Recipe for feeding meat-eating birds
We live in Canberra, Australia, and we have many different types of birds visiting our large backyard each day, including Magpies, Butcherbirds and Kookaburras. We put out seed in trays for the seed-eating birds (many different types of parrots) and we feed a meat-based, home made food to the Magpies and Butcherbirds.
The challenge with feeding meat-eating birds is to provide a nutritionally sound diet, as simple ground meat can lead to deformities such as broken beaks (that don’t re-grow)
Rationale for the recipe
Meat-eating birds, depending on the type, will eat insects and grubs, lizards, mice, small birds, eggs, and may also eat a variety of grains and seeds. The main point is that they eat more than just plain meat. When they eat insects and small animals, they will probably consume every part, including organs and bones.
Therefore, to provide a balanced diet that simulates the variety of ingredients in their natural food sources, all we have to do is provide a similar variety in the mix that we feed them.
With that in mind, my recipe is a mixture of the following:
- Ground meat (don’t use lean meat — fat is a very important part of the diet)
- A mixture of ground organs (liver, kidney, heart)
- Sardines (canned in spring water, and no added preservatives)
- Grated cheese
- Ground egg shells
- Newly-sprouted legumes and grains (in addition to all the other nutrients that the sprouts provide, combining legumes and grains provides a complete protein)
As you can see, the mixture provides a good simulation of eating an entire animal, and is very rich in nutritional value, including being a very good source of calcium.
Equipment that you will need
I have more to say about the equipment a little later in this article, but the list of equipment is:
- Meat grinder (I bought an inexpensive hand-cranked one online)
- Granite mortar and pestle
- Sprouting jars (more on sprouting later in this article)
- Bowls for mixing
- Storage containers (zip lock bags and/or freezer-safe containers)
Recipe
- 1 kg ground meat (eg, beef)
- 300 grams of ground organ mix (equal parts of liver, kidney, heart — ie, about 100 grams of each)
- 1 small can of sardines (about 100 grams — use canned sardines that are in spring water and have no added preservatives or flavouring). Note: discard the spring water otherwise your mix will end up too sloppy to handle.
- 1/2 cup grated cheese
- Shells from 4 eggs (finely ground with a pestle and mortar)
- 1/3 cup mix of sprouted legumes and grains (these can be added whole but probably best to crush them with the pestle and mortar)
The process
The following describes what I do to prepare the mix.
Egg shells
For the egg shells, the easiest way is to save the shells whenever you crack open a raw egg (eg, when adding eggs to other recipes, or when making fried eggs or quiches).
Thoroughly rinse out the inside of each half of the egg shell under a running tap. After you have rinsed them out, it is a good idea to also boil the clean egg shells for 10 minutes to sterilize them. Leave them out to dry, then squash them flat and store them in a container (eg, a rinsed-out plastic yogurt container) that you keep in the fridge until you next want to use the egg shells to make this recipe. To ensure the shells dry out, don’t have a lid on the container.
Grinding the egg shells
Use a mortar and pestle (a granite set will probably suit this best) to pound and grind the dry egg shells into a very fine grit.
Sprouting the legumes and grains
Making sprouts is very simple. Basically, you soak whatever you are sprouting (eg, wheat grains) in cold water in a jar for 12 hours. You then drain all of the water from the jar and then rinse and drain the grains a few times over the course of each day (I normally do morning, afternoon, and late evening) until the sprouts are ready. In most cases, the sprouts are ready on day 3.
If you will be making this recipe regularly, it is worth purchasing one or two jars that have lids that are specifically designed for making sprouts. These lids incorporate a sieve with tiny legs around the perimeter. The lids allow you to invert the jar to drain the water back out through the sieve in the lid. You then leave the jar standing inverted until the next rinse. The little legs around the perimeter of the lid keep it slightly raised from the surface so that the water can completely drain through the sieve. Very simple.
For each batch of this recipe, use sprouts from at least one legume and one grain. The combination of legumes and grains provides a complete source of protein. For example, you can sprout lentils and wheat grains.
The sprouts are ready when the shoots are about as long as the grain.
After the sprouts are ready, you can optionally crush them a bit with the mortar and pestle before incorporating them into the recipe mix.
Note: If you happen to have the sprouts ready before you are ready to make the recipe, simply put the sprouts into the fridge for up to a few days. The cold of the fridge will halt the growth and keep the sprouts at the correct stage.
Grinding the organs
I purchased a simple, hand-cranked grinder online.
In regard to the organ mix, you may end up having to buy far more of each of the organs than you will need for each batch of the above recipe. In that case, I suggest that you grind up the entire quantity of organs (just try to have approximately the same quantity of each organ — I buy 500 gram (or so) packs from the local butcher and supermarket).
After you grind up all the organs, mix them thoroughly in a large bowl.
Divide the mix into 300 gram portions. Keep one 300 gram portion for making the recipe. With the remaining 300 gram portions, place each in a separate zip lock bag and then store the bags in the freezer and take one out each time you need one for making another batch of the recipe.
Making up the mixture
In a very large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients
Mix everything together thoroughly, and I mean really thoroughly, because you need to ensure that the ground egg shells are evenly dispersed throughout so that there is a good supply of calcium in each morsel that you feed to birds. I find that using your hands to mix it together is actually the easiest if you don’t mind squishing raw ground meat and organs between your hands and fingers. If you prefer, you can put on a pair of rubber kitchen gloves for the mixing.
I then divide the mix into plastic containers or zip-lock bags in whatever size portions I will go through within 3 or 4 days. I then put one in the fridge for feeding birds and put the others in the freezer.
When feeding the birds, I simply take a small amount from the fridge and feed it to the birds; no need to warm it up. All the various meat-eating birds in our yard love it straight out of the fridge. This young Kookaburra agrees:
