FINCHforum

Right now I have three society finches and two canaries and am planning on adding several more finches during the next few months. Because I don't have many finches right now, every time I buy greens (Kale for example) I have way more than what I can feed to them in just a couple of days.
Question #1: Would Kale, fed over several days, be too much of whatever that good stuff is in Kale? Same for collard greens, mustard greens, etc.
Question #2: At what point, if any, do sprouts become greens. I know that the most nutrition in a seed is when it just has a tiny chit. But if greens are good for our finches, is there a point that I can feed my overly sprouted seeds and call them greens?

Thanks for any advice.

Sue
Sue Fourmet

I feed molting or breeding birds every day (egg+veggies).
If not molting or breeding then they only get it 3x a week.
If you leave it up to them, then they have the choice of the greens and/or seeds. As long as you don't give them too much I would think it is OK.

Ha ha I hate kale cos it's always sold in a huge menacing bunch. Maybe you don't want to give the same veg over several days because they get sick of it and it doesn't stay that fresh. Right now my fridge has 10 different veg for my green singer, and I offer him several choices every day. But last week's favorite pick gets old. I'm thinking with variety, the bird won't get too much of the same good thing.
As for sprouting, I always worry that mold would start growing if I let it go on for too long. I sniff it to make sure it smells good before giving the seeds at the nutritious stage you mentioned, then I toss the batch at the end of that day.
Maybe if you're good at growing things, you can get it to become a green. But I think you'll need to transfer to soil to keep it growing.

The best point to feed sprouts is when it "chits" which is when the seed just barely shows (about 1/4 inch) long. After that the nutrition goes down.

I'm thinking of trying to grow micro greens. If I can get a three or four containers going on a rotational basis, that might be fun to try.

Sue

Something to consider is to grow your own! I see you are from Southern California so now is probably a great time to start. I have found italian chicories to be wonderful for the birds. They will grow in deep pots and you can take a few leaves from the outside of the plants and they will keep on growing. I actually sell started seeds in pots at bird fairs in our area and my customers say they can keep greens going for their birds all season (Mine are in my garden). The one I like best (but there are so many to choose from) is this one. http://www.growitalian.com/chicory-catalogna-pugliese/.

The birds LOVE these - and maybe you might find some room to grow some other things like sweeter lettuces, etc.

Martie