FINCHforum

I'm considering getting some cordon bleus and I've read that they need insects and/or mealworms in addition to everything else. I've been looking around and I can't decide what I should get.

There is Insect Mix, Insect Supreme, Insect Treat
http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/shopping_diet-soft.mgi

Canned mealworms
http://www.fairestfinches.com/catalog/i ... 267078.htm

and live mealworms.

I realize figuring out what my birds will like is usually based on trial and error but I was wondering everyone thinks I try out first if I do end up with cordon bleus. Do they need both insects and mealworms, or one or the other?

I don't know about Cordons, but my GBs seem to prefer the canned mealworms, and dry ant eggs (from Orlux) and some of the mixed insects (from Orlux). (They never eat the dried shrimp/krill in the mix though. They also like the dry bloodworms you get in the fishfood section of the pet store. I just get the kind that's 100% bloodworms with no added supplements, since I want to know they aren't getting the wrong kind, or too much, since I already give them a vitamin supplement for birds.

But once they have babies, they by far prefer the canned mealworms now.

I have zero experience here... but here is how I attempt to answer every question I have when it comes to my finches. How/what simulates the real finch world out in the wild?

So for me, live mealworms would be my first take at this. The insect mix, assuming its just a bag of dead insects, would also be a good idea.

Again, zero experience, but it just make sense to me to simulate real world.

I only provide mealworms when they are sitting on eggs or feeding babies.

They love them all the time but if you feed them mealworms it also puts then into breeding mode....

I give the insect treat occasionally.

Courdons if they are not being bred can do fine without either. I didn't feed mine any for six months.

Donna is right I think. My GBs eat just a nibble of the dried insects and just a couple of times a week I give them the canned mealworms when in resting mode. They don't really seem to mind. They "pick" at it now and then.

But they start showing more interest in the stuff once the nesting material goes in the cage, and I pretty much give them as much as they'll eat once they are sitting on eggs.

Thanks everyone. If I get the cordon bleus I'll go with mealworms for sure and just pick one of the insect options.