FINCHforum

Hi,

I bought spray millet locally, 3 for $1. My birds love it, but it's kind of on expensive side. Is spray millet better (more nutrition) than millet in the pre-mixed bird food? Why it is more expensive?

Thanks,

All millets has the same nutritional value and it's more expensive because it is harder to harvest the entire spray. The other individual seeds are harvested with combines and therefore more seed can be harvested in less time thus making a lot less expensive.

Now there are a lot of different varieties of millet, some being really inexpensive, while other can get quite pricey and the reason being is that some millets, like Dove Proso and White Millet, aren't very dependable crops making the price of the seed higher. Meaning: The field of millet, ready to be harvested, could have a heavy rain or wind and make the seed shatter to the ground therefore making it impossible to combine (or collect).

Nancy I really enjoyed talking to you about the seeds you produce. I am finding that birds are picky and sometimes most of the seed we buy is knocked out or never eating. The yellow shiny Millet is one of the most eaten along with the red millet.

Huh, I didn't even know there were different types of millet!

We only have spray millet (the whole stalk, that's spray millet right?)
The price here can be sooo expensive, but I usually buy from a petshop where I get 1 kg for around 2500 kr which is around $21. It might be around two dozens of spray millet.

I don't always buy millet, but I always have quite a lot of it when I have birds breeding and with chicks.

Here's a link to the nutritional value of millet, pretty interesting:
I didn't realize there was 22% protein in millet
http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/ ... -6377.html

That much protein???
I thought millet was rather low in food value.

It surprised me too. A lot of omega's along with a fair amount of vitamins, amino acids and minerals also. That sure doesn't sound like junk food to me

Spray millet was always said to be like candy to birds....wonder why?
Do the birds know something we don't????

I get mine online:
http://www.ladygouldian.com/node/68

The sprays are HUGE and a third of one lasts two zebras at least a week!!!

nelloyello11 wrote:I get mine online:
http://www.ladygouldian.com/node/68

The sprays are HUGE and a third of one lasts two zebras at least a week!!!

I should also say that in a pound, I think you get 7-8 or so of these very large sprays.

Ameza wrote:Huh, I didn't even know there were different types of millet!

We only have spray millet (the whole stalk, that's spray millet right?)
The price here can be sooo expensive, but I usually buy from a petshop where I get 1 kg for around 2500 kr which is around $21. It might be around two dozens of spray millet.

I don't always buy millet, but I always have quite a lot of it when I have birds breeding and with chicks.

There are lots and lots of different varieties of millets and I wouldn't even begin to try to throw a figure on the different cultivars. I am going to create a new post as I would like to see what seeds everyone's birds eat and what they toss out. I have been doing some experimenting with mine and it has cut down on the amount of seed or filler that is thrown out but I want to get more extensive with it. Maybe, just maybe, we will be able to avoid a lot of these high costs premium seed blends that just ends up kicked out. I will create the post here shortly and then re-post it under this topic so you all can comment if you desire.

Since my birds are on seed diet I always give them spray millets and my own seed mix which is consists of white millet, red millet, hemp seed, canary grass and nijer seed. Before deciding on millets as big part of their diet I made some research and found out that millets are high in protein and some vitamins and minerals. There are even types of millets that are being used as human food.

nelloyello11 wrote:I get mine online:
http://www.ladygouldian.com/node/68

The sprays are HUGE and a third of one lasts two zebras at least a week!!!

That's where I usually get my millet. Yep, it's HUGE!

Here's a quick photo of Petco's rather puny spray millet, compared to LadyGouldian.com's humongous spray millet. The grid lines in the back are 1" apart. LG's millet is a good 2" wide!
My cockatiels get a small piece of millet as a treat every morning when DH gets home from work. As soon as they hear his truck, one of them starts saying "Want a treat! Want a treat!" and the other does wolf whistles. Then they remind us that they're "Pretty birds!" They don't let us forget their treat!

moonrise wrote:

nelloyello11 wrote:I get mine online:
http://www.ladygouldian.com/node/68

The sprays are HUGE and a third of one lasts two zebras at least a week!!!

That's where I usually get my millet. Yep, it's HUGE!

Here's a quick photo of Petco's rather puny spray millet, compared to LadyGouldian.com's humongous spray millet. The grid lines in the back are 1" apart. LG's millet is a good 2" wide!

milletcomparison.JPG

AND they are much much fresher than the stuff from the pet stores! As soon as I opened my first order, I could smell the difference!