Eggfood is an important part of a bird's diet, especially if live food is not on the menu. It provides the much-needed protein that is frequently lacking in the diet of birds in captivity. Fortunately, it is generally well-received by most finches, easy to prepare, and inexpensive.

Eggfood recipes abound. Many people have put much creative thought into new eggfood recipes that are well-received by their birds. I prefer recipes that require simple ingredients - ingredients that I already have on hand or that are easy for me to find. However, many people like to express their creativity in their eggfoods and some recipes can require a dedicated trip to the supermarket and/or petstore. Whatever your preference, there is probably an eggfood recipe for you out there somewhere.

The Most Basic Eggfood Recipe

Ingredients: Eggs (as many as needed)
Instructions:
Place eggs in a saucepan and submerge in water. Bring to a gentle boil. Boil for about 10-12 minutes. Remove eggs from saucepan and cool in a bowl of ice water. When cool, remove the shells and mash egg white and yoke with a fork (or use a food processor) until thoroughly blended. Crush the eggshells and mix into eggfood or serve separately in a small dish.
Notes: Some people recommend boiling for 20 minutes to ensure any harmful bacteria is destroyed, others claim this is too long and many of the nutrients are lost by overcooking. Supposedly, if the egg yolk has an olive hue, the egg has been cooked too long. It should be a bright yellow color.
Storage: Store extra eggfood in the refrigerator for a few days. Hard boiled egg can be frozen if necessary (thaw by placing in the refrigerator the day before you intend to serve it to the birds), but this may affect the texture and the birds may not accept the thawed portions as readily.
Variations: Experiment freely with other ingredients if you like. Common additions include finely diced greens/vegetables (eg, carrots), vitamins, bread crumbs, handfeeding formula, commercial dry eggfood. With the exception of the vitamins, you can add as much or as little as you like.

Egg Bread

Many people purchase egg biscuits from pet stores to feed to their birds. Their is a cheaper alternative - egg bread. Your birds will likely prefer it and it is very simple to prepare. You can even use the egg bread as a substitute for eggfood if necessary. It may be accepted by finicky eaters that would otherwise ignore the eggfood. It is also ideal for those who work during the day or go on vacation, since it can be left in the cage/aviary all day without as much risk of spoiling (it stales instead). I sometimes mix in the grated egg bread with mashed hard-boiled egg to prepare eggfood as well. And when baking, the egg bread smells good enough for me to eat (but I haven't tried it)! The ingredients are simple: all you really need are eggs and corn muffin mix.

Note: This recipe was adapted from one by a man named Joe who used to post on the now defunct Finch Network message board. I have modified the original recipe to meet my needs. This recipe is pretty flexible, so feel free to experiment with it. For example, if you don't have access to handfeeding formula or vitamins, you can skip these ingredients. If the texture is too moist for your liking, reduce the number of eggs (but remember, the more eggs, the higher the protein content). I have also increased the number of eggs when I wanted to use up the rest of the eggs in my refrigerator to no ill effects.

Ingredients: One Dozen Eggs One box of Corn Muffin Mix 3-4 Tablespoons of Kaytee Exact Handfeeding Formula Nekton-Bio or Nekton-S Vitamin Supplement
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to the temperature specified by the corn bread mix instructions (400 degrees for Jiffy). Separate the egg whites and egg yolks.
Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until they are the consistency of a frothy merringue.
Add the egg yolks, the corn muffin mix, and the handfeeding formula.
Grease an 9 x 13" pan with a non-stick cooking spray and pour in the batter. Bake as directed by the corn bread mix instructions (note: my oven is goofy, but I usually have to bake a little longer than the instructions).
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Cut egg bread into squares (a single square should be no bigger than what will be consumed in a few days). Refrigerate one square and freeze the rest.
Serving: Grate the square with a cheese grater. Add vitamins as directed by the vitamin instructions and mix thoroughly. This makes an ideal egg food to serve when you are on vacation. Simply have someone come in once a day, remove the previous day's portion, and put out the next day's portion. The bread stales but it does not spoil. OR: Mix the grated egg bread with mashed hardboiled eggs as a more nutritious additive than bread crumbs. I usually mix 3 hardboiled eggs to one square (1/8 of eggbread batch). Add whatever supplements and extra ingredients you would add to any standard eggfood recipe. Freeze in portions that will last you 2-3 days. My birds love this (and it doesn't have the "animal" smell that an eggfood prepared with handfeeding formula has).
Notes: Vitamin dosage - Nekton dosage according to package instructions is one scoop per 250 grams of eggfood. I cut my egg bread into 8 same-sized squares. Each square averages between 80 and 90 grams. Thus, I estimate approximately 1/3 scoop of vitamin per square. When making eggfood, each hard-boiled egg weighs approximately 60 grams. This is about 1/4 scoop per hardboiled egg.
Storage: Store what can be eaten in a few days in the refrigerator. The remainder can be frozen with no ill effects. Move a frozen square (or frozen serving of eggfood) from the freezer to the refrigerator the day before you intend to serve it to allow it to thaw.