FINCHforum

Hi All!

So, I've got my first chick, Squeepers, now on day 10/11.

I've read that once he starts eating he may enjoy sprouted seeds.

So I tried to make some.
I wasn't sure if millet or normal seed food would be better, so I did half and half.
I got a large tupperware. Put a tad of water on the bottom, along with 2 paper towels -- just enough so they were nicely wet.
I sprinkled the seeds on top and pressed them all down onto the papertowels to ensure they were wet.
I put the tupperware cover on and put it in the pantry closet.
I left them for 18 hours.
I put a tiny dollop of bleach in the water. That was supposed to prevent mold, but it didn't work. They started to break open to sprout, but they're moldy. It looks like an awful science project gone wrong! LOL

So that was a complete failure.

I've seen spilled seed start to break open to sprout on water-splashed puppy pads that I use as a cage liner. So I've done it accidentally but now that I'm trying, I can't seem to do it on purpose! LOL

What's the trick?
How do you get them to sprout and without mold?

If you do a search for sprouting seeds, there are quite a few topics on it. I personally use the Mike Fidler method of sprouting, which works for those of us with large numbers of birds, but I think you might like this method posting by Stephanie:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... ting+seeds

Ooh -- great find!
Thank you!
I think that method should work beautifully! (Is there a way to search the forum without scrolling through the threads?)

That's pretty similar to another method I was going to try with a jar with cheese cloth over the top. But I like her tea strainer idea much better!

In the video, I notice that she served them while the sprouts were super small.
I had a bird-loving neighbor who used to give me her extra sprouts and they were quite a bit larger. I think she let them grow for around 2 days (and we're in Florida so that's humid, warm weather.)

Is it best to give them small like in the video?
Or wait til they're bigger if possible?

And do you take them out of the cage after a certain period of time?
Is there a risk of them going bad due to the moisture or do they just dry out?

If you look at the top of the page, just above the date and time, there is a bar with various subjects: Rules, User Control Panel, PMs, etc. You will see a Search bar, click on that and you will find the search menu. If you know the name of the member who made a certain post, you can search that way, or just a general search for a subject. One caveat, the search often pulls up more than you wanted to see.

When sprouting seeds, the peak nutrition is when the little tail just emerges from the seed, what we call chitting, or chitted seed. As the tail grows, nutrition drops. I serve my chitted seed just as the tail starts to show. I freeze any extras. If you leave it in the cage all day, it will probably dry out and be OK.