grass seed

[LauraElrod]

hi all i am new here and i have new finches . i was readying i can give them fresh grass sead as long as there been no bug spray ect on it .. i have cut some and they went wild over it..also i read chick weed to but i cant find a good picture of what this looks like. is there anything else i can gather wild wise for them?

[tammieb]

I don't know if you did an image search on Google or not but there are lots of photos of chickweed. Here's one,

Here's a closeup of the leaves, [/url]

They also like dandelion.

[Sally]

Chickweed likes cool weather and will die out as soon as it gets too warm. I have it all winter here in north Texas. It is a tiny plant, and from a distance, it sort of looks like clumps of clover. My birds love it, so all winter, I harvest it for them. Any seeding grass will be good for them, they will either eat it or just play with it, just make sure it comes from an area that has not had pesticides put on it. I cut bunches of seeding grasses and clip them together with a clothespin, then hang them in their cages just like spray millet--gives them something to do. If they have nests, they will love the grasses for nesting material.

[FLAMEonfire]

I too have read about giving my finches grass seed and the grass itself. I have cut the Bahia grass {or field grass}into small pieces and put it on top of their food, which I had read somewhere is good for them to have, but I'm afraid to just buy the seed in a gardening store and give it to them - isn't the grass treated with something to help it grow? Wouldn't that be true with any seed that I would buy in a gardening store? But where else would I get it from?

Also I read that grass-finches - zebras, stars, gouldians, etc. live in pandanus palms in the wilds in Australia and that they eat the seeds during breeding season, {and molting season for the gouldians} I can't seem to find the correct seeds for that though. Has anyone else heard of this, and do you know where to buy the seeds from? The birds also use the leaves of the pandanus palm in the wilds for making nests! Anyone know where that can be brought? You hear or reads a lot of these things but no one ever telling you where you can get them from! It's like that with the chickweed I have no idea where to buy that either?! Now Sally says it grows wild in Texas, I'm that lucky in Florida! But it's got to come from somewhere. They must sell it? I just wish I knew where {LOL}

[kenny]

you can actually buy chickweed seed from a specilalist seed merchant
this is a fantastic site you can get lettuce seed ,grass seed that is not treated also
http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/catalog ... =+++Search+++

ken

[Sally]

If you are worried about seeds being treated, look for the organic seed section--these come from plants that have never been treated with chemicals. And as far as the pandanus palm, I'm not sure if that is a variety that is grown here, or is specific to Australia. At any rate, the types of finches you are talking about are bred domestically and have adapted to our conditions, to a certain extent. It is impossible to duplicate their home conditions entirely. I use plastic or silk plants in my cages, and for my grassfinches, I have found that they really like a plastic plant that looks like tall grass. They perch on the blades and tug on them.

[FLAMEonfire]

I do that also, as a matter of fact if you look in the Gouldian's aviary right before I cover them - you would swear the cage was empty because they're all hiding in the fake greens I have in the cage...It's so eerie!

I was looking for the grasses and palms because the birds eat something in them that helps during molt season which is the time I have the most problems with my birds.