Do you freeze your bird food?
I used to always freeze my bird food because I had a problem with the stupid corn moths before. But then I decided to store the bird food in what I thought were air tight containers…. Stupid me. Now I have a corn moth issue (also known as meal moths, pantry moths, etc) again.
I was concerned about constantly freezing the food because freezing takes thiamin out of the food, I don’t know how other vitamins are affected by freezing but I know thiamin is. I am not even sure birds need thiamin. But I was worried about it.
Now I have the moth situation in full force, moths flying around, larvae crawling around…. this is disgusting. I have since thrown all the seed based food into the freezer. Do I need to worry about the pellet food too?
Do you freeze your food or do something else to control this? Anyone had this problem? Any pointers on how to deal with this? I remember it was a pain the last time and took forever to get them to be gone.
I only buy organically grown seed products, from my local feed store, so they are not treated with pesticides. Maybe I should start vacuum sealing or buying the mass produced vacuum sealed foods?

October 21st, 2011 at 11:36 pm
I freeze my seed mix for about 48 hrs or so and then bring it out to room temp. It kills the larve that may be in the seed mix. Before I did this we had a horrible problem with the moths, I have been doing it this way for 4 years and have no problems at all now.
I also have a vacum sealer and i LOVE IT!!! I package the food after freezing into quart bags and then stack in a tub. I always date them so I know which ones to use, and I can see how much I have left so I know when I need to restock.
years of experience with Bubba OWA, Rico M2 and Snoop U2
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October 22nd, 2011 at 12:36 am
Older seed gets moths, check to make sure the seed you are buying is fresh when you get it. Soak some in wet paper towels and see if it sprouts,or ask where you buy it.
Also can freeze it for 48 hours before opening. This won’t hurt the nutritionally value any.
Also, don’t buy in large amounts,rather buy more often.
years of experience with Bubba OWA, Rico M2 and Snoop U2
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October 22nd, 2011 at 1:35 am
I only use Harrison’s bird food for my bird, and because it is organic with no preservatives, I keep it in the freezer. I don’t worry about thiamine because I offer fresh foods every day (dark greens like kale and collard, snow peas, mango, tangerines, cranberries etc.)
Try this site for a list of fresh foods:
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/birds/a/parrotdiets_2.htm
and go here to learn about Harrison’s:
http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/
years of experience with Bubba OWA, Rico M2 and Snoop U2
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October 22nd, 2011 at 2:37 am
I put the pellets in the refrigerator to keep them from going sour. Never had a problem with the seed mix getting infested, but it is ok to refrigerate them as well. If you are feeding your birds a variety of fresh foods often, you do not have to worry about nutrition deficiensies. Check out my website with over 130 non-toxic parrot foods: http://pic6.piczo.com/harht/?g=46307143&cr=6
This website is the most all around, parrot informative site I have found: http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww1.htm
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October 22nd, 2011 at 3:37 am
This website is the most all around, parrot informative site I have found: http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww1.htm
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