good well-rounded base.
I tried to stick with the formula of 40% vegetables, 10% fruit, 40% grains/beans and 10% dry ingredients.
I think I made enough for a month, maybe a little more. I'm not really sure yet as its my first real batch. Because my birds are not accustomed to a chop diet yet and aren't huge on new stuff, I am transitioning them into it. I used the 3:1 ratio of their old seed/pellets and chop and mixed it all together so the seeds ended up sticking to the chop.
Here they are pigging out on it this morning:
I'm not sure how they like it so far, but they were eating from the moment I filled their bowl to when I left for work, so I can only assume it was good to them. I will slowly transition them until they are eating all chop in the morning, and then I will add fresh chopped veggies and a little fruit with it, as I know chop is meant to be a BASE, and not the only source of nutrition. But overall, I am SO happy with how it turned out and how the birds seem to like it!!
So, what I learned from my first batch of CHOP:
- It really helped getting all of my ingredients one day, and preparing the chop another day.
-I probably won't use angel hair pasta again. I think it added more moisture than spiral pasta would have. (The only reason I got it was because my local grocer is smaller than the one across town but also lacks the variety of pasta at the other store. I had to make do)
- I think I was supposed to soak the quinoa overnight with the beans (separate), but I did rinse them and cooked per package instructions.
- The mango was very wet. I think next time I will use less moisture-laden fruits, like strawberries or something.
- I think next time I use sweet potato I'll cook it so its softer.
-It took me way less time than I thought it would take. I was seriously ready for a 3 hour chop session but I started cooking the grains at 7:30 and got done with mixing and bagging by 9pm.
Overall....
This was such a fun experience and actually really EASY! I do have smaller birds and only two of them, so I think that makes it a little easier. I am going to continue my CHOP Chronicles in the hopes of helping others figure out how to do it, and every time I make a new batch I will be posting it here in this thread! As I'm a beginner to this, I would love tips and advice, too! Thanks guys for reading this long post!!
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