I started making some of these foods and treats long before there was an official Itty Bitty Birdie Bites©. Most of my flock are rehomed birds, and most came to me with atrocious eating habits, ranging from seed-only (picking out the sunflower seeds most, of course!) to pellet-only. Neither of these extremes was an acceptable choice to me, so I set out to create some foods that would broaden these birds' dietary horizons not only painlessly, but quickly and enjoyably - especially the 5 lovebirds I'd taken in over a period of several years, and the 2 cockatiels, also rehomed. One, in fact, who had been a "seed junkie" his entire 8 years of life when I acquired him, and had remained one for the next 13 years. It was for these birds that I created the original Itty Bitty Birdie Bites©.
Once I'd developed the concept, it took several months of trial and error to find something that was (a) healthy, (b) was "made from scratch" with no processed foods, (c) that had no chemical additives, (d) that had only whole, "real" foods as the source of nutrition, (e) that had no "junk" but contained only foods with as much nutritional value as possible, (f) had a decent shelf life, and (g) probably the most important, that these birds would not only eat, but love it!
After I had the 3-day process down pat, I mentioned it on several mailing lists, and sent a few little packets to seed-junkie owning friends. Each of them raved about this food, and said, "You should market this stuff!" Hmmm...so I put a call out for the worst of the worst seed junkies on a large mailing list, and ended up with just over 100 birdies volunteered by their frustrated owners. For the most part, these were birds who had never tried or liked any food other than seeds, the ones whose owners had "tried everything!", the ones that were considered hopeless cases. I sent out samples to each one, created a little questionnaire for feedback, and waited...
Within 3 weeks, all results were in, and Itty Bitty Birdie Bites© (IB3 for short) had an astonishing 87% acceptance rate! Not only that, but many owners reported that their birds ignored seed until all of the IB3 was gone, or would toss their seed aside looking for more. That was all I needed. Since I was already completely immersed in the nutritional aspects of parrot-keeping, this was the ideal outlet for my passion, and a way to help other itty bitty birdies break the seed-only habit as well! The answer to a prayer...
And now you know how Itty Bitty Birdie Bites started out. For information about each individual food I offer, please click on the appropriate link below.