Big Bird's Test Kitchen

Today, I tested three products: chia seed, mixed grass seed, and Egg - N- Herbs. As usual, my Borders are my guinea pigs!!

Chia seed has been all the rage on Dr.Oz so I thought I would see if my birds like it. My friend Margaret shared that she use to have a chia pet and would trim the green growing fur and feed it to her birds. We also checked sprouting but decided it would be simpler to just try it straight.

Quickly, the Borders started eating it and these three Borders ate the whole dish of chia seeds by the nest morning.

Next I added a separate dish of a new product called Egg - N- Herbs. Mixed and sold by Connie Gahman of wings and things gahmanzoo@verizon.net 215 536-1599. To Proteen egg food manufactured by Higgins she selectively added the following herbs: alfalfa leaf, chamomile flower, oat straw, wild lettuce, blessed thistle, dandelion leaf, kelp, chickweed and also spirulina, egg shell, and orange peel.

The Higgins proteen egg food contains a number of items such as whole wheat flour, soya flour, corn meal, dried eggs, wheat germ, honey, almond meal, sesame seed meal, few seeds such as niger, hemp, poppy, German millet, oat groats and numerous nutrients such as sodium selenite, vitamins, and some amino acids plus lactobacillus acidophilius probiotic.

Borders liked this product also and gave it a three toes up rating!

Lastly, I tried an untreated mixed grass seed. This was also purchased from Connie Gahman and turned out to be the overall Border favorite. This year, my birds have wasted so much seed it was refreshing to see them eat every one! It is particularly easy to crack and I plan to add this to my weaning regiment with niger (thistle), which is also easy to crack, as the first seeds I introduce to my young chicks.

With so many extra dishes per cage, I thought why not make a health boost by mixing all three.

As expected they like the combo but the grass seeds are still number one on their list!

Shaving the Bird Food Bill

German Rollers eating Purina Flock Raiser immediately after putting it in their cage.

Non-medicated, nutritious and 20% protein makes this a great time to add flock raiser to your birds diet. Although higher priced than last year, it cost about $20 for 50 lbs.

Flock Raiser is crumbles are easy to eat. I feed it plain and also cut my regular seed mix by about 1/4 with it.

Another trick I have been using is processing green stems for the birds rather than wasting them in the cages. Here some collard green and bok choy stems are ready for processing. Yesterday, it was spinach stems. Processing broccoli also saves waste as the stems are totally eaten just like the heads.

Once processed it is ready to add to a conditioning mix. If it is too wet drain away the excess and add extra dry ingredients such as CeDe, Protein 25, or Petamine Breeding Formula. Adding petamine to a mix cuts the waste as birds like to pick the seeds out and eat little of the nutritious powder.

Poor Lucca, anyone know what this it?

Chirpy Chum - Conditioning Mix Shared By Doyle Johnson

Today as I chatted with my good bird friend Doyle Johnson, he shared his current conditioning mix recipe. It is wonderful to be blessed with bird enthusiasts friends and even more wonderful when they share their recipes!

Doyle's Conditioner

Place 1 cup cous cous in a large bowl and add 1 cup hot tap water and a dash of olive oil. Stir occasionally until liquid is absorbed.

Add 2 cups dry CeDe mixed with 1 teaspoon Miracle Amino Acid Vitamin Supplement (AA Miracle available from ABBA Products).

Add 2 Tablespoon Hen Egg Shell (prepare egg shells for feeding by either baking in the oven or microwave 1 1/2 minutes).

Add 1 cup processed broccoli (measure after processing in the food processor).

My birds loved it!!

Become a Chirpy Chum by sending your CHIRP to canarytales2@juno.co. Give your fellow breeders a helping hand!

The Curious Case of Shedding Feathers

The very next day after I brought this new Border home from the National in Kansas City mid-November, I found small feathers scattered all over the cage floor. Not just a couple but hundreds!

When finding small feathers on the cage floor, several possibilities need to be considered.

1. This time of year, hens lose their breast feathers making a bare brood patch so that their skin touches the eggs while the set on them.

When a bird experiences a change in diet, if the new diet is more stimulating, the birds will rapidly come into breeding condition. Usually this takes about two weeks. Since this was immediate, I ruled out coming into breeding condition. Furthermore, my impression is this is a cock and not a hen even though "he" was not singing!!

