FINCHforum

Right now I get the birds r us seed mixes. My societies waste a lot of the mix, but the other finches I have eat all of it. I would like to just do a separate mix for my societies. I am wondering where I can get seeds sold separately and just make up a mix they won't waste. Also what seeds should I include in this mix? I can't afford all the seeds they waste, so any help is much appreciated!

Have you noticed what kind of seeds your Societies like the most now? Which BRU seed blend are you using now so I can get an idea of what your other birds love so much? Or don't like?

Herman Brother's is an excellent choice of individual seeds - they also have mixes that they put together or other breeders have put together over the years.

Normal parakeet mix is great for societies. They waste less.

Misty- I use both the breeding and moulting blend and the maintenance and resting blend for the aviary birds. I really don't know which seeds are which except for the millet, but in the aviary most all seeds get eaten. I do have a variety of finches in there though, so what one doesn't eat another will.

The societies I give only the maintenance blend or there would be even more waste.

In the aviary I keep parrot finches, gouldians, cordon bleus, red and blue billed fire finches, red eared waxbills, orange cheek waxbills, gold breasted waxbills, and owl finches.

Misty

Are the Herman brother seeds fresh, and would they have good sprouting quality?

I think they do sell a sprout mix...what I did was watched what seeds they ate and what they didn't. i ordered a mix of only the seeds they ate....saved on waste. The closest mix pre-bagged to the special ordered mix that I use is Kaytee Supreme for finches..lots of white millet, red millet and a long grass seed. I serve Zupreem fruit pellets in it or on th side depending on the species.

star wrote:Misty

Are the Herman brother seeds fresh, and would they have good sprouting quality?

Yes - the seeds are fresh. The seeds I've bought from there have sprouted.

As for the individual seeds you can ask for several to try with your birds. If they prefer the white proso seed the most then they may not like the other smaller seeds.

But here is what most use in a Finch mix.

Canary seed
Siberian Millet
Japanese Millet
German Millet

star wrote:Right now I get the birds r us seed mixes. My societies waste a lot of the mix, but the other finches I have eat all of it. I would like to just do a separate mix for my societies. I am wondering where I can get seeds sold separately and just make up a mix they won't waste. Also what seeds should I include in this mix? I can't afford all the seeds they waste, so any help is much appreciated!

We have found that their diets change depending on where they are at in the breeding cycle. Even during with season we're in if they are by a window where temperature and light amount varies.

So even though their is some waste .. I prefer that then to have the birds missing something in their diet when they need it. Having a mix that has a lot of variety is not necessarily a bad thing.

For example, lets say there is 1g of a certain seed type (take flax as an example) in 100g of seed mix. And they only eat about 0.5g (or half). So you end up throwing out 0.5g.

Just that 0.5g may provide them with certain amino acids that are vital for optimum health. By removing it to avoid waste.. you could be potentially upseting their health unknownly. It just could be that they don't need much flax but a little may go a long way for them.

Every finch or type might have different requirements (male vs. female, fire finch vs. orange cheek, pre-egg laying vs. hatchlings vs. fledged vs. rest cycle)

If you want to minimize the seed loss, you can try one of those vacuum type seed collectors setups that seperate uneaten seeds and hulls. But putting those seeds back will change the % of each seeds in the mix leading to more and more seeds that are rarely eaten taking up a greater percentage of the mix.

Thank you everyone for your help!