what do you feed daily?

[Learning Finch]

Here is a picture of what I feed my little buddy's..... What does your birds get ??? a picture is worth a thousand words... sorry blurry...darn camera phones

[elepaio4]

I have a base diet for my birds in which I try to provide a rich source of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients most likely to be deficient in birds. It is offered everyday, and refreshed throughout the day for breeding pairs.

The base diet includes:

1) a simple egg food (>90% egg, <10%cornmeal to dry it up a bit, egg shells always included)
2) shredded and finely chopped carrots
3) finely chopped broccoli
4) finely chopped collards
5) available green, unripe seeds

In the past when I worked with African species, I would provide live-foods daily as well (more was provided when breeding though). These included wild-caught grasshoppers, spiders, leaf hoppers, termites, and fruit-flies. Now, I work with parrotfinches and gouldians so live foods aren't really necessary.

Of course, a dry seed mix, fresh water, and cuttlebone are always available. I sometimes offer other things as well to give them more variety. These have included sprouted seed (esp. when green seeds are unavailable) and fruits (banana, oranges, strawberries). I have also tried to offer my own version of an "herb salad", without much success.

Everything is served separately so the birds can easily choose their food. The day to day variation in what the birds consume is quite amazing.

[Learning Finch]

yes what they eat and how much is what I call a pain!! LOL I now know how my wife feels sometimes. I prepare a fine meal and sometimes they don't eat very much... other times I feel I dont make enough. I forgot to add the birds have access at all times...seed, oyster shell-charcol mix, and a dry mixture of insects, bee pollan, egg food,its a paradise earth premium egg food mix

[elepaio4]

yes what they eat and how much is what I call a pain!! LOL I now know how my wife feels sometimes. I prepare a fine meal and sometimes they don't eat very much... other times I feel I dont make enough. I forgot to add the birds have access at all times...seed, oyster shell-charcol mix, and a dry mixture of insects, bee pollan, egg food,its a paradise earth premium egg food mix [ http://www.birdproduct.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/color_enhancement_eggfood_blend1.jpg ]

I hear you! Sometimes I get these "great ideas" of some dish to serve. So I buy the ingredients and prepare it. Then, its met with blank stares from my birds and promptly ignored thereafter....I sometimes affectionately refer to these guys as my little ingrates!

[Learning Finch]

LOL right... I say and they say then I feel like and my wife says

[Zebrafincher]

I have only three birds, and they are very choosy about what they eat! (I've spoilt them too much!) I give them a general salad mix, always fresh, with four or five different types of green, which they love. They have this every day or so. I also give them apple slice, and they have access to cuttlefish, and expensive mixed seed mixes, with supplements through them.

My Partner says the birds eat better than me!

I also give them grass seed, when available. They like freshly cut grass and dried grasses (seed grass and others) to play with.


Zebrafincher
Proud owner of:
“Kevin the King”, groutchy canary – 12 years
Beaky the Zebbie – 6 months
Merlin “Merl” the Starfinch – 2 years

[Colt]

My birds all get a staple finch seed mixed with the XS Zupreem Fruit blend pellets at a ratio of (1/3 seed to 2/3 pellets). They also get a blend of Quiko's Classic and Goldy eggfoods (and I'm debating adding the Exotic in as well) served dry in a separate cup. Anytime I wet it they wait till it dries out almost completely before eating it. I top their eggfood with freeze dried bloodworms and their seed with dried greens (vegetables and herbs). Dried millet is offered a few times a week as a foraging treat as well as live mealworms. They also have a Kaytee's Forti-Diet High Calcium Grit (mineral mix), cuttlebone, and crushed egg shells available at all times in addition to fresh drinking and bathing water.

[kyubi]

i feed mine mixed seeds,egg n shell(boiled), romaine lettuce or spring mix, gut loads mealworms ,sometime dry bloodworm ( but mine finch don't seem to like it too much),sprayed millets, dry egg food,oyster shells, and cuttle bone....plan to get some fruitsflies n c how that work...

[Jen]

What tricks have you tried to get your goulds to eat something different? Mine only like their seed mix and spray millet. Help!

[debbie276]

Something like hard boiled eggs I would just mix the egg with handfeeding formula to dry it out a bit without all the extra's. My birds do not like wet food. First time offering something new I will sprinkle it over their favorite seed mix, over time they get a taste for it. Once they eat the new food without thinking I'll put it in a separate dish.
Warning, sometimes it can take a LONG time, don't give up.
good luck

[lovezebs]

My boys eat everything I place infront of them. They all sit around chattering away as food gets served. Its almost as if they're saying: Yumyum time, lets see what she has for us today.... I feed high quality canary seed mixed with finch seed, hard boiled eg, shell and all. Then I chop up a mixture of romaine, rappini, swiss chard, kale,apples, carrots,chickorie (spelling?) green curly lettice, brocc and cucumber. I season this with a sprinkle of crushwd dried meal worms and you should see them go at it.

[lovezebs]

And oh forgot to mention. These guys also get spray millet, cuttlebone, a sprinkle of fortified grit and they absolutely love chopped red grapes.

[Daisy]

I feed mine the same as what I read others did and I offer mine a hard boiled egg, millet sprays, finch seed mix, romaine lettuce and fruit such as grapes, bananas, and apples. Last night I offered them popcorn and tonight I thought I'd try some peanut butter spread on an apple slice. I have provided them with a cuttlebone and vitamin block they seem to like. Thismorning I discovered they took lettuce and millet into their nesting house, maybe they are preparing for winter by doing this? I did not know birds would hoard food away until mine did.

[Colt]

Daisy your birds probably aren't hoarding the food, but rather using it for extra nesting material. My societies often put all their spray millet in the nest and will sit on the eggs and chicks and be able to snack without leaving the nest. Which is just an added benefit for them I think.

[chirpy]

My soc's eat some type of green like romaine, seeds, millet, lafebers finch pellets (they love those), egg shells (egg food once in a while), and quinoa when I get around to it ;) they eat allllllll dayyyyy long. Today I gave them corn