FINCHforum

Hi guys.

I'm thinking about switching the base of my birds' diet from seeds to pellets, but i have some concerns.

Does anybody here have experience with an all pellets diet?

Also, breeding is important to me, so i could use some feedback about breeding finches with pellets.

I appreciate the attention

Hi
I am considering the same........Ill be following!

I have used pellets off an on through the years and am now feeding my birds a 90% pellet diet. I find Lafeber the best for finches, but Roudybush and Zupreem are also acceptable, only issue is they are larger pellets and get crushed and there is more waste (though Zupreem now also has a mini size which may negate that issue, Roudybush's smallest size is still a larger pellet.)

Birds will breed fine on pellets, but they are a boring diet. I still feed fresh vegetables and sometimes egg food to my birds and a little seed for variety to add enrichment to their lives.

Sheather

Have you successfully bred them with the pellets based diet?

What species do you have?

I'm overzealous about this topic because i have heard of some bad experiences related to breeding and the pellets diet.

I also plan to provide them with egg food, vegetables and some seeds occasionally, as treats.

Thanks for the answer.

spook1

Let's learn together then

Ricardo Ronsini

I have recently bought a small bag of pellets and added them to my seed mix. So far I'm not seeing too much excitement from the bird crew.

My belief is that birds have evolved through all the years eating seeds, insects, and vegitation, not pellets. If you are feeding a good diet with lots of variety, I honestly can't see the point of pellets.

If you're interested in offering pellets, why not offer them in a seperate cup and see if your birds go for them?

I do not feed exclusively pellets, so while I believe many species would manage on a strict diet, I always provided egg and greens to my breeding pairs. Nonetheless, cockatiels, doves, canaries, societies, zebras, and spice bred for me on diets of which the dry component was mostly or completely pellet food.

lovezebs

I share of your point of view.

Already am feeding them the pellets, mixed up with seeds, the canaries really like it , zebras, societies and gouldians not so much .

To me it is not a nutritional preference, but a cleaning / handling issue, i'm running out of time to spend with them, and any alternative to make it more practical is welcome.

Sheather

All right Dylan, good to know

Ricardo Ronsini

I would not switch the food in mid breeding stage.

Babs

Neither would i, not a good idea.

If i do decide to give it a try, it will be after the breeding and molting.

Finches should always have seed available. That is part of their natural diet. They aren't here for our convenience, and just to raise chicks. If you don't have time, don't keep so many or cut back on other things you do. My Java have seed available all the time, and also Roudybush Nibbles. They like the nibbles, but eat mostly seeds. They also have greens and veggies, but I would never take their seed away.

I have fed pellets off and on, mostly to Canaries. They took to the pellets and lived for weeks and weeks. But each time, when I added seed to the diet, suddenly the birds perked up, bounced around more, sang more and generally started to look better.

If there was anything in the cage to eat that wasn't pellets, the birds ate that first.

I eventually got the message. Now it is water, seed, greens, boiled egg, Abba mineral mix and sunflower chips.

wildbird

No, they are not here for convenience, nor to raise chicks, they are here because i like them, and want to keep them, and yes, i will not give up on them easily.

To be clear, i do not want to stard another discussion about the topic pellets X seeds diet, there is plenty of it already.

My goal here is to learn from people who actually keep / kept finches under a pellets diet, and judge if it is a possibility for myself.

Dave

Interesting, my canaries love the pellets, i have to replace it daily, they eat a lot, sometimes even more than canary seed, even though they have seeds, kale, egg food, apple, corn and scarlet eggplant available all the time.