I thought since we breed various types of birds and always are looking to enrich the birds life when we are not handling them.  I have found food to be the most fun for the bird and myself alike. 

First off, these recipes can be altered based on the size of the bird and types of food eaten.  But I know all my birds like the name brand “berry” treat and I have a fairly simple way to make the birds work a bit for their food. 

First, the glue that binds all the treats together is plain light corn syrup, available a every supermarket.

All I do is make a grab bag of all the different types of treats my birds love. 

I always make the treats about 50% Zupreem Pellets and mix the rest up.

Things to possibly add:

Nuts, like plain unsalted walnuts, unsalted pistacios, or almonds will all do fine.

Dried fruits, like papaya, pitted cherries, pitted cranberries, organic apple chips, banana chips all will work.

I usually add some wild bird seed mix with peanuts in it to get the birds into trying the treats.

I add instant oatmeal to the mix also as it adds good food and is another great “glue” for the treats.

Add corn syrup in a bowl, mix in some instant oatmeal until it is fairly thick.  Now just add whatever you want.  After mixing it all together, and getting a good treat base together you can do a number of things with it. 

Possibilities:

Pack ice cream cones with the mix

Use a mini muffin pan and fill them up

I have even gotten quite good and started creating wooden chew toys that are loaded with the treats.

I use untreated wood and just go nuts drilling large, medium, & small holes in it until I am sure I can pack enough treat in it and still make it a challenge for the birds to get all the food out.  Then I just add a stainless steel Eye Screw into the wood where I plan to hang it by an old toy chain that has been destroyed.

At the end I bake the items on a old cookie sheet for about 3 hours @ 170 degrees to kill any bacteria or mold that may be present in the seed mix.

After it cools it should be quite hard and ready to feed to the birds. 

If you want to go a step further, I have been purchasing dry rawhide and soaking it until flexible and wrapping the mini treats from the mini cupcake pan and then baking them for another hour or until the rawhide is dry.  The birds love to chew the hide and trying to get the “yummies” out.

This recipe is fully flexible, just make sure that care is taken not to put something in that can rot inside the treat.

Happy baking days!! :)