tryalchemy
Member
Hi, i'd like to share my story of how I began feeding the crow family which has now grown to about 3-4 dozen lol!
Last year, in July, I happened upon a very sick baby crow, which I immediately became attached to. I ended up having to call the animal rescue to come pick him up, my intuition told me he was not okay. My family kept insisting nothing was wrong with the bird, but I am a highly sensitive individual and I have been cursed with the ability to know things ahead of time and feel everything around me in a very extreme way.
The next day, I called the shelter to check on the baby crow, and they told me that he had died when he arrived at the shelter. For some reason, I became very traumatized by this. I cried for about 2 weeks, I was so bothered about it. I then asked the universe to please give me a sign that the baby crow is happy and has transitioned onto the other side, or that he has reincarnated (I have various odd beliefs). About a day later, a crow started appearing next to my car every day when I went out to smoke. It would just stand there, not even move when I got close. Finally, I began throwing grapes outside for it, and he started coming every single day.
He must have told his friends about these grapes because slowly but surely, it went from only him to 3 more crows, which turned into 10 crows, which kept growing and growing. By the winter there was about 3 or 4 families that became one huge group that would come every day to eat.
Somewhere along the way, they went from getting just grapes, to a full course breakfast and dinner. Their babies are learning to fly and the parents have introduced them to me. The babies are even hungrier then the parents! We joke and call them "burdens" instead of birds haha. The babies will literally come and sit on the front lawn when they are hungry and scream until I come out and give them something to eat. Yes, scream. Not caw, but scream like newborn babies. It is quite obnoxious and cute at the same time.
I've set up a large ceramic rice pan, it's about 15-16" wide, that they all love to drink water out of. And soak their food in. My mother thinks i'm ridiculous because I put ice cubes in it when I refill their water and it's not cold enough. They like it better ice cold! They will sit there for 5 minutes or so just enjoying the water when it's cold like that.
For breakfast I usually give them scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese mixed in and some fruit, or pistachios with some small nibbles of cheese and fruit.
I try to choose the cheese with the lowest amount of sodium. They say it's okay for the birds to have in small amounts, because it provides them calcium and other nutrients they would otherwise not get. Some of those birds walk around with a broken foot, so they could probably use the calcium. Also when the females are laying eggs they lose more calcium, so it's good for them to have it.
I altered a bread recipe that uses powdered oats instead of flour and add 1 large zucchini, 2 bananas, assorted seeds, and 1 whole large carrot. I cut one slice each day and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on it and cut into tiny little pieces for them. It's quite a nice bread, one that birds can actually digest. They love it, especially with that peanut butter on it. I make sure to only put a very, very thin layer of it though. I usually make 2 loafs at a time and freeze them after I pre-cut it. If anyone is interested in this recipe I can post it, just let me know. It does take a bit of preparation, and I always buy organic ingredients for it, but it is well worth it. It is probably the best way to get the birds to eat vegetables, and adding them to the bread gives it great moisture and softness.
I usually try to follow the "parrot diet" to make sure i'm feeding them healthy things. They are very picky birds and refuse to eat vegetables unless I sneak them into the bread or an omelette. Occasionally they will eat yams if I boil them and add honey and cinnamon to them. They like potatoes of course, just not raw.
For dinner they get their bird bread, 1 cup of fruit finely diced (right now they're really loving apricots, peaches, grapes, and oranges). The babies really enjoy the fruit, which i'm happy about because I like to make sure they are hydrated in this summer heat. I will put out fruit sometimes every 6 hours or so as I have noticed the babies do not drink water as much as the adults. Perhaps they don't drink the water because it has no taste? I don't know, but I rarely see the babies at the water dish. They readily eat the fresh fruit though. It gets to be 100 degrees almost daily, so it's better to be safe then sorry. I figure i'd rather them get some kind of hydration from the fruit if they aren't going to drink water.
I also throw out a trail mix that I make myself for them for dinner. I put all different things in it, mix it up, and keep it in a big tub. I usually change it up every so often, but I try to include shelled peanuts, trader joes peanut butter energy bars (chopped up real small so everyone gets a piece!), trader joes fruit energy bars or fig bars, fiber cereal, cheerios, unsalted organic nuts like cashews, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, jumbo golden raisins, sesame sticks, a small amount of their favorite cheese popcorn, etc;
They absolutely love that cheese popcorn, so I give it to them once a week. It's not good for them though, they shouldn't be eating things with a high amount of salt. But I figure it's okay if they get it as a treat once a week. It's frightening how crazy they get over the cheese popcorn. It sounds like a crow festival or something when I throw it out, they run around like madmen trying to get as many pieces as they can.
In the winter I will give them an occasional special treat of peanut butter and jelly on homemade waffles!
I love these wonderful birds. I call them my fur babies. They also come when I call "fur babies". They know it's their name! It is a real joy feeding them and seeing them add to their families.
