To
Use When Conditioning Java's <> To Use When Java's Are Feeding Young
<> To Use When Java's Are Moulting
The
egg is not a complete food
as it lacks sugars and vitamin C, but it is rich in other
valuable nutrients 100g of whole egg (2 eggs weighing 50g
net each) contains 12.4% proteins 8.7% fats, a good amount
of vitamin B1,B2,PP, A and D, and a good quantity of iron
phosphorous, sulphur and potassium up an energy value of 128kcal
Proteins
have considerable nutritional value; they contain amino acids
that the birds organism has difficulty producing therefore
they must be introduced through diet to ensure growth and
reconstruction of tissues proteins contained in the white
and the yolk of an egg are the best source of protein for
birds
The
recipe I am using consists of two eggs, as this is enough
to last my Java's for four days worth's of feeds. You could
use more eggs if you like and freeze what you don't use, if
you do freeze the egg food, the texture of the food is no
where near the same as freshly made up food, but the birds
will eat it just the same. If you get out the freezer what
you need for the next day and place it in the fridge to defrost,
I don't use the microwave oven to speed up the process.
1.
Two standard size chicken eggs 2. Ready made bread crumbs 3. Cod liver oil 4. Safflower oil
The Ready made bread crumbs are much cheaper to buy, than making
your own. The time you have spent drying and crush the bread into
crumbs, it's more convenient just to pick a tub up from the shops.
Cod liver oil is added to make the egg food texture better, also
it's a good way of administering iodine, plus more vitermins.
Safflower
oil again is added to improve the egg food texture. Plus it's rich
in essential fatty acids.
Now
here we go!
Take your two eggs and place them in a pan of boiling water.
Boil the eggs between 15 to 20 minutes. If you boil them for to
long the yolk tends to go black
After
the eggs have finished boiling,
peel off their shells and place the shells on a dish.
Put the shells in a microwave and set the microwave to high,
then microwave for 5 min's.
This will make the shells go hard and brittle, ready for crushing. Warning | Click Here |
Back
to the eggs, now you have peeled the eggs, let them cool down
completely for 30 to 45 min's or you could leave them in a pan
of cold water to speed things up.
While
the eggs are cooling we now have time to crush the
egg shells. Place the shells in a bowl and with the end of a rolling
pin
start crushing and grinding the shells into small flakes.
I try to get them down to 1/8" flakes and smaller, see photo
O.K.
now we have the crushed shells, keep the shells in the bowl and
roughly chop the eggs into the same bowl.
Take a fork and start mashing the eggs and shells together until
you have a fine crumbly mix.
(If
you are making a bigger quantity it would be better to use
a food processor)
After
all that hard work mashing the eggs down to a nice crumbly mix
we now need to add the two oils. I must say at this point Don't add
to much oil or the whole mix could go wrong.
Use 3/4 of a teaspoon of cod liver oil and 3/4 of a teaspoon of
safflower oil is ample
With
the two oils added start to mix the oils in the egg food
The oil's also help to prevent the egg food from drying
out to quickly.
As
you can see on the photo, the texture of the mix has changed
and is a bit sticky with the oils,
that's why I said don't over do the oils.
Now this is were the bread crumbs come in.
This is a rough guide take about 58 grams of bread crumbs and add
to the mix, start mixing the crumbs into the egg food until you get
a
dry-ish crumbly mix, you will have to keep adding more bread crumbs
until you get a dry and crumbly mix.
See
the texture on the photo is now a fluffy mix.
This part of the mix is optional. I like to add in some bird seed
to
my mix, especially if you are going to feed it to birds what are not
use to egg food, with the seeds added it will encourage birds to start
pecking at it until they get use to the taste. When your birds get
the taste of egg food, they will soon clear their pots
Here
is a close-up of the egg food. See how small the particles of egg
are plus see how dry the mix is.
Now the egg food is finished place it into a air tight container and
keep refrigerated.
If you have made a bigger quantify place into a number of small pots
and put them into the deep freezer
I
previously used a commercial egg food out of the packet job and
it was starting to cost to much a week on my bird budget, this way
I can make a much bigger quantity for a fraction of the cost, plus
I don't think you can beat freshly made up food.
This is only my opinion you may think differently
If
you have never made egg food before this may sound like a big task,
but it's not at all, Plus it's well worth the effort as your birds
will get the full benefit from it, especially at breeding time,
also helps with molting birds, as well as conditioning the birds. A good all round food
Warning Egg food does not replace the
birds daily food, it's only an extra
