1 cup brown rice
1/4 cup dried split peas
1/4 cup dried lentils
1/4 cup dried yellow split peas
2 cups water

Put it all in a saucepan and cook for about 40 minutes. Add extra water if needed.

This freezes well. I usually make a double or triple batch and freeze a lot of the frozen mixture into chunks and thaw or microwave when you need it.

Bean Mix For Birds

2 lbs assorted dried beans, soaked & cooked as per package directions. Put the big ones in one pot & small in another so the little ones don't get too mushy.
1 cup of brown rice cooked as per directions.

Optional-barley, millet, etc,  as available or desired. Drain everything and mix together. After it has cooled add a cup or two of pellets to sort of take up the moisture.
Optional-Tablespoon of Brewer's yeast (not active bread yeast).

Freeze above in ice trays -put cubes in zipper bags. A cube daily for birds or more for breeders.  Thaw in microwave & crumble through fingers to check for hot spots. It's a big batch that lasts for a couple of months in the freezer.
 

MUFFINS
by NCS member Donna Mason
1 pkg. Jiffy cornbread mix
Milk as directed on box
6 eggs including the shells
1 cup Kaytee Exact Rainbow
2 cups mixed veggies
1/4 cup shelled Sunflower Seeds
1 cup Nestling food
Anything else you may have on hand
Preheat oven to indicated temperature. Mix according to the directions on the Jiffy box. Add the remaining ingredients. Grease 9" x 13" pan. Spread evenly in the pan. Check the bread often, as it will not take long to cook. (8-10 minutes). Cool completely. Cut into squares and freeze until needed. Defrost and serve.

SEED BELLS
by Karl from New Zealand
This is a Great recipe that Karl posted a long time ago. It is very versatile and easy to make.
I usually use 1/2 crushed nutriberries---1/2 seed mix for the seed part. You can add lots of different things like fresh crushed herbs, dried fruits and veggies, Etc.
Also you might add that I had trouble at first, finding the little (2 inch diameter clay pots, so I used a 1/8 cup measuring cup to form them with and just put them on the cookie sheet like that. It worked just fine. You could use whatever size you want I suppose, depending on how many birds are going to eat it at once.
Here it is:
You need: (for one bell - you can multiply as needed)
One small terra-cotta pot (unused) with hole in bottom
One oven bag side (i.e., 1 oven-bag makes two seed bells)
One cup of your bird's favorite seed mix (i.e. millet/sunflower/safflower/poppy/hulled oats)
One egg white, lightly beaten.
One piece of safe wire, small hooked at top and big loop at bottom (i.e., 2" 90% base angle)
Mix seeds and egg-white together in bowl.
Line pot with one sheet of oven bag
Pour most of seed mix in pot
Poke hooked end into mix and through hole at end of pot (I said SMALL hook, remember?)
Make sure flat base of wire is firmly into mix, top up with remaining mix.
Place pots on oven rack in upright position with wire hanging down below
Bake in slow oven (i.e., low heat) for 90 minutes
Remove with oven gloves (the wire will be hot so be careful)! Tip out of pots, remove paper and PRESTO! You have healthy birdie-snacks that cost very little and will keep your baby amused for hours/days!
You can customize this recipe however you like. I'm planning pumpkin seeds for my next endeavor!
EDITOR'S NOTE: There had been mention of using dried parsley in the above recipe but, it is possible that parsley may be toxic to pet birds. It has been reported as a toxic substance to ratites but the reports have been inconclusive in respect to our pet birds. I personally would rather be safe than sorry.

BIRDIE BLEND
by Catherine A. Litchi
This is very easy to make, freezes well, and my tiel and budgies love it:
1 cup brown rice
1/4 cup dried split peas
1/4 cup dried lentils
1/4 cup dried yellow split peas
2 cups water
Put it all in a saucepan and cook for about 40 minutes. Add extra water if necessary.
This freezes well. I usually make a double or triple batch and freeze a lot of it. Break the frozen mixture into chunks and thaw or microwave when you need it.