Last year, in July, I happened upon a very sick baby crow, which I immediately became attached to. I ended up having to call the animal rescue to come pick him up, my intuition told me he was not okay. My family kept insisting nothing was wrong with the bird, but I am a highly sensitive individual and I have been cursed with the ability to know things ahead of time and feel everything around me in a very extreme way.
The next day, I called the shelter to check on the baby crow, and they told me that he had died when he arrived at the shelter. For some reason, I became very traumatized by this. I cried for about 2 weeks, I was so bothered about it. I then asked the universe to please give me a sign that the baby crow is happy and has transitioned onto the other side, or that he has reincarnated (I have various odd beliefs). About a day later, a crow started appearing next to my car every day when I went out to smoke. It would just stand there, not even move when I got close. Finally, I began throwing grapes outside for it, and he started coming every single day.
He must have told his friends about these grapes because slowly but surely, it went from only him to 3 more crows, which turned into 10 crows, which kept growing and growing. By the winter there was about 3 or 4 families that became one huge group that would come every day to eat.
Somewhere along the way, they went from getting just grapes, to a full course breakfast and dinner. Their babies are learning to fly and the parents have introduced them to me. The babies are even hungrier then the parents! We joke and call them "burdens" instead of birds haha. The babies will literally come and sit on the front lawn when they are hungry and scream until I come out and give them something to eat. Yes, scream. Not caw, but scream like newborn babies. It is quite obnoxious and cute at the same time.
I've set up a large ceramic rice pan, it's about 15-16" wide, that they all love to drink water out of. And soak their food in. My mother thinks i'm ridiculous because I put ice cubes in it when I refill their water and it's not cold enough. They like it better ice cold! They will sit there for 5 minutes or so just enjoying the water when it's cold like that.
For breakfast I usually give them scrambled eggs with a bit of cheese mixed in and some fruit, or pistachios with some small nibbles of cheese and fruit.
I try to choose the cheese with the lowest amount of sodium. They say it's okay for the birds to have in small amounts, because it provides them calcium and other nutrients they would otherwise not get. Some of those birds walk around with a broken foot, so they could probably use the calcium. Also when the females are laying eggs they lose more calcium, so it's good for them to have it.
I altered a bread recipe that uses powdered oats instead of flour and add 1 large zucchini, 2 bananas, assorted seeds, and 1 whole large carrot. I cut one slice each day and spread a thin layer of peanut butter on it and cut into tiny little pieces for them. It's quite a nice bread, one that birds can actually digest. They love it, especially with that peanut butter on it. I make sure to only put a very, very thin layer of it though. I usually make 2 loafs at a time and freeze them after I pre-cut it. If anyone is interested in this recipe I can post it, just let me know. It does take a bit of preparation, and I always buy organic ingredients for it, but it is well worth it. It is probably the best way to get the birds to eat vegetables, and adding them to the bread gives it great moisture and softness.
I usually try to follow the "parrot diet" to make sure i'm feeding them healthy things. They are very picky birds and refuse to eat vegetables unless I sneak them into the bread or an omelette. Occasionally they will eat yams if I boil them and add honey and cinnamon to them. They like potatoes of course, just not raw.
For dinner they get their bird bread, 1 cup of fruit finely diced (right now they're really loving apricots, peaches, grapes, and oranges). The babies really enjoy the fruit, which i'm happy about because I like to make sure they are hydrated in this summer heat. I will put out fruit sometimes every 6 hours or so as I have noticed the babies do not drink water as much as the adults. Perhaps they don't drink the water because it has no taste? I don't know, but I rarely see the babies at the water dish. They readily eat the fresh fruit though. It gets to be 100 degrees almost daily, so it's better to be safe then sorry. I figure i'd rather them get some kind of hydration from the fruit if they aren't going to drink water.
I also throw out a trail mix that I make myself for them for dinner. I put all different things in it, mix it up, and keep it in a big tub. I usually change it up every so often, but I try to include shelled peanuts, trader joes peanut butter energy bars (chopped up real small so everyone gets a piece!), trader joes fruit energy bars or fig bars, fiber cereal, cheerios, unsalted organic nuts like cashews, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, jumbo golden raisins, sesame sticks, a small amount of their favorite cheese popcorn, etc;
They absolutely love that cheese popcorn, so I give it to them once a week. It's not good for them though, they shouldn't be eating things with a high amount of salt. But I figure it's okay if they get it as a treat once a week. It's frightening how crazy they get over the cheese popcorn. It sounds like a crow festival or something when I throw it out, they run around like madmen trying to get as many pieces as they can.
In the winter I will give them an occasional special treat of peanut butter and jelly on homemade waffles!
I love these wonderful birds. I call them my fur babies. They also come when I call "fur babies". They know it's their name! It is a real joy feeding them and seeing them add to their families.
