Courtesy Chris Parrella, California
Pre-chop and store fresh foods in advanced for easy serving to your bird. |
If you’ve never been plagued by annoying seed moths or buzzed by fruit flies, you haven’t had a bird for very long. Every pet bird owner has to deal with these pests – and others – in the course of their bird’s life. But if you store bird food properly you can go a long way toward avoiding bugs, fungus and spoilage.
“Use the freezer to store seed, dry cooked diets and pellets,” said Kreig Peterson of Gourmet Pet Supply in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “Fresh foods can be pre-chopped a few days ahead of time. The Sharper Image now offers silver-infused Tupperware to keep foods fresh.”
A few good storage tips:
Seed and pellets: Store in sealed plastic containers or two Ziploc® bags (seal food in a bag within a bag). Keep in freezer. If you keep it out of the freezer, look for seed moth webs. If the seed gets webby, put it in the freezer to kill the moth larvae. If you see little black bugs, toss the food outside and buy fresh food.
Cooked diets: Store in sealed container for up to five days in the fridge, or indefinitely in the freezer, but ideally you should use the frozen food within two weeks of preparation.
Fruits and veggies: Store in fridge and serve fresh. Frozen foods are OK to serve too, but they aren’t always as nutritious and some have added salt.