Gloria Mendoza absolutely loves to cook. Each day around 2 pm certain smells are sure to waft through the air at her Miami apartment — the aroma of black beans, cumin, cilantro, pumpkin, raisins and cinnamon. Mendoza is definitely cooking something up but not for her husband or grandkids. She’s making a midday snack for her two conures, Pete and Polly.
“Every afternoon I’ll make my birds some warm bean mix and some bread, and they’ll eat that while I sit down with a glass of lemonade,” related Mendoza.
Does she have some secret Mendoza Family recipe she uses to make these foods for her birds? “No,” she replied. “I just use some birdie mixes that I buy at the local bird store. I used to put together my own concoctions for my birds, but they actually seem to prefer these mixes. They gobble it up as soon as I put it in their cage.”
More and more pet owners, like Mendoza, are discovering cooked, baked and soaked foods for their birds. These commercially-manufactured mixes are designed to quickly prepare at home — “convenience foods” for pet birds. Most of them require only the addition of water or one or two ingredients to complete the recipe. Stir everything up, and bake, boil, simmer, microwave or soak it overnight before serving.
**For the full article, pick up the December issue of BIRD TALK**
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