Eggfood is a very important part of a canary's diet. Although some breeders only use it during breeding season, most breeders follow our recommendation of using it year-round in addition to their seed diet. Eggffod should be offered every day starting about two weeks before breeding season and continue as part of the daily feeding routine until the chicks are fledged and eating seed on their own. It is an excellent source of highly digestible protein. Because it is a soft food the adult birds don’t have to grind it up like they do seeds and chicks can easily ingest it. It really helps the young birds make the transition from being fed by Mom to eating on their own.

During the rest of the year we recommend offering eggfood two or three times a week. Feeding year-round assures that the birds receive the necessary protein that a strict seed diet lacks. Another advantage to year-round feeding is that the birds will invariably go straight for the eggfood as soon as it is offered. This means that eggfood is an excellent way to give vitamins or medication because the bird owner is assured that the bird is actually ingesting the vitamins with the food.

The eggfood can be offered dry, but we find that we get better results by offering it moist. To do this we recommend the use of another Quiko product; Rusk. Place a portion of dry Rusk in a mixing bowl and add enough cold water to “float” it. Allow it to soak in cold water for 3-5 minutes. It will absorb the water but retain its shape. Now mix one part of the soaked Rusk to four parts of the dry eggfood and stir thoroughly. This will give a consistency of crumbly cookie dough. The mixture can be refrigerated for up to a week or ten days and portioned out as needed. Larger batches can be prepared and frozen in zipper-lock freezer bags and thawed out as needed.

Eggfood should be offered in a separate dish from the seed diet. Orchid Tree Exotics carries several types of small cups and dishes specifically for this purpose.

How much eggfood to offer is a matter of personal preference so there is no standard portion so experiment to determine how much is the right amount.Try starting out with roughly one tablespoon per canary per day. If the birds eat it in a very short time, increase the amount offered. If there is a lot left over the next day, reduce the portion until you come to some sort of happy medium.

Because Quiko eggfood is a baked product made with real eggs and no oils, it can safely be left in the bird’s cage overnight without danger of spoiling or becoming rancid.

A more detailed explanation of eggfood use called a variegated feeding program can be found on the web page entitled “feeding eggfoods”.