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Has anyone used this feeder for their birds before? http://birdmanger.org

It looks really nice, but at $100.00 for the item for greys it's pretty steep. I like the idea that you can have multiple cups of food in the feeder and
not worry about having to add pellets daily. I am thinking about getting one eventually (maybe) but what are the thoughts of this feeder from others?


Thanks

I use the metal rabbit feeders. They're only $6.00 each. Works great for us. We keep them full of pellets and change out a bowl of fresh foods every day.

I have used these and sold these units a few years back. There once was two companies that were fighting over the rights to sell this type of unit and this company must have been the winner. The birds do eat out of them and they learn quickly how to put all of their pellets in the holding unit below. The macaw one use to be thicker so that the big guys didn't crush the acrylic on them. They are pretty universal and if you had one of these and a good quart water bottle you could at least go away for possibly two days and not be to worried about your bird not having food or water.

Denis

Denis58 wrote:I have used these and sold these units a few years back. There once was two companies that were fighting over the rights to sell this type of unit and this company must have been the winner. The birds do eat out of them and they learn quickly how to put all of their pellets in the holding unit below. The macaw one use to be thicker so that the big guys didn't crush the acrylic on them. They are pretty universal and if you had one of these and a good quart water bottle you could at least go away for possibly two days and not be to worried about your bird not having food or water.

Denis

When I spoke with the lady who make these she mentioned something about a competitor, I didn't really get into details about asking her about it. But a friend of mine is going to combine orders and buy a few of them pretty soon. Its basically a pretty good idea with these feeders.

Do you have any laying around that you don't need anymore ?

daybird wrote:I use the metal rabbit feeders. They're only $6.00 each. Works great for us. We keep them full of pellets and change out a bowl of fresh foods every day.

As you mentioned the rabbit feeders, I took a look to see what those feeders look like. Don't you still have a lot of wasted food when they start moving the pellets around?

I sold the few that I had personally when we moved form Indiana to Florida as I built an aviary that uses either plastic bowls or ceramic crocks I think that you will like them, but as I said some birds will fill the catch part up rather quickly. I have also used the rabbit feeders for tiels and conures years ago and they work. The only problem with them was if you didn't like them you had a hole in the side of your cage to cover up.

Denis

Yes, there are two of my pairs that will throw out their pellets. Only two of about 50 pairs that intentionally waste their pellets. I use Mazuri large parrot breeder for the greys, cockatoos, pionus, alexandrians, and patagonians. I use Mazuri small parrot breeder for everyone else. I don't feed any pellets to my eclectus. I still use the rabbit feeders for their dry seeds. Everyone gets a bowl of sprouts, very little dry seeds, cooked foods and fruits and veg every day. I keep a pair of pheasants on the floor of the aviary under the cages and they keep all the spilled food cleaned up. I've had no problems with any of them breeding at all.

daybird wrote: I keep a pair of pheasants on the floor of the aviary under the cages and they keep all the spilled food cleaned up.

Thats a great idea

Everyone seems to be cooking for their birds almost everyday. I am raising my son by myself and I can tell you I don't like cooking all the time. What is a simple cooked recipe that you should give to your parrots that is nutritious? Some of the recipes that I have seen on websites are like a full course meal, I don't even make that for myself, how in the world am I going to make that for parrots.

I am still on the hunt for some simple not too hard to make, and not too hard to find the ingredients recipe. Any tips from some of you professional breeders?


Thanks

Recipe:

#1 get a crock pot
#2 buy what ever is cheap
#3 cook it all together


It changes every day. Buy a good quality whole kernel dry corn. We buy it in 50# sacks from the feed store. Rinse it to get the dust off and put a cup full in the crock pot. Next we buy 50# of black beans and/or pinto beans; which ever is cheapest. We cook this overnight in the crock pot on low and in the morning we add what ever we have on hand. We keep several of the large cans of low sodium Veg-All mixed vegetables to use when we run out of frozen mixed vegetables. We much prefer the frozen. We add rice or corn-grits to absorb any extra water. Pastas just turn to mush in the crock pot so we only feed those at treats. We chop up any extra peppers and cucumbers and squash that is from our large garden and add this on top of the cooked mix. None of our birds like eggplants.

