Wild Bird food?

Rae2 · Post by **Rae2** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:41 pm

Well, after reading this thread, I started thinking about it..
I had a pair of doves that lived to be 23 and 24 years. I fed them wild bird seed. They lived a long time, so it must have been alright. They did get occasional treats, but main feed was the wild bird seed.

So... I bought a bag of wild finch seed to try. I have societies and stars. They love it! First time I gave it to them, they were fighting to stay at the seed hoppers! They eat more of it, compared to the other brand(s) of seed they were eating. Like others have said, mine will not eat the colored seeds, so much waste was accumulated. They eat darn near all the wild mix.

Did I say they love it?
Plus.. I love the price! Although price is not the big consideration here. I want my birds to eat what they enjoy. They are doing well on this wild mix, they are still healthy and active.

kittani79 · Post by **kittani79** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:16 pm

It may be fine, but I know of at least one company that does treat its "wild" bird seed with pesticides to keep those little bugs out. They just recalled a bunch of it without telling us why, too. (Morning Song)

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 7:38 am

kittani79....thanks for the update on the finch seed. One never knows what all is in the stuff we buy.

HepburnShoeMee · Post by **HepburnShoeMee** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:04 am

Ohh just stumbled on this thread. Very interesting. I have hummed and haaed several times about buying the wild seed - and might actually take a list of ingredients in with me to compare next time. They really have high prices on the finch food at my local pet store - I just have always bought it. But the little buggers waste so much - sometimes I see them even picking thru it like little kids trying to find the seeds the like best! But who can scold a bird?! Ha. Will be looking into this - and thanks so much for such an interesting read. It's really great to read all sides of the topic.

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:30 pm

I did this for my parakeets once but found mOST of the wild food had a filler in it, so it was wasteful.

if its workin for you and your savin $ then go for it, lol

I pay 18.00 for 20 pounds of sleek and sassy which isnt to bad BUT when ya have LOTS of birds it adds up, lol

IBleed4Thee · Post by **IBleed4Thee** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:57 pm

I just became the Momma of five zebra finches, three males and two females in addition to one egg.

This is all new to me and I have be able to learn so much from this forum.

The original owner of the birds, a elderly gentlemen that raised finches for breeding, told me that he mixes equal amount of regular bird seed and finch seeds. He said with the large amount of birds he had that it was almost impossible to afford finch seed.

I wasn't sure if this was a good suggestion though he he has been breeding for 20 some years.

I purchased a bag of Premier Finch Seeds at Petsmart, I think it was a pound for $5.00.

Being on a limited income, if mixing the less expensive seed with the Finch seeds is all right for the birds, it would super for me. Especially with them breeding and having tiny mouths to feed.

Was wondering if this is a good idea to mix.

hilljack13 · Post by **hilljack13** » Thu May 08, 2008 10:35 pm

kittani79 wrote:It may be fine, but I know of at least one company that does treat its "wild" bird seed with pesticides to keep those little bugs out. They just recalled a bunch of it without telling us why, too. (Morning Song)

WTF!!! Thats what I buy!!! One bag lasts over 6 months so I can assume mine wasn't one of them.