It's All In The Presentation

There are a myriad of ways to liven up meal time in a healthy way. Trying to keep your birds interested in their food and finding ways of making meal time more interesting isn’t that difficult if you use your imagination. Here are just eight:

Get Them Interested With Foods They Already Love

 Bait their food with things they love! Yes, adding some finely chopped nuts, or a bit of chopped fruit into their vegetables can get them foraging around in their bowls and get them interested in experimenting with other food that they might enjoy. This might turn them on to new foods that they may not have tried before. Introducing new foods doesn't have to be a painful process. Adding some healthy seed is always a good way to entice them into trying new food.

An occasional addition of milk thistle seed is very good for your bird.

Make A Healthy Smoothie For Your Flock To Share

Make a smoothie for them and freeze it in a bowl. Once frozen they can lick the smoothie and this might keep them engaged for quite a while. On a hot day, this frozen treat might appreciated just as we enjoy frozen treats and ice cream. You can also puree fresh fruit and freeze it in a bowl to serve with their meal. It keeps things interesting and varies the texture, taste and appearance of their meals.

Stuff Or Wrap Their Food

Try wrapping some of their food in a whole wheat wrap or a whole wheat or buckwheat pancake. There are many other options of course. Try stuffing some chopped vegetables into manicotti shells to make it healthy. These can be served in slices for smaller birds or whole so bigger birds can not only eat their fill, but they can play with it as well. These can be tightly wrapped and frozen for future use.

 

Try "Nutritional Layering"

Take chucks of banana or other healthy fruit and roll it in chopped nuts or dried unsweetened coconut. A chuck of mango or even an apple slice would be fun and healthy for your bird with this idea of nutritionally layering the fruit with more good stuff on it.  This is a nice foot toy that they can hold in their foot and enjoy. Healthy foods can be fun for them.

Make a Vegetable Kabob Toy

Make a vegetable kabob. Obtain a stainless steel bird skewer here at Aussie Bird Toys and thread slices of zucchini, healthy green kale or collard green leaves, carrot or green pepper chunks or any other vegetables you would like to introduce and hang it in their cage. These can also be rolled in a finely chopped healthy addition such as nuts or coconut. 

Dry Your Own Fruits And Vegetables

Try drying some vegetables . Obtain a food dehydrator or simply dry in the oven at the lowest setting.  Watch the vegetables and turn occasionally to dry evenly. Kale works well and the resulting chips are delicious! Dried fruit and vegetables pack a terrific health punch because they are so nutritionally dense. 

Invite your birds to join you for dinner. Place a sheet on the floor or on a table and dine on parrot healthy food. Birds will often want to eat what you are eating and they learn by example. Eating these healthy foods in front of them will teach them that if you like it, it must be good. It’s a great way to entice your bird to try something new. Birds in the wild learn what they should be eating by observing their parents.

This is how parents teach them what foods to eat and what to avoid. Their observations of you chowing down on some healthy vegetables might just get them to try some. 

Vegetable or fruit sushi would be a fun dinner time offering for them. For wrappers you can use lettuce, kale, or cabbage leaves or just leave them plain using cooked brown or wild rice. Lay the leaves down and layer in vegetable strips like a sushi chef would. Instructions on making sushi can be found here at Food And Wine.  Feel free to layer it with cooked quinoa or cooked buckwheat; any healthy grain would work.

You can add carrot or zucchini strips, slices of fruit such as papaya, mango, banana, chopped cauliflower, or broccoli slaw. Use what’s fresh, available and in season for the freshest and healthiest produce. Sprinkle some red pepper flakes for a robust taste. Roll it up tightly, brush your sushi rolls with a healthy oil such as flax seed oil and dust with chopped nuts or sesame seeds. Cut into pieces and see what your birds think of them.