Carrot Tops

I've had this up on my blog for nearly a month, so some people may have seen it already, but I finally got round to taking a photo to go with it today: http://www.feathersandforage.co.uk/?p=752

Carrots are great for your birds, but so are the leafy green carrot tops. Usually in the supermarket, it’s hard to find carrots that still have the leafy greens attached, since most are cut off before packaging, so we grow our own. Leafy greens, like carrot tops, are a good source of vitamin A.

Growing carrot tops is very easy – even for those of us with no gardening skills at all. All you need is a container (I’ve used a food container, with a nice wide base), water and some carrots. Simply cut a couple of inches off the top of the carrot, and sit them in the water, in the container. I usually make sure the carrot tops are semi-submerged, like little orange islands. Change the water every day. After a few days, you should start to see green shoots coming out of the top. After a week or two, you should have islands with little green forests on top. Your carrots will grow roots too, so don’t worry if you see little white “strings” growing off it. If the carrot turns black, then throw it out.



Once you’ve got a few stalks a couple of inches long, you can give it to your birds. I push mine through the top of the cage bars, so the leaves hang down over one of the perches. The budgies love their carrot tops, and have it nibbled bare within about half an hour. The cockatiels are less keen – Kami generally runs away from it, while Lofty will occasionally lick it, but hasn’t gone as far as nibbling on it yet. Once the birds have done all they want to it (or reduced it to practically nothing), put the carrot back in the dish, and the tops will regrow. I put a couple of new carrot tops in water every week at the when we make their layered salad, and every other time we use a carrot. Hanging food from the top of the cage, is also a great foraging opportunity for your birds.