How to make chop- a step by step guide

Why make chop for your birds?

I would highly recommend feeding chop. For the first 2 or 3 years of owning birds, I would cut up fresh foods daily, which would often be wasteful and highly time consuming, not ideal with lots to do!

Fresh foods are very important to a birds diet, and most problems with bird health stem from an improper diet, consisting of just seed. A birds diet should consist of pellets, chop/fresh foods and a small amount of seed. This depends on the species and there are plenty of resources where you can find out how much of what your bird needs. Chop is nutritional and adds variety to a birds diet. It seems simple, but some birds will get enrichment just from eating their chop, enjoying chewing on hard and soft ingredients and constantly discovering new flavours.

What will you need-

A good variety of ingredients

A large bowl for mixing

Chopping board

Knife

Food processor

Freezer bags

Preperation

Note- Try not to use too much fruit. They often contain a lot of moisture which isn't great for chop. They also have a lot of sugar, so vegetables are preferable. Fruits can be provided separately as treats.

First, wash all ingredients thoroughly to get rid of any chemicals and other harmful things that may be on them. If possible, you could use fruits and vegetables from your pesticide-free garden! This saves you money and is better for your birds (and you)!

Next, chop your ingredients into more manageable chunks and place in a food processor. Use the processor for short bursts to avoid liquidising your food. Alternatively, you can just chop it up with a knife, but this does take much longer to do. Once this is done, place the ingredient into a large bowl. Keep and eye on the processor to make each ingredient the perfect size for your bird. Larger birds, like cockatoos and macaws can have much larger pieces than smaller species such as budgies and cockatiels.

Repeat the steps above with all your fruits and vegetables and combine in a bowl.

At this stage, I like to add my other ingredients. This includes herbs, seed mix and other grains. This adds variety to your chop, whilst making it even more of a healthy food for your birds. Sometimes vegetables can have high moisture content, such as cucumbers which contain little more than water! Grains can help to reduce the moisture that leaks from these ingredients when defrosting. Another option is to add these after defrosting.

Mix thoroughly to combine all the ingredients and make sure that each serving will contain a bit of everything.

Storage

Storage is very easy. You can make batches as large or as small as you want, as it keeps for long periods of time when frozen.

Firstly, portion the chop into food bags. This will be the amount your bird(s) eat daily. This depends on your species and I'm sure you'll know how much give.

Once portioned, place the bags into the freezer. The batch I made for this guide will last me a couple of weeks.

Chop can last in the fridge for a few days, so you could defrost a few at a time. The ingredients will be fresher and more nutritious if you only defrost what you need when you need it.

Serving