2. A second possibility is that the bird is in a soft molt. Exposure to inconsistent day length and warm temperatures may cause birds to get stuck losing small feathers. I have seen this with birds coming out of import and occasionally with birds coming home from a bird show.

Unlike a normal molt where first the birds drop long flight feathers about a month before losing small feathers, soft molting birds do not lose their long flight feathers.

Novice breeders sometimes get excited and fear their birds are in a soft molt when actually it is the normal process where hens lose their breast feathers.

Birds in a soft molt have loose feathers where birds in breeding condition have tight feathers. This bird has loose feathers and no singing so soft molt is more likely than coming into breeding condition.

3. The third possibility is the bird is stuck in a normal molt and that it lost its flight feathers about a month before I got it.

Birds that are in soft molt are in poor condition and the cocks especially lose their confirmation noted by loss of roundness in the back and hen, loss of confirmation also occurs when the cocks come into breeding condition but the difference is that breeding condition brings tight feather and breeding behaviors such as singing where either soft molt or normal molt often results in no singing and some degree of loose feathers and loss of confirmation.

This bird at the top of this post shows poor confirmation and loose feathers.

Treatment:

Being unsure of whether I was dealing with a soft molt or finishing a normal molt, I immediately, started the bird on liquid B vitamins. As excess B vitamins are excreted, I just pour some in the water till it is obvious and make that the only water available.



The very next day, no more small feathers were found on the floor. Usually in soft molt, it is necessary to also drop proteins and push high carb foods such as oatmeal. And typically the response would take a few days or longer.

It has been about six weeks now and look how the back is rising and head is rounding! The bird is coming into condition!! Even heard a little singing this morning!

Looking down on the head, it is totally full of pen feathers, typical of finishing a normal molt. Can't wait to see this birds head once it finishes its normal molt.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and Wishing you the Best in 2012!

Merry Christmas From Fur and Feathers!

Do you suppose it's too late to make the "Nice List?!!"

Winners Florida Canary fanciers Bird Show

George Traveria won Grand Champion German Roller Team and many tour specials! His team not only had beautiful basic tours hollow roll, bass, and hollow bell but also had a fantastic gluck roll!! Congratulation also to Raul Bentacourt who won Champion Young Team with a different team than he won with at the National in Kansas City, this being his second win in the Amateur class, he advances to Champion class! Great Birds Raul!!

Patrick Varian, type judge, explains the placement of the type bird division winners.

Name each of the following birds. (Only winning answers will be posted.)

Winner of the Type Division exhibited by Juan Chavez, Bird Number 1

Second Place in the Type Division exhibited by Will Burdett, Number 2

Exhibited by Brian Byrne and Paul Cruse Number 3

Exhibited by Carl Biers and John Cromwell Number 4

Number 5

Number 6

Exhibited by George Traveria Number 7

Exhibited by Adrianna Gonzales Number 8


Number 9

Number 10

Best Lipochrome Exhibited by Carl Biers and John Cromwell, Lipochrome Judge Luis Talavera Number 11

Number 12

Number 13

Number 14

Number 15

Melanin Colorbred Judge, Robert Trincado Number 16

Number 17

Number 18

Number 19

Number 20

The show also had American Singers judged by Alan Gibson and Spanish Timbroes judged by Sebastian Vallelunga. Exhibitors came from not only Florida and the Carolina's but also a number came from Texas! Congratulation to the General Show Chairmen Humberto Delgado and all the officer's and section chairmen for a very successful Bird Show!

Never a dull moment when hanging around with Wilfred!!

Wonderful warm weather and numerous outdoor tables in the center of the room blocks were popular socializing spots like this one enjoyed by Les Michaczewski.

Look What's Cooking Around The Christmas Tree

My Borders are the taste testers in the aviary. If they like it, its served all around!

Quinoa (keen-wah) cooked in twice the amount of water and dash of olive oil and cooled. Add processed broccoli and bee pollen.

I slipped in the new food as they were busily eating seed.

Checking it out

What's this?

Looks harmless...

Certainly a taste won't hurt. Did she say "Eat It Or Wear It"?

What a surprise, its really good!!

UPDATE

After a few days, I am amazed with how smooth and glossy my birds feet have become!! Also, this year, my birds are wasting lots of seed but they eat every bite of the quinoa, broccoli and bee pollen!

I have learned that preparing the quinoa a day ahead and refrigerating it results in it swelling and being even lighter contributing to encouraging birds to clean up the last bit, if a food packs down in the dish, birds rarely eat it.