Chop, mash, and veggies!

[Jenna]

For Ruthie and Teka, their fresh diet has been a general variety of coarsely chopped veggies and a mash mixture I make with whatever fresh veggies, beans, etc I have on hand. Today I learned about "chop", which is basically a mixture of mash and coarsely chopped veggies. I'm intrigued by it. I'm sure blackhawk007 has mentioned our constant need to add variety in their lives, be it with their toys, activities, or diet, so when I found out about this I thought I would try it too!

I like the idea that there are bigger pieces for them to eat, and like the mash I can make a big batch and freeze it in portions. With a macaw and an Amazon, this makes sense to me. So I guess my question is....

Do any of you make chop? If so, what have you put in it? Are there things that you have found don't freeze well in large pieces, and what do you cook prior to freezing?

Thanks!

[Mare]

I, Jenna, am also curious about this. I don't make mash or chop for my birds, usually just fresh but if you could freeze, then thaw portions, it would sure make things a bit more simple and convenient.

[Pinkbirdy]

Jenna ,Love your signature picture :) I started doing a chop mix too ,and love it . At first I thought it would be more cost effective for my birds [so I could buy better pellets]But then talking to breeders [having to understand they want the healthiest birds possible] Thats what they do . So my mix is a 12 bean mix ,frozen bean,corn, carrots ,peas and small veg pasta. I make 5 weeks at a time [freeze it]
and feed them this everyother day [with fresh fruit and vegs] On the off day I do pellets ,some seed and fresh fruits and vegs. I like having seperating the days like this .Cause then it has them not choosing their most favorite thing. Ive noticed their colors brighter and would rather have a more natural diet like this than be all pellets. Would like to try a mash next.[lots of different versions] Is your Zon a sweet guy ? Does he really speak his mind ? Just wondering if the smaller ones are like the big ones :)

[tonkatiel]

I found out about chop from 'parrot nation' (blog). She has a video showing what she puts in and the whole process of making it...
I did have the link somewhere but do you think I can find it now??
If you google parrot nation chop mix it should come up :)

[Blancaej]

Jenne, I too love your signature. It's beautiful! Thanks for bringing this up. I've tought about using a mash or chop myself. Thanks Terri for the info and Tonk I will have to search that out.

[Blackhawk007]

I found out about chop from 'parrot nation' (blog). She has a video showing what she puts in and the whole process of making it...
I did have the link somewhere but do you think I can find it now??
If you google parrot nation chop mix it should come up :)

The person that made that site was the speaker at the expo we were at yesterday for "Got Chop". She is very nice and gave a pleasant lecture.

[Jenna]

Thanks for the compliments on my signature everyone! Hats off to Wendy for making it!

The creator/writer of ParrotNation.com was indeed the lecturer yesterday. I just watched a video on her site (link is attached below). It's a bit lengthy but definitely worth watching. She goes over how she does one of her "chops", and all of the ingredients she adds. It took her a little over 3 hours to make almost 3 months worth of food for 3 african greys. (Holy 3's!). I'll be putting one together for the babies seen in both mine and blackhaw007's signiatures (thanks again Wendy!) very soon, maybe this weekend? I'll document everything I do and ingredients I add... potentially with amounts depending on how ambitious I get! If anyone has any input into easy-to-get-my-hands-on ingredients then I'd be forever grateful! ParrotNation.com used a lot of ingredients I'd never heard of, much less have any clue where to get them from.

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[alnoble89]

My staples for it are qunioa, carrots, sweet potato, peas (my guys are crazy about them), one or two dark leafy greens really whatever yours like, and finally beans of all kinds. Sometimes I will add fruit right at serving time. I have also cooked apples in the mix. Honestly there is no set way to make it you can add what your birds like. Mine seems to freeze fairly well but I don't freeze the fruit in. Sometimes I will add a fresh veggie to it as well. I will also buy pre-made blends online and add to them for flavor changes sometimes, Higgins has several kinds of cookable foods.

[tonkatiel]

Thanks for the compliments on my signature everyone! Hats off to Wendy for making it!

The creator/writer of ParrotNation.com was indeed the lecturer yesterday. I just watched a video on her site (link is attached below). It's a bit lengthy but definitely worth watching. She goes over how she does one of her "chops", and all of the ingredients she adds. It took her a little over 3 hours to make almost 3 months worth of food for 3 african greys. (Holy 3's!). I'll be putting one together for the babies seen in both mine and blackhaw007's signiatures (thanks again Wendy!) very soon, maybe this weekend? I'll document everything I do and ingredients I add... potentially with amounts depending on how ambitious I get! If anyone has any input into easy-to-get-my-hands-on ingredients then I'd be forever grateful! ParrotNation.com used a lot of ingredients I'd never heard of, much less have any clue where to get them from.

