Dave
They're all societies, and are in an indoor flight (4' x 1.5' x 4.5' tall). I haven't noticed a large difference in their eating habits, except that sometimes they eat more of the dry eggfood and other times they only want fresh. I find it interesting that the finches only seem to eat what they need; if you gave an unlimited amount of a variety of food to a budgie or a dog or a lizard, it would probably just eat its favorite and become fat, but that hasn't been a problem with the finches. The only time I've noticed them getting fat deposits is if they're in a breeding cage and don't have much room to fly.
I got amaranth at Earth Fare; they sell a bunch of organic stuff in bulk for a semi-reasonable price. Even if they are a bit on the expensive side, the birds don't eat nearly as much as a human, so I don't mind buying bird food at 2-5x the price per pound as my own food. There's also a seed and feed store nearby, so I'll have to check them out too.
I tried the perle morbide dry, so that could have been the problem. But if I need to wet it to get them to eat it, then what's the point? I might as well only feed fresh veggies, since the whole point of using a "soaked seed replacement" (in my opinion) is being able to stock a feeder with it so the birds can eat it at any time. Looking at the ingredients online, I don't see how it has similar nutrition to soaked seed or green veggies; it's mostly corn and wheat, so it doesn't seem to be any better than a good-quality pellet that you could get for a fraction of the cost. The perle morbide I have was a free sample from a bird show, so I'm not particularly salty, but still.
So their diet looks something like this right now:
Available at all times:
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White proso millet
-Canary grass (bought at bird show, $2/lb)
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Black oil sunflower (barely eat it; will remove)
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Roudybush pellet, ground (recent addition)
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Herb salad (don't eat much)
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Oyster shell, ground
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Salt block, roughened with knife (recent addition)
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Charcoal (recent addition)
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Mineral block (recent addition)
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Clay block (they don't like it much)
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Cuttlebone
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Foraging toy (they ignore it)
Not available at all times:
-Vegetables (broccoli tops every other day; riced broccoli, carrot, cauliflower(?) mix other days); dusted with spirulina (less often when not moulting/breeding) and occasionally
Feather Fast
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Timothy hay/alfalfa cubes, shredded
-Seeds listed in post above
-Boiled egg with shell, ground, dusted with
Rep-Cal (supplement not necessary; will not use once I cook up next batch)
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Dry eggfood (available 24/7 when moulting and breeding)
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Spray millet
-Rolled oats (a favorite)
-Nut museli (can't remember which brand, but no added sugar, salt, preservatives, color, flavor, or other ingredients; they love it)
Items available at all times are offered separately and water is plain, so birds have more control over what they eat. I also use supplements on food sparingly since overdosing is a concern. There has been little waste, and I can easily monitor what they are eating. I'm working on making other dry food feeders so I can add the seeds and other dry ingredients to the enclosure, but for now, they get some in the same container as the veggies or when they're out of the flight. When I need to get the birds out of breeding mode for the year, I don't provide them any of the extras for a couple of weeks, and then keep eggfood away for most of the nonbreeding season; this has worked in the past.
I managed to get a lot of this stuff for cheaper than it is listed by ordering a bunch of add-ons at one time and going to stores in person where things may be offered for less. A few of the items were also free at a local bird show (herb salad, perle morbide, foraging toy). I'm still seeing what they like and trying to introduce them to new foods (sweet potato would be good), but they seem to be getting good nutrition. I'm also considering using powdered egg whites for a high-protein supplement or addition to a breeding diet, as it is 90% protein; commercial dry eggfood mixes are only about 14% protein, so mixing in a few tablespoons of powdered egg white should bring the protein up. I also read
this article, and it recommended leaving in a container of epsom salt, as well.
I'll probably be taking an animal nutrition course next year... I expect I'll learn that all this is a bit excessive :/