Live food for finches..?

[hat.him]

Hello!
Are there any live food that I can give my zebra finches? They are kept along with Java sparrows, so they are going to eat too. Any live food for both Java and zebra finches?
Thank you in advance ;)

[Stuart whiting]

Hi there,

As regards to live foods zebras generally don't eat live food and certainly don't need to, however Java sparrows will take meal worms and cleaned maggots,

If going to feed maggots make sure once purchased that they are kept in bran or a maize meal for 2-3 days until you can clearly see that the large black feed spot in the maggot has gone,

If the maggots are not properly cleaned you could run the risk of passing botulism onto yer birds but Once the maggots have fed on the bran or maize meal for a few days to excrete whatever foods they were bred on the maggots will then be perfectly OK to feed to yer birds

If you're not sure about using the maggots then the meal worms are probably a little easier to obtain, keep and feed.

Any questions please ask
I've been using maggots for the last 36 years

[hat.him]

Hi there,

As regards to live foods zebras generally don't eat live food and certainly don't need to, however Java sparrows will take meal worms and cleaned maggots,

If going to feed maggots make sure once purchased that they are kept in bran or a maize meal for 2-3 days until you can clearly see that the large black feed spot in the maggot has gone,

If the maggots are not properly cleaned you could run the risk of passing botulism onto yer birds but Once the maggots have fed on the bran or maize meal for a few days to excrete whatever foods they were bred on the maggots will then be perfectly OK to feed to yer birds

If you're not sure about using the maggots then the meal worms are probably a little easier to obtain, keep and feed.

Any questions please ask
I've been using maggots for the last 36 years

I really don't know where to get live ones at my place. When I went to the birds accessories and food market, I saw some dead meal worms (I think they were mealworms) in a box with some random bird's pic on it. Are the 'dead' ones fine?

[Stuart whiting]

hat.him

Mmm....yea there ok but I'd be inclined to blend em up and put them in with some egg food, the other good thing about dried meal worms is that they hold more protein once there dead and been dried,

If you feed these, only feed a few a day as you can over do it if one isn't careful, no more than about half a dozen per bird should be ok

But bare in mind that it's really only yer Java's that are likely to show any interest,

However yer zebras may eat them if you've blended and added to the egg food like mentioned

[Shannylee]

hat.him, my Javas go nuts over mealworms. I started raising my own worms to keep up with the demand and to eliminate any contamination or pathogens that might be present in store-bought critters. My husband just shakes his head as I sort the beetles out of the box of worms.

[hat.him]

hat.him

Mmm....yea there ok but I'd be inclined to blend em up and put them in with some egg food, the other good thing about dried meal worms is that they hold more protein once there dead and been dried,

If you feed these, only feed a few a day as you can over do it if one isn't careful, no more than about half a dozen per bird should be ok

But bare in mind that it's really only yer Java's that are likely to show any interest,

However yer zebras may eat them if you've blended and added to the egg food like mentioned

hat.him, my Javas go nuts over mealworms. I started raising my own worms to keep up with the demand and to eliminate any contamination or pathogens that might be present in store-bought critters. My husband just shakes his head as I sort the beetles out of the box of worms.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and helping me out ;) . I will first try with the dead ones and then proceed more complicated ways. Anyways thank you guys.

[cindy]

Neither birds require live foods but is using the dried mealworms grind them to a powder and add to the soft food as Stuart suggested.... if eating live they do not eat the exoskeleton but the dried they do and it can be rough on the GI tract, irritating. Also watch your protein counts... non breeding finches require about 12% not to exceed 20% protein daily... boiled egg is 17 to 19%. parent birds feeding young can be given up to 25% not to exceed 30%