Freezing grasses

[Hezz]

I recently had a week out of town with my son being chief bird-whisperer and bottle-washer (some of you already know this) and was concerned about the flock not getting their daily input of grasses, particularly as I have been working hard at getting Misty’s weight down. So decided to try freezing some fresh-picked grass to see how it survived. I froze the grass in batches of what was a normal daily quota, divided up to cater for the different groups and each day’s worth had its own bag, to make things easy for the bird-sitter. Freezing the grass worked surprisingly well, and the birds were happy to hoe in once it was close to room temp. I did do a couple of trial runs before we went away, to make sure it didn’t go mushy, or drop all the seed, or anything else horrible. It was a success all round, although Misty has put weight back on. Not due to lack of fresh feeding opportunities, I think he is just a glutz.

I thought it might be worth trying for those of you who have a limited grass-picking season, skysmum and jellybean, I’m thinking of you in particular as I know your birds enjoy their grasses, but I’m sure there are many more members who do the same. To have a supply in the freezer that you can bring out once a week or so would have to be a big help to their diet.

[tweetiepiesmom]

Go to know - thanks Hezz. Sometimes I get a bumper crop, more than my guys can eat so it ends up in the compost. Now, I'll just freeze it. I would have thought it would be mushy after freezing. Did you do anything special or just put it into freezer bags?

[jellybean]

Thanks for the tip Hezz, but I wish I could say that the grass was so plentiful I had the opportunity to freeze it.

Sadly, the weather has been so unbearably hot (well for me it is) that I am struggling to find any to pick.

I gave them the last of what I had this morning, and can't think of anywhere else to look as everywhere the ground is dry and the grass burnt.

Are you having more success in your neck of the woods skysmum.

[Hezz]

Nothing fancy (sorry, I didn’t respond earlier), I used zip-lock bags so that I could expel as much air as possible. The one thing I didn’t do, purposefully, was wash it, to keep the moisture around the grass as small as possible.

[skysmum]

Great idea Hezz , it's good that it works, i also would have thought it may go mushy or drop the seed. Like JB said our grass season was short lived, spring seemed over quick then with the hot weather its just dried up .

Im always on the hunt for a few sprigs though so will def try this out, thankyou

[Hezz]

I hope you have some luck, skysmum. With the large variety of grasses that I had to work with, I was pleasantly surprised that there weren’t any particular ones that I had to leave out. I’m going to continue doing this for those rare times when I really can’t get out to pick - torrential rain is the worst.

[cierlo]

This is very useful to know!

How much grass constitutes a portion for one budgie, Hezz?

[tweetiepiesmom]

I usually just cut a small clump and put it in their cage. They'll munch on the grass as well as the seed heads.

[Hezz]

Aug 7, 2021 9:51:25 GMT cierlo said:

This is very useful to know!

How much grass constitutes a portion for one budgie, Hezz?

Oh, Lord, that is a hard question to find the answer to. I pick way too much for them every day, and they have their definite favourites, so I pick a few bits of each and every grass type available at the time. That varies with the seasons, amount of rain, council mowing etc as well. Some grasses I don’t bother with any more as they never touch them, others I do just to make up a bunch and so that they have to pick through to find what they want.

[jellybean]

I'd be over the moon if I had seeding grasses available all year long for my boys Hezz, you are so lucky.

Could you, (only if you have the time)
show some pictures of the grasses you have in Australia, and their names, or just the names and I'll ask Mr Google 😁

Would be really interested to see how they differ from what is available to me.

[Hezz]

Aug 8, 2021 6:46:54 GMT jellybean said:

I'd be over the moon if I had seeding grasses available all year long for my boys Hezz, you are so lucky.

Could you, (only if you have the time)
show some pictures of the grasses you have in Australia, and their names, or just the names and I'll ask Mr Google 😁

Would be really interested to see how they differ from what is available to me.

I’d love to, JB, but have to admit to knowing the names of only a few. Give me a couple of days or so and I’ll try to find/take some good photos.
(Note to self ….💬)

[samwiseg]

Very interesting post Hezz thanks for sharing!

Didn't realise that it would work so well, but thinking of freezing your greens I suppose why shouldn't it work eu tu grasses?!

[willowsmum]

Our season is so short here in Scotland I don't tend to ration it at all. I give Willow a big handful each day if possible and just let him eat what he wants. I find he eats less of his usual seed mix when he has the seeding grass and he enjoys crunching the cut stems too. I'm definitely going to try freezing them.

[ariella]

Willow is definitely enjoying himself and getting stuck in.

[samwiseg]

Nom nom!