Fresh Hard-boiled Egg

[willowsmum]

Willow always has access to dried eggfood but he's going through a pretty bad moult at the moment (I'm surprised he has any feathers left, poor thing) so I wanted to see if he would take some fresh egg. I've boiled it for 15-20 mins to kill off any salmonella and have mashed a small amount of white and yolk together but I'm sure I've read somewhere that I should crumble a bit of the shell in it too. I can't find where I read it so I thought I would just check. Should he be given a white/yolk mix and should I include any of the shell?

Sounds odd but thought it best to check, he's getting such a tiny amount I would rather get it right. All credit to him though, he tried it straight away - especially when he thought I was going to eat it all   

[tweetiepiesmom]

Good boy, Willow! I love reading about budgies that are curious and willing to try what people are eating! I'm hoping my guys will do that one day. I also seem to remember reading something about adding in some egg shell for the calcium but don't recall where or the directions. Maybe it was for breeding hens?

[jellybean]

You can add some shell.
First remove the inner membrane, I find that 10/15 seconds in the microwave helps to dry it our making it easier to crumble

Put between 2 sheets of kitchen paper and go over it several times with a rolling pin....Sprinkle on top of the egg.

You could add some broccoli and a little sweetcorn to the egg.

None of my birds like fresh egg.

[willowsmum]

Thanks jellybean , you're a star! I'll give it a go over the weekend.

He is brave (and nosy!) tweetiepiesmom . He tried the fresh egg a few times but he didn't exactly wolf it down. Every little helps though . I'm sure your boys will get more brave, bit by bit.

[Hezz]

You will need to make sure the eggshell is well crushed otherwise it will have sharp edges. I'd use a mortar and pestle if you have one.

[willowsmum]

Thanks Hezz, I will do.

[Morgan]

My partner (and now myself too) also keeps chickens, and I’ve been washing their eggs before cracking them and saving the shells in the fridge, then baking them in a toaster oven for 30 min at 200deg and grinding them up in a mini blender (I have the magic bullet one). It may sound weird, but I feed it back to the chickens with some protein powder to help them out with egg production - read about it on the backyard chickens website I believe.

I have also just blended the shells after boiling for the budgies still damp and then just scrape it out with a spoon to add to their egg. I don’t bother removing the membrane first though - but if that part doesn’t blend I just pick it out and toss it afterwards. A clean coffee grinder should work too - but better for the shells to be dried first. And by clean I mean maybe get a separate grinder for this purpose

I also mix a bit of their sprouted seed into it to get their attention. This has always seemed to work for me at least - probably aided by healthy competition to get the few seeds first. I think they end up eating some of the egg accidentally and then develop a taste for it.

[willowsmum]

Thanks Morgan. I think he still prefers the dried eggfood but I'll try the fresh egg a few more times, just in case he fancies it.