BABY APPETITES...

[lovezebs]

Felicitations Finch Friends.

Is it just my perception, or do weanies eat three times as much as adult birds?

I find that my Gouldian weans have the appetites of starving sharks. Is this normal?
I'm going through so many seeds, eggs and vegetables, that I can't believe it.
I fill up the seed dishes in the morning, plus a large container at the botton of the cage, two med sized plates of mixed egg food, and a large tray of veg/fruit, and by afternoon, I've got mostly seed hulls, mostly empty egg plates, and only bits and pieces of chewed greens left over. They even go through water like dehydrated camels.
They eat, and they eat, and they EAT!!!

Bless their little hearts, but I have never seen anything like it. Where do they put it all? I look at them and I have to smile, as they move from one dish to another with egg food shmeer on their faces, half chewed seeds hanging from their beaks along side some vegetation, that usually falls down on someones head. LOL.

Does any one else notice their huge capacity of consumption?

~Elana~

[Sheather]

Yes, most certainly, I am going through close to a pound of bird seed daily now, possible more than that... this is in addition to a daily bowl of pellets, a boiled egg, and a weekly head of broccoli (or three), head of lettuce (or five...) and bag of mixed greens (or ten).....

[Rox]

Elana, I had 34 young goulds that needed feeding before they finished their molt and I could rehome them. They eat like little demons! I have seed dispensers which normally only get filled once a week. When the youngsters were around, I was having to refill 3 times a week!

[lovezebs]

Rox & Sheather.

I've started buying large bags of good quality Wild Finch Seed. I also buy bags of Canary seed, Red millet, Niger, Canola, White millet, Flax seed, and add some bags of Pet Store Finch mix, Budgie mix and Canary mix. I throw all of this into large bowls and mix it all together, then put them into one gallon plastic buckets. I thought it would last me forever and threw some buckets in the fridge to keep fresh.

Huh! I'm on my last gallon bucket, and that will be gone in a couple of days.

I've also started making my own egg mix, rather than offering plain egg. I cook a bunch of eggs, peel them, grate them, then add, crushed dry meal worms, crushed Tropimix egg food, and spray millet seeds. This gets mixed together, and holy crow, you should see how it goes.
You have seen pictures of my veggie trays, so you know what those look like .
They are so tiny, and it just amazes me that they can eat SO much and not look like feathered balloons.

~Elana~

[Rox]

I've also started to add dried mealworms and crushed millet spray to my egg food. It was initially meant to entice the waxbills but everyone loves it!! Great way to get extra protein in

[Sally]

Finch babies are just like human teenagers, food-eating machines! I could eat tons of food when I was young, and never put on a pound. I think the finches must be the same--higher metabolism than adults, plus they are still growing.

[lovezebs]

Rox & Sally

I guess you're right, Sally. They are like teenagers. All they seem to think about is food and more food, and then they discover that boys and girls are different in some interesting ways. God help us all.

That's funny Roxanne, that we both hit on similar additions to our egg food. Yes once you add mealworms and millet to it, everyone goes for it. I started out mixing two eggs, now it's six, and soon will have to up that as well. LOL.

And my Gouldians, are sitting on six more eggs...
They'll have me in the poor house, before any of them will be sold.

~Elana~

[Sheather]

Lol I'll still take the boys myself... no 'eggs' for me.

And I wish I - as a teenager - could eat as much as I wanted without putting on weight, some of us are better gifted with genetics than others...

You'd best pull those nests Elana or you're going to be overwhelmed. I've had to remove all of mine now - 43 is enough!

[lovezebs]

Sheather
Hey Dylan.
I was going to pull this nest, but my Gouldians had other ideas... The kids were not yet fully weaned and still sleeping in the nest, when these appeared...

~Elana~