What am I going to feed him?!?!?!?

[PicklesParrot]

So I am going on vacation for the first time in 2 years with my Hubby. I think I've pretty much settled on having my mom keep the little rascal (male eclectus) for the 10 days were gone. Pretty much have no other options and he is familiar with her. Plus she has had a bird before. However I have run into the issue of what to feed him for while I'm gone. I normally make him food every 3-4 days I. I feed him an assortment of fruits in the morning with beans, some kind of oats(steel cut, rolled, something all natural) and at dinner time he gets birdie mash with an assortment of green veggies, sometimes peppers, and orange veggies(either carrots, sweet potato or pumpkin, whatevers available) with some kind of rice or couscous/quinoa and some flax and chia seeds. before bed he gets a small bowl with a few pumkin seeds, sliced almonds, and millet. Also a small peice of corn on the cob during the day between breakfast and dinner.

The problem: I work from home and can keep him on a good feeding schedule. My mom works an 8 hour day.

Can I make a huge batch of the food i feed him and then freeze enough to last for 9-10 days??? He will probabaly have to skip his mid day corn but I think he will be fine with that. I just want to make it easy as possible on my mom. She is a preschool teacher and sometimes has more work to do during the week when she comes home. She has already said to me "I dont have to chop him up food and cook for him every day do I?" kind of negitavely and I ignored her comment and changed the subject because I don't want to inconvienence her too much.

So can I just make a huge batch of his normal food and freeze it in portions for 9-10 days? Or Does anyone have a recipe that will give him what he needs and it will last 9-10 days fresh or frozen?? Should I go get those vosmans eclectus pellet thingies? and he can survive on that??? What the heck do I do?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!!?!??!!? HELP !!! It's getting closer and closer and I'm just trying to figure all this stuff out. This is the first time I have left him for more than a day or night since I got him.

 

[Kalidasa]

I think that would be perfect, because he would be eating the food you prepared yourself, and he won't have the added stress of a diet change. If I had to leave for any length of time, I would definately do exactly that. Maybe separate it in daily portions in separate ziplocks, making it a no-brainier for her.

 

[PicklesParrot]

Oh and another concern! Im home all day. I feed him his morning fruit when I get up and take it out after a couple hours. Well, mom wakes up an hour before she leaves for an 8 hour work day. He's a bit of a slow eater. She can't leave that food in his bowl for 8 hours, it will be so nasty when she gets home. What do I do about that????

 

[Tonkatiel]

I'd ask if she could give the fruit as soon as she wakes up and remove it just before she leaves for work...

Premaking and freezing portions will work fine, I'm home all day every day and I do that lol...

 

[PicklesParrot]

Thank you SO much for the suggestions. Someone on another forum suggested birdie bread and maybe a few pellet just for eckies. I think I will do more reseach and find a good eckie bird bread for his breakfast and also get some good pellets. I can have mom leave that in with him in the morning with a small piece of corn and his mash for dinner. The veggies last longer in the freezer. I'll do a dry run too. To see how he likes it. I have time to perfect the bread. It's about 6 weeks away. This is why I love this forum! I get such great advice! You guys are all awesome!!!

 

[nicki]

Or maybe you can try a chop recipe. I recently also went on vacation for a few days and found this was easiest for keeping it easy on the caregiver. I pretty much used this recipe http://www.parrotenrichment.com/images/CHOP_Recipe_One.pdf

Pretty much all the healthy stuff you feed him anyway just all mixed together.
http://www.parrotenrichment.com/images/CHOP_Recipe_One.pdf

 

[Kalidasa]

If you want everything ultra-fresh, have a straw ready and when you zip up the ziplock bag have the straw in and zip it up to the straw, then suck all the air out of the bag quickly slide out the straw as you're zipping, so it's vacuum sealed and won't get freezer-burn. It's perfect for bread that's refrigerated also. Lol I'm a bit of a freshness nut!

 

[jugoya]

With Porter...I HAVE to feed him two or three times a day; picky as he is... He will ONLY eat when he wants to and only if it looks the same as is last meal. I just change out the food every 4 hours or so and give him Two tablespoons at a time of his chop mix.

As thats all he eats... the little pain the tail end wont even eat seeds anymore.. well you get the idea.


So when we went on vacation I made a HUGE bag of chop mix and left it for her to give him twice a day.

Plus his seed, pellet, dried noodle and other stuff mix.

It worked just fine.