"Wild" Finch Seed vs "Tame" Seed Mix

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:42 pm

Anybody up for a good Finch Food debate...without ending up in a Finch Food Fight....hehe!

In another post we were discussing whether Wild Finch seed mix would be as good as the regular fortified seed mix because some of our posters do use the wild mix. Soooo....since I need to buy some seed I purchased a bag of each of these products to compare.

I see the Kaytee Wild Finch mix has a much higher fat & fiber content that the Kaytee Forti-Diet Finch mix. **See Photos Of The Info Below**

Now here are the questions rolling around in my mind:
(feel free to comment or answer!)

1. Do tame finches need all that fat from the wild mix being they are not outside in the cold?

2. If it was fed to them would they eat only what they really need or eat too much and get fatty liver disease like other birds such as Cockatiels get when eating too much sunflower seed? (any Avian vets on this board who could answer this?)

3. The wild bird mix IS cheaper overall but doesn't have the extra supplements and nutrients like the Forti-Diet does. I have read somewhere...that it doesn't do any good to buy fortified seed mixes because the vitamins etc. are sprayed on the seed. And since the Finches shell their seed rather than eat whole seed like some parrots...they would not get the vitamins anyway. So maybe it doesn't really matter if the seed is fortified or not?

I did check out the "Morning Bird" brand and PetSmart had a few different Finch mixes...some had 14% fat and another mix and 18% Fat...Protein...etc. So it varies quite a lot depending on what you buy.

Oh my......this is giving me a headache....LOL!

I would like your thoughts on this too. Maybe there is no real good answer?

Since I bought the wild mix I am going to just mix some in at a ratio of something like 1/3 wild...2/3 regular mix. And see how the birds eat the mix.

I don't want Two-Ton Finches....my perches aren't rated for that weight!

hilljack13 · Post by **hilljack13** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:02 pm

I think I started the debate a few weeks ago and I use the Morning Bird, or whatever its called. I'll give my opinion on your questions.

1. I like to think they do, I keep my birds in a spare room with vent and doors closed so they really get the full effect of of all four seasons. The amount of fat in the seed may not be an issue if you don't do this.

2. This is hard...but my finches seem to eat only what they need. They spend so much time playing around and nibbling on cuttlebone, gravel paper, and eggs and greens if they were to get fat they would have done it a long time ago. I don't imagine they would get any disease from eating the seeds, it's natural and should offset anyway if you give a balanced diet and not just seed.

3. The main reason I use wild bird food? Price and all the "extra" that comes with pet bird food. My finches will not eat any seed that is colored green, red, blue, yellow, etc...only red millet. Also you are right, anything sprayed on the seed does not do the bird any good as they take the husks off and eat the inside. A birds mouth is not naturally wet enough to get the spay stuff off the husks. If you see how fast a finch can eat a seed you can also understand; the husk just doesn't stay in long enough either.

Anyway this is my take on it and if anyone wants to know how good wildbird food really is look at my avatar. Its a 3rd gen. black cheek raised on it. You can see the full pic in the gallery.

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:44 am

HillJack...I knew my post would get your attention.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. The only thing I worried about is ending up with Fattie Finches...LOL

I did't realize there were so many different wild finch mixes out there (guess I never really looked). We just buy the basic sunflower seed for all our wild birds.

hilljack13 · Post by **hilljack13** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:12 pm

I bought a large bag of wildbird food to set out since we just moved to our new house. It was a solid colored bag so I didnt really know what was in it. It's just a bunch of the medium size brown round seeds. I have yet to see any birds eat this. When I clean my cages I dump the tray's in the back yard and I see plenty of finches, cardinals, etc. I guess I wasted $10 on a 40lb bag of brown pellets...Maybe I'll go back to the pet store and get a bag of millet. They sell it at "bedding" for lizards? Anyone heard of this? Either way its like 20lbs-30lbs. I didn't see the cost though.

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:56 pm

Wow I've never heard of millet used as bedding for lizards. If you pick that up I'd be interested to know if it's any good.

hilljack13 · Post by **hilljack13** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:10 pm

I would like to get it if its cheap. I have seen a few sites that sell it in bags along with other individual seeds. I have thought about making my own mix but that would be VERY expensive.

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:15 pm

I can't say that all wild bird seeds are not of good quality, but you tend to get what you pay for. Alot of wild bird seed mixes have cheap filler seed in it like milo. If you choose to go with wild bird seed mixes I'd tend to stick with finch specific mixes that you can see through the bag to insure your getting the right kinds of seed. Something else to consider is trying to sprout the seed to see how fresh it is. If it takes a more than a few days to start sprouting the seed is old, and will have lost some of it's nutritional value. Freshness counts for a lot with seed.

As for many pet store seed mixes with colored junk in it. A good deal of thiose seed mixes have been sterilized for processing, and in the process have lost nutritional value. That is why they add bits of fruit and what not to boost the analysis. Many birds waste these fillers so they do not benefit from them at all.

The vitamin coated seeds do give some vitamins up when the birds husk the seed. I have seen information on this in an NFSS Journal article stating that the birds only get about 10% of the actual vitamins this way.

This is why Michele and I created our own untreated all natural fresh as we can get it seed blend. It may cost more than wild bird seed mixes, but I know it's quality seed and it sprouts like no tommorrow. In the long run it's much less expensive than many big label pet seed blends because it doesn't have any fillers, and the birds don't waste as much since they eat every type of seed in it.

Any which way. . . seed alone is not enough to keep happy healthy birds, and they need other soruces of nutrition to mimic what they would find in the wild.

Just my nickels worth,
Sean

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:59 am

VERY INTERESTING topic Love reading all the relpies,
I actually buy several different seeds and then do my own mix.

HeldenJourney · Post by **HeldenJourney** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 1:16 pm

Please note that your descriptions of the seeds say MINIMUM fat they may not be any different at all...