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Some of the dry ingredients I had to get from a health food store, the veg I'm lucky enough to be able to go to farmers markets and get most of them (all organic). The grains and such I just bought from the supermarket...

The great thing about Chop though is that you don't HAVE to use all of the stuff she used - try and source as much as you can, and maybe find some (safe) stuff that she didn't use... if you haven't already, read the comments on the blog, it gives plenty more ideas of ingredients to use :)

[jtbirds]

I just was at the store the other day and bought two mixed vegetable mixes and mixed them tonight it gave such a great variety I am so surprised! Very happy with the outcome the birds will be happy, as well they got apples, kale, butternut squash and much more to much in;).

[Jenna]

Ok! So I did all my grocery shopping and here's what I came up with...
Navy beans, Black beans, Quinoa, whole grain rice, sweet potato, Ginger, carrots, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, Habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, kale, broccoli, peas, and I'm debating putting baby corn in.

Is there anything else you guys think I should grab before I start my chop? Maybe some collard greens? More veggies? I feel like I'm deficient somewhere but can't decide where. What do you think?

[ShellyBorg]

looks good!

[Jenna]

So because I'm horribly neurotic and wanted this to be a big batch, I decided to grab a few more things to ad.
Oatmeal, Lima beans, Parsley, and Butternut squash!
Going to be whipping this batch up sometime in the next two days. I'll let you all know how it goes!!

[keepsmiling]

Lima ,navy,and black beans should be COOKED before added.{and never sprouted!} They can cause toxicity issues. Chick peas should also be fully cooked.
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NOTE: Many people have fed all of the beans in their sprouted form without problem. However, large raw beans such as Anasazi, Black, Fava, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, and Soy can cause problems of toxicity and digestive upsets for people and perhaps for birds. Except for soy sprouts (edible raw if grown long enough), these beans should be cooked to be digestible and are not recommended for general sprouting purposes. Soy sprouts, however, are high in isoflavones, SOD (superoxide dismutase), a very powerful and important antioxidant with essential fatty acids and lecithin.

From another post, this one on sprouting, but it explains how to cook them~
CAUTION:Large beans: Anasazi, Black, Fava, Kidney, Lima, Navy, Pinto, Soy, are not suggested for sprouting. These legumes can cause toxicity and remain difficult to digest. Their raw flavor is also very bad. If choose to serve these to your bird they MUST be soaked for a minimum of 8 hours, water drained and beans rinsed well, and then cooked by bringing them to a full boil, boiling uncovered for 10 minutes, covered and simmered for another 20 minutes.

[keepsmiling]

Careful with parsley too, I think it is also a questionable item. It is probably ok in small amounts, but it is high in oxalic acid, which binds with calcium and prevents absorption. [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]
Sweet potato should also be cooked.
Good luck with your chop!

[jtbirds]

How does everyone else prepare there butternut squash? Do you peel and serve raw or cook it I am interested to know:).

[keepsmiling]

The only squash I serve raw is zucchini and yellow. The heavier squashes, acorn, butternut, get cooked.

[jtbirds]

I see I don't believe there are any issues feeding it raw as well I was just curious as I do cooked most of the time. Do you just skin them and boil them? Or cook them in an oven?

[Jenna]

OK! So I finally got around to making the chop a few days ago. I included: navy beans, black beans, lima beans, quinoa, whole grain rice, butternut squash, kale, parsley, sweet potatoes, carrots, red, yellow and orange peppers, jalapeno peppers, habanero peppers, oatmeal and ginger. I took pictures, but it says that the file is too large so I'm not sure what to do!
Ruthie LOVES the chop, Teka is less impressed. Teka will eat it, he just doesn't go nuts for it like Ruthie does when I put it in their bowls.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I think it took about 2 hours, and I got 50 baggies worth which should last about 3-4 months for the two babies. The biggest thing I will change from this batch is the size that I chopped the pieces in to. I was using my food processor and the pieces got a little too small for our preference.

[jtbirds]

When I make chop I usually hand cut most of the stuff besides the kale and romaine lettuce As what you said happens it gets to small... I know it is a pain to hand cut so much but that is what I ended up having to do:(.

I'm glad they liked it all my guys jump right in!