Also, not wanting to sound too "cheap" but don't neglect to use up leftovers from your family's meals. If you cook a large pot of a healthy spaghetti and there is leftovers the next day that your kids really don't want to eat, your birds will really appreciate this. Especially in the winters when the meat protein will help a lot. Scrambled eggs are really easy for this purpose also. Our family grows and eats lots and lots of sweet potatoes. Since we've grown a lot of the veg ourselves, we know they're clean and safe. Any of the peelings or trimmings are fed to the birds. All of the sweet potato peelings are microwaved to soften and given to the birds. When we shell peas, the shells go to the birds. Cucumber peelings and cantaloupe seeds are all given to the birds.

The birds get very little fruit. This is handed out by hand as a treat because of the sugar content and also because we cannot get fruit trees to produce. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. We do share the occasionally blackberry, blueberry or fig with them. They really like the figs.

We do share baked goods with the birds from time to time. Other than the crock pot mix, we never cook a meal just for the birds. When we cook a pumpkin or banana bread, we give the birds some of what we have. When we cook a Mexican cornbread, the birds get what little is left that our two boys don't eat.

There is an excellent article in Bird Talk dealing with all of this.

Let's face it. Very few of us are independently wealthy. With the price of gas and with the global food shortages happening, we've all got to economize as best we can. Not only with costs and resources but with time also. We don't have to make "sacrifices" too early if we can plan and economize our costs and time. If birds truly required what some advocate they need in order to be happy and healthy then only single, child-less elitists would be able to keep a single bird each.

I think I've seen these same acrylic feeders advertised as Bird Zerk (Zirk) or something like that. There was someone on eBay selling a couple. They went for around $40 at the time.

I keep a pair of pheasants on the floor of the aviary under the cages and they keep all the spilled food cleaned up. I've had no problems with any of them breeding at all.

I know a breeder who keeps quail in their aviary for the same purpose. I think they are Button Quail? Cute little birds.

[quote="petdiva"]I think I've seen these same acrylic feeders advertised as Bird Zerk (Zirk) or something like that. There was someone on eBay selling a couple. They went for around $40 at the time.

You are right, I just checked it out and it is called Bird-Zerk.

It's amazing that I have never heard of this feeder before. I guess that's what happens when you don't delve into BirdTalk magazine.

daybird wrote:Recipe:

#1 get a crock pot
#2 buy what ever is cheap
#3 cook it all together

It changes every day. Buy a good quality whole kernel dry corn. We buy it in 50# sacks from the feed store. Rinse it to get the dust off and put a cup full in the crock pot. Next we

Let's face it. Very few of us are independently wealthy. With the price of gas and with the global food shortages happening, we've all got to economize as best we can. Not only with costs and resources but with time also. We don't have to make "sacrifices" too early if we can plan and economize our costs and time. If birds truly required what some advocate they need in order to be happy and healthy then only single, child-less elitists would be able to keep a single bird each.

Thanks for the info on how to do the cooking for the birds. Yes I do agree with the high cost of everything these days it makes you wonder how some people are doing it. Sometimes I see recipes for birds, and I think to myself, gosh I don't even eat that good everyday.

I just went to the Wholefoods store the other day to buy many different seeds and beans for sprouting. I think I will cook a lot of that in the crock pot, that should last a few days without me having to do it all the time. I really do appreciate you giving me this info, it is not too difficult to do what you mentioned above. I guess I will start tonight so they will have a good hearty meal tomorrow.


Thanks again

Hi, I'm sending you a PM soon.

First of all, don't shop at Wholefoods. It's a great store with great products. But they're also very expensive if you're feeding lots of people and animals. There are lots of things that can be sprouted and cooked that can be bought from the feedstore. I can buy a 50lb bag of buckwheat for about $8.00. My birds love that sprouted.

You have to be careful not to buy a mix with pellets in it, but you can buy 50lb sacks of racing pigeon mix that has lots of different types of seeds and legumes in it. You can buy it with or without flint corn; it's small, alot like popcorn. It's usually about $20.00 for a 50lb sack. I'm having a hard time finding a supplier for it that doesn't put a pellet in it so I'm just ordering in bulk bags of pinto beans, usually. This last time, I was able to get a 50lb sack of black beans for alot cheaper.

petdiva wrote:I know a breeder who keeps quail in their aviary for the same purpose. I think they are Button Quail? Cute little birds.

I keep Button Quail in my finch and grassparakeet flights, pharoah quail in my cockatiel flight and bobwhite quail in my budgie flight.

I love the idea of pheasants or quail to help with the clean up. Do they carry any diseases that can be transmitted to the birds? Do I need to have them vetted the same as my other birds? I use the rabbit feeders- they are nice but can get messy