OHHHH, NUTS!!!

All of us know that our birds benefit from regularly having nuts in their diets, unsalted, raw nuts shelled or unshelled.  And my guess is that you, too, have noticed that nuts in the shell at the grocery stores and online before the holidays, (okay, all year 'round) are really expensive.  But, in December the grocery stores stock bin after bin of unshelled nuts, all headed to the mantle to be stocking stuffers and centerpieces.  Except, not all of those nuts make it out of the grocery store. And after the holidays, the stores start marking those nuts down.

I won't belabor the point: this year I was almost too late.   A friend of mine who works  at King Soopers (Krogers in other parts of the country) called two days ago to say that the produce department  had bagged up all of their bulk nuts from the holidays in  approximately one pound bags, and they were all marked $1.00.  Clearance. Yup, you read right: one dollar. Not a typo here. One dollar.    She asked me if I'd like her to pick some up for my birds. We all know what my answer was, "OF COURSE! I'll take 30 bags!"   And so, I happily exchanged cash for nutritious nuts, and started a frantic hunt around town to find more.  A friend of mine in the Denver metro area searched out other stores, and found about 36 pounds, bagged and priced the same.   I found another 14 pounds.    And then...the well went dry.   All gone. But, ohhhhh, between us we had, in less than 24 hours, stocked up over 70 pounds of fabulous nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds,  Brazil nuts, hazelnuts) for our birds, at a fraction of their normal cost,  to also share with the flocks of two other friends.  Money so well spent.   Unshelled nuts to last months.

Nothing beats watching a parrot rip methodically into a pecan, a walnut, an almond, a Brazil nut, in the shell.   It's inspirational to watch the problem solving as the shell goes by the wayside within seconds, and the nut has been discovered.   And...nothing is wasted.  Do your birds head down to the bottom of the cage to check out the shell pieces for left behind nut meats?  Mine do. So smart.

Nuts serve a number of purposes for our birds (all ending with nutrition). First, they are a part of their daily diet.  Second, we use them as reward for solving foraging puzzles, birdie brain games.  And third, they are invaluable as tiny, tiny bites of treats or rewards throughout the day as positive reinforcement.

You would think as old as I am, and as long as I've had birds, that I would be ahead of this "markdown" strategy at the local groceries.  But, sometimes life gets in the way and it takes a call from a friend to remind me that there are bargains to be had, for our birds, every year, in the produce departments...if we just watch.  So, the moral of this missive is, keep your eyes out right after the holidays next year and grab up a bundle of those "expensive" nuts at an incredible price....for your birds.   Oh, crack open a pecan or two for yourself. Your birds won't mind sharing.