What do you feed your Gouldian finches?

[JerseyGuy]

I feed my Gouldians a combination of ABBA 1900, Quiko Eggfood, and Roudybush pellets.
They also get Hearty Bird Vitamin/Mineral supplement in their drinking water.
I find that the finches avoid certain seeds, as well as the Roudybush pellets.

What is everyone else feeding their Gouldians ?

[lovezebs]

JerseyGuy

Hi Patrick,

What do I feed the army

I buy:

20 kg bags of Basic Finch Seed and basic Canary Seed (fresh, sweet smelling, no colourful gunk or dyed seeds added to it). I also pick up, small bags of German Millet, Red Millet, Oat Groats, Saffllower Seeds, and Budgie Mix.

The day before Mixing Day, I wash all of my big plastic buckets and leave them to dry.

On mixing day, I set out all of these buckets all over my kitchen and start mixing all these seeds together. Basically each bucket, gets an equal amount of all these seeds, and gets stirred with a large wooden spoon to 'mix' it all together.

So that covers the main seed mix.

We already discussed Spray Millet on another post. I purchase lots of it, and my birds usually get several large sprigs of it, which I hang from the top of cage or flight for them to enjoy. It usually takes them a few days to eat their way through it, at which point more goes up.

They get my home made eggfood twice a week; daily when molting, breeding, under the weather, feeding young, or under stress. I mix it fresh every time.

Greens, veg, and fruit, is served usually two or three times a week.
This includes:
Kale, spinach, baby spring mix, cornon the cob, grated carrot, broc, cucumber, beet greens, parsley, carrot tops, chopped sweet peppers, romaine, rapini, red swiss chard, dandelion, chickweed, frozen mixed veg (cooked very slightly), apples, mandarine orange (sliced in half) pears, grapes, melons, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries.*** These all depend on the season and availability in the stores.

I make my own mix of store bought fine bird grit, crushed egg shells, grated cuttle bone, bird charcoal, bird clay, grated iodine block, grated mineral/vitamine block. This is offered freely, spread over the flight floors or offered in small cups.

Aside from vitamines occasionally in their water, that's pretty much it.

Hope this was helpfull

[JerseyGuy]

Thanks for the info, Elana. My 2 Gouldians will not eat fresh foods like veggies and fruit. I've tried and tried, and they refuse and show
no interest in fresh foods. I do have crushed egg shell in the cage which they both love. I don't offer Spray Millet often - it is very fattening, and my Avian Vet also agreed to offer it sparingly.

I normally buy some of the seed in bulk, like Canary Grass Seed
which is recommended to be 1/2 of the seed mix you offer to finches.
They don't like White Proso Millet at all and won't eat it.

My Vet said they are both very healthy, and in good weight.
I would love for them to eat fresh foods, but to date they just refuse.

I do offer them the Quiko Eggfod daily mixed in with their seed mix.

[lovezebs]

JerseyGuy

Sounds like they're doing well, so I wouldn't worry.

I would however not give up on the greens, a sprig of parsley, fresh chick weed in the Spring, a big leaf of fresly washed kale, or red swiss chard, tied close to their favorite perch. If one tries a nibble, the other will try it out too.

[Shannylee]

lovezebs

Elana, will you adopt me?

[lovezebs]

Shannylee

Sure, allways wanted a daughter, lol.

[Shannylee]

lovezebs, Mom...can you move to FL? I don't do temps that are preceded by a minus sign. I'm in shorts with the back door open.

To stay on topic ...my gouldians are on a diet of Higgins Vita-Finch Seed plus fresh foods. They are housed with canaries so they follow the lead when it comes to a food they aren't sure of. Canaries eat anything! I did, however, figure out why my gouldians are not breeding in the aviary. A canary is roosting on the breeding box perch.

[lovezebs]

Shannylee

I'm afraid dear daughter that I have to decline the invite. I'm afraid that another move would be the end of me.

Regarding the Gouldians.
I have always pulled which ever couple were sweet on each other, and placed them in a seperate cage to breed.

I have found, that if they have only each other, their nestbox, their eggs, and babies to concentrate on, things work out for the best.

[JerseyGuy]

JerseyGuy

Sounds like they're doing well, so I wouldn't worry.

I would however not give up on the greens, a sprig of parsley, fresh chick weed in the Spring, a big leaf of fresly washed kale, or red swiss chard, tied close to their favorite perch. If one tries a nibble, the other will try it out too.

I put a sprig of Parsley in the cage yesterday - they picked at it ... for a minute. Then lost interest. Ah....the struggle continues. Now that they are molting, they seem to have lost interest in food altogether. Oye. It just appears to be a difficult time for them in general . . . .

[ac12]

What you will find out is that they may change what and how much of different food they eat when they breed.

Primary food is LaFeber finch food, bought in 25 pound box. It is a finer pellet than Roudybush, so they don't leave the ground pellets and eat that too.

Breeding birds get a seed mix of: ~50% canary seed, ~20-25% red millet, ~20-25% white millet, ~5% ni*** (the small long black seed). Measurements are approximate, but you see the ratio.

Egg food 1x a week, except for breeding and molting birds which get it more often. Breeding birds 2x a day, more often when the chicks come.

Spray millet, when I remember, but usually only to the mating pair.

[lovezebs]

JerseyGuy

If they picked at the parsley, that's a step in the right direction.
Now try a big fresh spinach leaf (wash it in cold water, and leave it wet), tie it up right close to where they like to perch.

[Madcat]

lovezebs not as pretty as your pics but most of them were gathering at the trough to get a snack. I've fed my birds different stuff. Herb salad, blood worms, egg, wheat grass powder, spirulina, flax powder, kelp powder, broccoli, millet, various samples of other supplement powders and seed.

[Madcat]

Here's Some of the juveniles from this years season. Babs got me to do more fresh egg this season. I usually gave them the dried commercial all the time. I do notice they eat more of the fresh mashed egg.

[Madcat]

Excuse the cage. I took the pick before I cleaned. But they really love egg food. I also took a tip from Babs and grated cuttle bone on top.

[lovezebs]

Madcat

Beautiful babies and yes, they all love their egg food.