FINCHforum

I have been doing little experiments with my birds to determine what they are actually eating and what is getting thrown out. I would love to hear what the seed varieties are in your seed mixes along with what species of bird you are feeding.

Nancy, mine love the millet seeds, the owls like the red millet as do some of the zebras. The Green singers like red millet and some grass seeds. I find a lot of the niger, rape and hemp on the floor of the cage or untouched in the bowls.

Some of the commercial seeds have vitamins and mineral coatings...this in my opinion is a waste since they are merely peeling the hull not eating it or avoid the colored seed all together.

Some have pellets already in the mix or dried veggies. The pieces are generally to hard or to big for a finch to eat.

What I do notice is when the parents are feeding young the crops have a lot of the light yellow millet in them. They also eat the Zupreem pellets I mix in to a powder.

Spray millet for 12 tiny strand is more expensive than a gallon of gas and I only use it when traveling from a show for a quick pick me up for stressed birds.

I look at the cage bottom or the tray to the seed hopper and half the product is knocked in to the cup or on the floor. I would like to find a mix with the three or seeds that they really like and mix it with the pellets.

I enjoyed talking with you and appreciate your input as to the seeds that are more beneficial and cost effect for our finches.

I'm feeding owl, forbes parrot finch and gouldians at the present time.
I have fed EM special soak seed mix from Herman Brothers with very little waste:
japanese millet, canary, siberian millet, finch millet, white millet, red millet, thistle, flax, anise , sesame seed and rape. The only thing they really didn't care for was the rape.
Right now I'm feeding a mix from a local seed mill that mixes their own:
hulled oats, red millet, german millet, proso millet,red siberian millet, canary seed, flax and thistle. There is no waste at all.

Here is the seed mix that I have been feeding all of my Australian birds for 2 years now. What I love about it is that I am finding NO waste. This blend is specially mixed right at the store. I am of course, very disappointed he is closing the store that is the closest to me On the other hand, it also means that I will be doing a lot less impulse shopping because I will either have to order by phone or by internet He did mention possibly filling the truck with racks just for me, so that he can continue to take my money He is also the one person that I can supply my birds to and know that while in his care are treated special.
In fact, he KEPT one of my fawn shaftails that I sold him, put him in his mixed aviary, and is now selling the offspring He will also continue to buy my overflow, only now he will pick them up instead of me delivering

@ Cindy. I believe that they still get the added vitamins and minerals in the seed mix. The same way that we get the salt from the likes of unhulled sunflower seeds. When the put the seed in their mouth to hull them the vitamins and minerals remain in the mouth

This food visibly different from a traditional blend, allows each meal has become a special occasion.

Allieurs not found such a wide variety of real fruit and vegetables, promoting an assortment of flavors appétisantes added vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes digest.

The beans are then cleaned and dusted, as the dust is harmful to the respiratory system. This process ensures your birds a better health.

The mixtures were packed in modified atmosphere to prolong freshness.

Ingredients: Canary seed, millet seeds attached, flax, thistle, oats, sesame seeds, dried fruit, vegetables, cookies, sunflower hulled, extruded soybean oil, bone meal, vitamins A, D3-E-B12, yeast Beer, thlamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, folic acid, choline chloride, calcium carbonate, salt, iron sulfate, cobalt, zinc oxide, copper oxide, magnesium oxide, magnesium dioxide, manganese dioxide, potassium iodine, ascorbic acid, natural flavor and coloring.

M? Feeding method: For best results, give the amount that your bird aproximation porra consume within 24 hours. Overconsumption encourages your bird to eat the most popular ingredient thereby causing obesity and a weakened health.

Janine, I am going based on what I talked to the vet about in regards to seed...there is no way to judge exactly how much or if they are getting it at all...mine ignore the colored seed. It either ends up uneaten, knocked to the bottom or in the water dish which is very artistic and colorful by the time they are done. She recommended the pellets instead. I offer the powdered oyster shell, grated mineral block and cuttlebone grated and whole.

I use to use Herman Brothers but the shipping was killing me, it was more expensive than the seed!!! I loved that he was able to mix exactly what my birds were really going for out of the main mixes he offered...he even adjusted the percentage of red and white millets for me. I have been using a bag mix from a feed store that sell finch/parrot food...there is still waste...they powder down the pellets so I would like to do a higher ratio of pellets to seed in my mix.

debbie276 wrote:I'm feeding owl, forbes parrot finch and gouldians at the present time.
I have fed EM special soak seed mix from Herman Brothers with very little waste:
japanese millet, canary, siberian millet, finch millet, white millet, red millet, thistle, flax, anise , sesame seed and rape. The only thing they really didn't care for was the rape.
Right now I'm feeding a mix from a local seed mill that mixes their own:
hulled oats, red millet, german millet, proso millet,red siberian millet, canary seed, flax and thistle. There is no waste at all.

My Goulds won't touch the thistle or canary seed; are your Goulds eating these?

The goulds definitely eat the canary, matter of fact they love it, the thistle not so much but a little bit.

My finches seem to eat any of the light colored seeds, and leave all the dark colored seeds behind. The only bird that regularly eats dark seeds is my wife's canary.

Like others, I found commercial packaged seeds are a waste. The zebras did not eat the dark seeds, pellets and the colored seeds. So all the nutrition / vitamin added to the food was not being eaten, and that was half the contents of the bag. $$ down the drain. So I switched them and all subsequent birds to pellets. Now they only get seeds as a treat, and they still don't eat the dark seeds.

The only birds that get seeds as a major part of their diet are my wife's canary who also eat pellets, my fire finches who I just have not had the time to try to convert to pellets, and any new inbound birds (before they get converted to pellets).

Gary I was talking to Nancy today...I mentioned mine don't eat the dark seed either. Pellets are now a big portion of their diet mixed with some seed.

All my hookbills ate pelletes only.

My finches mostly pick out their favs in a seed mix and leave the pellets. They will eat the LaFeber non colored pellets. Of the seeds, they eat the light colored ones only and the rest are wasted.

My finches won't eat any of the black seeds either. I did try the fruit pellets but they didn't eat them so I ground them up and sprinkle it on their morning egg/veggies mix. I wish I could get seed mix that wasn't PetSmart sold but there just isn't anything here. Shipping to my place would be a killer. I know it's a waste but I don't know what else I could do.

6finchfriends wrote:My finches won't eat any of the black seeds either. I did try the fruit pellets but they didn't eat them so I ground them up and sprinkle it on their morning egg/veggies mix. I wish I could get seed mix that wasn't PetSmart sold but there just isn't anything here. Shipping to my place would be a killer. I know it's a waste but I don't know what else I could do.

I feel the same way. I use the kaytee forti-blend mix. They eat all the seeds, but don't touch the pellets. I buy it by the pound $2/lb) so it is cheaper than buying the pre-packaged stuff, but still such a waste... I just have not been able to find a mpre basic seedmix locally. Buying it online, costs so much to ship that I just don't think it's worth it.

The problem I had here was finding a feed store that stocked a descent finch seed. When breeders leaned towards raising more hookbills and bigger parrots, finch breeder were few....the feed stores started stocking parrot mixes and thinned their stock down on the smaller bird foods.

That is the same here. Most carry parrot, parakeet, conure type foods and not much finch food.

A while ago the parrot and hookbills, the higher price birds were the top birds in the breeding/selling business and the little finches were rare. The store I use is a distance away and carry the seed I use but I wish there was a better seed mix avaiable...without all the bells and whistles!!!