BEAN MIX FOR BIRDS
by Mary Beth Voelker
NCS Online Pet Consultant
2 lbs assorted dried beans, soaked & cooked as per package directions. Cook the big ones in one pot & small in another so the little ones don't get too mushy. (you don't have to separate for cooking - personal preference) 1 cup of rice (preferably brown) cooked as per directions.
Optional - barley, millet, etc. as available or desired. Drain everything & mix it up. After it has cooled add a cup or two of pellets to sort of take up the moisture. Optional - Tablespoon of Brewer's nutritional yeast (not active bread yeast)
Freeze above in ice cube trays - put cubes in zipper bags. A cube daily for a pair of birds or more for breeders. Thaw in microwave & crumble through fingers to check for hot spots. It's a big batch that lasts for a couple of months in the freezer. (Well it did when I first wrote this -- it now lasts 5 birds only about a month .
 

HOMEMADE PEDIALYTE

3 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon clear Karo Syrup
Pinch baking soda
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix thoroughly
 

HONEY TREATS

Honey
Millet seed
A big bowl
Cookie  Sheet

Put some seed in a large bowl depending on how much you want. Add honey and mix with hands until the seeds are completely covered in honey but clumpy. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and flatten. (If you are a real bird lover you can put the mixture into candy molds.) Let the mixture sit over night, or if you can't wait that long, put the candies in a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until completely hard.
 

Honey Pellets
(converting seed eaters to pellets.) This recipe was created with seed junkies in mind. We tested it for two months, and it's ready to roll.

3 eggs
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
6 cups assorted pellet some colored (size depends in the size of your birds)
1 cup Petamine
1 cup chopped nuts after grinding
1 cup chopped dry unsulfered fruits
1 cup dry veggies after grinding....I grind mine to a fine powder so they stick to the pellets.
1/4 cup anise seeds (optional)

You will need a large baking pan for this, I used one if the aluminum roasting pans that are disposable. Beat the eggs with a whisk. Add the honey and peanut butter, and whisk really hard until all is blended....no chunks of peanut butter. In another bowl mix all if the dry ingredients. Set your oven temperature to 400 degrees, and  let it heat up. As soon as the temperature is at 400 degrees, quickly blend together the wet and dry ingredients, making sure all ingredients are coated with the PB/Honey/Egg mixture. Mix with your hands to break up any clumps. Set your timer to 5 minutes, then check and stir, and break up clumps. Do this again...5 minutes and breaking up clumps. Set oven temperature to 200 degrees, and bake for another half hour. Check a few times in this half hour period...again break up clumps. When the half hour is over, do not open the oven, but turn your oven off and let pan sit in the oven until cool. Take out of the oven and break up any clumps that are still there. I would freeze the recipe and take out what you need for a day. I used one of the large foil roasting pans.
 

RICE, CORN AND PEAS

1 1/3 Cups raw brown rice
2 2/3 Cups hot water
1 Cup frozen green peas
1 Cup frozen corn
1/2 Cup dry split peas, cooked until just tender
1 Hard-boiled Egg (optional)

Cook rice until almost all of liquid is absorbed. Stir in the frozen peas and corn, and cook about 3 minutes or until vegetables are warm. Don't overcook. Add the cooked split peas.

Remove the eggshell and puree in blender. Chop remaining hard-boiled egg. Add both to rice mixture, and stir until well mixed.

Egg food is so simple to make.  Here’s the recipe.
2 Eggs hard boiled, cooled and fully cooked until yolk is hard all the way through.  12 minutes boiling works for me to get my eggs to this point.

1 Potato Masher

1/2+(to consistency) cup of crushed cereal O’s (does not have to be the name brand of O’s), crushed until powdered

1 Slice of 12 grain bread dried stiff or toasted, crushed into bread crumbs.

          Place the crumbs in a bowl.  Place the eggs in a bowl and mash with a potato masher until they are teensy.  Mash the shell as well, and make those pieces as small as possible and include them in the egg mash.  Usually 1/16 inch is sufficient for all sizes of bird to eat.  Place bread crumbs in first.  Mix thoroughly with the egg and then add the cereal O’s to it.  Mix this for about 2 minutes until very well mixed.  If Egg Food is not dry and still feels mushy or wet, add a bit more of the crumbs or cereal until it becomes spongy.  Put this on a dish in the bottom of the bird cages or aviary and the birds just eat it up.  You’ll be amazed at how fast it disappears.

         One more thing:  You can not fry the eggs instead, you can not scramble the eggs first, please use hard boiled eggs.  Hard boiled eggs won’t contain things which could possibly harm your bird such as Teflon, sprays, oils or margarines.