Birdie Bread

For a long time, I ignored postings on Birdie Bread because birds should not eat bread.  Bread not only offers zero nutritional value for birds, but it causes malnutrition because they aren’t eating what they need.  If they eat too much of it at once, or too many carbs, they will die of the cold because they have no energy to keep them warm.  The end result is disease and death.  For that reason, I did not feed my birds or my rescue birds Birdie Bread.

However, one day I happened upon a few recipes of Birdie Bread and decided to investigate a little further.  To my surprise, there were some good ingredients in those recipes.  There were also some poor ingredients that birds should not eat such as canola oil, processed corn muffin mix and granola.  Canola oil is a poor oil choice.  Processed corn muffin mix contains GMO corn, sugar, preservatives, and other junk that birds should not eat.  Granola contains a lot of sugar, salt, and a whole host of other junk ingredients.  This “junk” can do a lot of damage to a little bird.  More importantly, I realized that, “Birdie Bread” is not bread at all, not in the sense of how we perceive “bread”.  In fact, some recipes contain zero grains, which is very good because birds don’t need grains, certainly not highly refined ones, especially wheat.  So, I began to experiment with ingredients suitable for birds, in order to create my own Birdie Bread recipe.  Eventually, I came up with one that I believe is pretty darned good.  Instead of delving into the depths of each and every healthy ingredient and unhealthy ingredients excluded, I will make it brief, so as not to bore you.  Following that will be my Birdie Bread recipe, which is healthy and simple to make. 

Non-GMO corn is fine and Quinoa is one of the best grains for birds, and humans alike.  I include both in my Birdie Bread recipe. 

Most cornmeal in the U.S. is GMO so, buy carefully.  If you can buy non-GMO whole corn locally, feel free to do so.  Birds love it whole, or strip off the kernels and add those in the recipe instead of cornmeal.  The third main ingredient in my Birdie Bread is Alfalfa.  These are the small, dropped pieces of Tops alfalfa-based pellets that fall to the bottom of the cage.  Since I keep my bird cages scrupulously clean, by either covering up poop as soon as it is dropped or removing the paper it was pooped on (and replacing it with more paper), it is easy to gather those pieces of pellets, because they are not mixed in with poop.  They are perfectly good so recycling them in a way they can be enjoyed instead of throwing them out with the cage liner, makes perfect sense.  I collect those pieces on a daily basis and keep them in a zip lock in the fridge until I have enough for another batch of Birdie Bread.  When ready, those three ingredients are mixed together.  Then, I add the other ingredients and mix it all together.  The consistency should be thick but not too dry.  If you want to add more moisture, use a raw egg.  Do not add water.  I thought once that it was too dry and I added water – too much, and the birds would not eat it.  The whole lot went into the garbage.

When all is mixed, put it in a Corning ware dish.  Do not use Pyrex unless your Pyrex is confirmed vintage.  The newer stuff will explode in your oven.  It is not a matter of will it or won’t it – it’s a matter of when and it will if it was made in the 1980s or later.  When the company was sold, the new owners removed the borosilicate in the glass, making it cheaper, and more profitable for them.  The borosilicate made it shatterproof so, the result was a dangerous mix – not something you can safely put in the oven.  Pyrex has been riding the coat tails of the name that we all knew as a quality, shatterproof – oven-proof product.  So, use Corning ware dishes or metal baking dishes – just stay clear of Pyrex unless you know it was made before 1980.  My preference is Vintage Corning ware.  It is virtually indestructible, easy to clean and will look great for probably hundreds of years. 

One last mentionable:  Be sure and feed your birds plenty of protein.  In the wild, they eat bugs and other protein all day long.  It provides birds with the energy they need.  As I mentioned, too many carbs can be dangerous for birds. Although Birdie Bread contains some protein, it contains a significant amount of carbs so, balance it with protein – offer the protein first.

You can tweak some of these ingredients, eliminate one or two if you don’t have them handy.  It does not have to be exactly as written, but the consistency of this one works well. 

My Birdie Bread Recipe

• 1 cup Quinoa
• 1 cup Cornmeal, Non-GMO
• Tops Pellets, pieces
• 1 cup Sweet Potato, Beauregard, the orange skinned kind
• Carrots, scrub – do not peel
• Cauliflower
• Mixed Veggies, frozen
• Kale
• 4 or 5 Hard-Boiled Eggs
• Granny Smith Apples, organic
• Sunflower Seeds, optional

Lightly steam & chop the sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower and kale.  Mix everything together, pack firmly in an oven-proof pan, and bake for about 15 minutes at 325°.  Allow to cool, freeze most and keep the rest in a container or a small zip lock in the fridge – enough for 3 or 4 days maximum.

Note:  If your bird eats seed heavy with sunflower seeds, you might want to skip them in the birdie bread.  Too many sunflower seeds has its own dangers to birds.