Home » Plants & Animals » Small Hookbills » A Bird's Diet: Egg Food

A Bird's Diet: Egg Food

© Mary Wilson

Those of us who breed finches and softbills know the importance of egg food. Eggs provide many nutrients that birds, especially breeder birds, need. In addition, they're inexpensive and when mixed with other foods form a vital part of our birds' diets.

For the growing chick, eggs are the perfect food. After all, nothing is better at raising fetal birds than an egg. The proteins, amino acids, and calcium found in eggs also benefit growing and adult birds as well.

The easiest way to feed eggs to birds is simply to hard-boil eggs you purchase in a store, crunch them up, shells and all, then feed a little bit at a time to your pet. I cook four to five eggs at a time, and those last me a few days. With only one or two birds, a single egg may suffice.

However, as nutritious as eggs alone can be, adding them to other ingredients only makes the egg food better.

There are as many egg food recipes as there are bird breeders, and probably more. I will share a couple of my favorites with you, and suggest other ingredients.

Currently, I hard boil eggs and mash them, leaving them in the fridge by themselves. When I'm ready to feed egg food, I take eggs, add chick starter (available at any farm supply store), finch pellets, and bird vitamins. I mix this, and feed to my birds.

Another way to make egg food is to break an egg into a coffee mug (or bowl), and beat it with a fork (shell and all). To this, you can add chick starter, Petamine, or handfeeding formula, pellets, vegetables, basically whatever you would like. Microwave it for 1 to 1 ½ minutes, and then allow to cool. You will have a "loaf" that easily slides out of the coffee cup.

Recipes:

2 hard boiled eggs ¼ cup chick starter (Petamine, handfeeding food) 1/8 cup pellets recommended dosage of bird vitamins for your bird.

Crunch the hard boiled eggs, shell and all, in a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients. Serve to your birds, keeping unused portion in the refrigerator.

1 egg 2 TB chick starter 1 tsp pellets pinch bird vitamins

Crack the egg in a coffee mug and scramble, including shell. Add remaining ingredients, scrambling again. Microwave for 1 to 1 ½ minutes.

With egg food, you will need to be cautious in how much you serve to your birds. It will spoil if left out for very long. I like to serve 1 tsp or less for each bird. For the microwaved recipe, I cut the loaf into 1/2 " cubes, and then feed one cube per pair of finches.

The copyright of the article A Bird's Diet: Egg Food in Small Hookbills is owned by Mary Wilson. Permission to republish A Bird's Diet: Egg Food in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.