Wild Finch Food For Finches and Canaries

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I picked up this 5 lb bag of this wild finch food at a closeout store (at a great price). It seems to have wholesome ingredients including several different millets, canary seed, nyjer, sunflower chips, ground corn and a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals. I'm thinking about using it as a "mixer" into my birds' regular seed for my javas and canaries. Does anyone see anything wrong with this? Is it somehow "unsanitary" because it is formulated for wild birds? Bob

[katlovesaandw]

I have thought about doing the same thing so curious as to answers....
IMHO, I would think it would be ok as it is all good stuff.

[Angela&Shalamar]

I often buy wild finch mixes for my birds and they have done just fine.

[katlovesaandw]

Good to know!

[debbie276]

I see nothing wrong with wild bird seed if the mix is right. Only thing that could be different is that the seed isn't as dust free as "pet" bird seed.

[Nerien]

I would just be careful of your source--any time we have bought wild bird seed from our local Agway, it is full of bugs, very quickly the bag or the container we put it in becomes laced with webs. Don't have this problem if we buy elsewhere. That one store just seems to have a perpetuating problem. Guess the way they store their wild bird seed isn't the best.

[cindy]

I tried that with seed from feed stores and Home Depot..laced in the middle with bugs and webbing...seed is often stale and not clean, dusty. Some of the seeds where to hard and wasted.

[30 Seconds to Bob]

Thanks for the input everyone! This particular one actually "looks" very clean and fresh - better than some of the one's I've bought at pet shops intended for domestic birds. I'll try sprouting some to test for freshness, and offer some if things go well. I'm seeing more and more of these "designer" wild bird foods on the market as of late. Not just the typical millet/milo/sunflower seed mix. They are usually pretty expensive, but get greatly reduced on clearance at the end of the season. I guess it's probably not going to harm anyone if I do. Bob

[finchandlovebird]

30 Seconds to Bob ... great idea. If they sprout well you'll know it's fresh.
I just bought a 2 oz bag of seeds (radish, broccoli, alfalfa) sprouting mix at the health food store for $2.39. I thought kinda of pricey; where else would be a good place to buy sprouting seeds? I saw someone posted a pic of Snack Attack sprouting seed, but I can't find that here.

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I saw someone posted a pic of Snack Attack sprouting seed, but I can't find that here

That was me who posted that. You can order it online, or talk to the store manager of any pet store that carries other Higgins products. They will often order for you if you ask them to. Bob

[Ginene]

finchandlovebird
Dolly, amazon has awesome organic sprouting seeds!

[cindy]

Bob try Pet SuperMarket for the seed and sprout

[finchandlovebird]

cindy Pet Supermarket here carrys Snack Attack, but not the sprouting. Maybe I'll ask them to get some in.

[debbie276]

For sprouting you might want to try http://sproutpeople.org/just-for-pets/bird-seed-mixes/ not sure how the prices compare but worth a look, for you and your pets.

[jonvill]

In the United States, Nyger is usually steamed so don't count on that seed sprouting. Only American grown nyger is allowed to be sold without being steamed. Something to do with an invasive weed found in imported nyger.