FINCHforum

What is your full description of the diet that you give to your zebra finch including supplements and fruit and veg please?

thanks

I feed seed and fresh water daily along with some sort of supplement or treat on a daily basis, usually alternating vegetable & minerals. Sometimes I give alfalfa sprouts, brussel sprouts (ground finely), romaine lettuce (full leaf, they like to pick at it), or bean sprouts. Other times I make mineral mixes - I buy mineral blocks and crush them to smithereens to make a fine powder, I pulverize cuttle bone, add ground oyster shells, some charcoal, some kelp, and sometimes Abba mineral grit (they LOVE this!) and offer that to them.

I also have special seed blends that I offer from time to time for variety. Usually once or twice per week, I cook them hard boiled eggs and cook the shells in the microwave until their brittle. I use a food chopper to break up the eggs and then sprinkle the egg shells on top. This is another big hit with the birds.

I offer packaged egg foods, especially when breeding, and occasionally I even offer them mealworms (as some of my other birds require them... even though they zebras don't, they do enjoy them ground up with egg food). I have dried greens that I also will sprinkle over some of their food to (as Emeril says) kick it up a notch.

Why do you add charcoal?

Why do you add charcoal?

It's just another form of minerals that aids in digestion and gives them a little more variety in their foods.

My feeding regime is quite similar to Lisa's. I supply water and seed every day. I feed two to three tablespoons of seed to my Zebra Finches everyday. I try to supplement with an extra treat on a daily basis but I don't always have time to prepare foods so when that happens they are just left with seed and water. When I do supplement, I give them brocolli (not a real favorite, but they'll peck at it. The one that really chomps down on the brocolli is my canary. ), kale (they love to pick at it), carrots (the carrots MUST be grind to seed-sized pieces), and b blended boiled egg with the eggshell, I blend it because it makes it the perfect size for the finches without the use of knives, which I usually cut the pieces to bit with so they don't eat it. I haven't really explored the mineral side to bird nutrition, but cuttlebone is readily available to the finches, and they especially like it crushed up and added to their seed. Millet spray is given sparingly, and I try to provide once per week. They really like the sprays, they'll attack with love, even! I always place them in different places of the cage so they have to find a different way to reach it.

I have various seed formulas I like to switch between to give them variety. One day, I'll feed one brand, and the other I'll feed another. Sometimes I even mix brands, I think it helps give the birds something to do, try new things, keep their brains stimulated. I'll also add an extra teaspoon of a random seed, just to give it variety even further.

I also like to collect Johnson Grass from the yard (right after it rains) and let them play with it. I haven't seen them peck at the seeds but they might like them. They however really enjoy playing with them and I still recommend adding a them sometime to the cage for a day. Just make sure there are no harmful animals in the grass, or that your grass has man-made chemicals in it. If it's naturally poisonous, they'll know by instinct not to eat it so don't worry.

thanks for the reply thats really helpful thanks