What's your finch feeding routine?

steph · Post by **steph** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:51 am

I'm on my 5th day of finch-ownership (pair of red throated parrot finches), and I'm wondering if I'm feeding my finches enough or not enough. I read all about the different foods that are good for them, etc. but I was just wondering how often I should offer certain foods. Here's what I'm doing:

I have a gravity feeder with a seed mix that I made from organic seeds I bought at Whole Foods. I didn't like that many of the seed mixes at Petsmart had dyes and preservatives in them. The mix I made for them includes millet, bulgur, rye berries, amaranth, sunflower seeds (hulled), sesame seeds (hulled), flaxseed, and dried blueberries. They don't seem as interested in the seed mix, but instead go for the millet spray or fresh food.

In the morning and in the afternoon I give them a dish of fresh foods...I'd say each dish is about 2 tbsp, but they rarely finish it. This morning it was hardboiled egg w/ shell and apples all cut up really small. Yesterday they had carrots, collard greens, strawberries, and eggfood...you get the idea. I give them about 2 tbsp of fresh food mixture and leave it with them for a few hours then I take whatever they didn't eat, throw it out, and clean out their dish.

As for mealworms, I read in several places that parrot finches need and enjoy insect protein so I give them about 4 each per day. I just put the mealworms in with their morning or afternoon dish.

Am I doing this right? Critique please? What is your feeding routine?

Post by **Sally** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:58 pm

My routine would not be the same as yours, because I am feeding about 90 birds. But, I do use the gravity seed hoppers. I don't know about your custom mix, as you are using things that I don't usually see in finch mixes. Many finches do not like fruit, so unless you are sure yours will eat it, that is a waste. You could always go to Herman's website to check out what they put in their mixes--they list ingredients for the most popular mixes. Go to www.hermanbros-seed.com/. Also, check around at various feed stores, some of them will carry the national brands of finch seed. Just make sure they order it regularly, and that it isn't a bag that has been hanging around their feed store for a long time. If you ever get bird marts in your area, they usually have at least one vendor with good seed. A large bag would last a long time, but you can store the seed in containers in your freezer.

Since I am into breeding, I give eggfood every day. I make up fresh, but my birds do not get 2 Tbs. each day, unless they are feeding young. It is more like a heaping teaspoon per pair. I put this on small saucers, and then I put about the same amount of at least one fresh veggie, chopped very fine, almost mushy, plus about the same or maybe a little more of soaked seed. So each saucer has three items in about equal amounts. Late afternoon, I will give fresh food to any pair that is feeding young, as I want them to feed those babies well before dark. Before lights out, the dishes come out, and I can see who likes what, though even if one pair doesn't eat any of it, they still get it every day. Not all my birds will eat carrots, but if that is what I am serving that day, they all get it--maybe some day they will actually try it. Non-breeding birds get the same thing, just a larger saucer and larger amounts when there are more birds in a flight cage.

Spray millet is a weekly treat for non-breeding birds. For breeding birds, I may give it more often, but I don't want them to start ignoring everything else just to eat spray millet. If they are feeding babies, they get spray millet as often as they clean the spray. Weanlings also get all the spray millet they want, as it is easy for them, then I gradually slow down on the amount of spray millet they get.

All these birds are different, so what I feed may not work for you. You just have to experiment to see what they like. To me, the most important thing is to give them a varied diet--we have to make life interesting for them.

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:38 pm

Well as you can see... Sally does an excellent job in feeding her birdies.

I give mine their regular seeds fresh every day. I do not use the gravity feeders because they make such a mess in my aviary. I have a large tray and I blow out the hulls and give them fresh each evening.

I have millet available at all times. I know most only give it as a treat, but I have lots of babies and even when I don't my gouldians love it. They don't eat just the millet and are great about trying all things at the buffet bar (except broccoli and carrots)

I also give fresh egg food, greens, etc... each morning.

I am giving mealworms to the whole aviary once in the morning and once in the evening when I get home. They are devouring them. The ones that eat the worms are the parrot finches, strawberry, twinspots, goldbreast and mainly the courdon bleus.

I also feed them a slice of soaked wheat bread twice a week with mineral mix or feather fast on it.

I think each person has to find what works for them.

The good thing about having an aviary is that you don't have to mix so many different dishes like you would if they were in a cage.

ac12 · Post by **ac12** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:21 pm

I check/feed 2x a day
- morning;
- - I clean their bath tray and change their bath water (I clean and change the bath cuz they drink out of the bath, and I find poop in the bath water)
- - I check the level of the water tubes and if low clean it out and refill
- - I check the pellets, remove any poop, and add more as needed
- - I give them mashed hardboiled egg + egg shell + featherfast (the juveniles are molting). I give them the amount I think they will eat in 3hrs. Uneaten gets removed after about 3 hrs
- - I give them different vegetables on a rotation and not everyday; romaine, yams (sometimes they eat, sometimes not, the parents used to love it), carrot (have not gotten them to eat yet), banana (have not gotten them to eat yet). Uneaten gets removed after about 3 hrs.

- late afternoon/early evening
- - I clean their bath tray and change their bath water
- - I check the level of the water tubes and if low clean it out and refill, if not low and it has been 2 days I will clean and refill
- - I check the pellets and add more as needed
- - Sometimes I will give them egg again

I give them for a treat
- seeds
- millet spray, maybe once a week.

For nesting birds, I do the following also:
- I give them Lafferts Nutri-Start made into a SOFT paste. They ate this way more than seeds.
- I plan to switch the primary food from pellet to seeds as I hear of problems regurgitating pellets.

Post by **Sally** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:57 pm

dfcauley wrote:The good thing about having an aviary is that you don't have to mix so many different dishes like you would if they were in a cage.

Oh, how I envy you your aviary. I am putting little dishes in 24 cages in the bird room, plus 6 cages in the quarantine room-what a pain! In the morning, I use a cookie sheet to carry all these dishes in, and they are stacked three deep--if I ever tripped, there would be eggfood all over my house!

This SHOULD be enough incentive to get off my duff and build an aviary for these guys--all talk, no action.

steph · Post by **steph** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:21 am

Sally - do you sell finches or are you just breeding them for fun? Thanks for all the great tips!

gomer · Post by **gomer** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:51 am

I to dont know about your seed and fruit mix,never tryied them, never heard of it being done.Except some of the seeds.

Mine have a gravity hopper.With a mix of french and jap millet,red and yellow panicum,plain canary seed,and a little rape and hulled oats.
plus daily soaked seed.And every second day seeding grass,left untill finished or for two days.Sometimes the seeding grass will have milk thistle and ripe millet heads in aswell.And meal worms daily.

Post by **Sally** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:53 am

steph wrote:Sally - do you sell finches or are you just breeding them for fun? Thanks for all the great tips!

Both.

I just love the breeding end of having finches, love those little babies. So I breed for fun, but then I wind up with too many birds. I take them to bird marts to sell, but this is strictly a hobby.

Pukasand · Post by **Pukasand** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:33 am

Let me know your thoughts on this, guys. I occasionally give my bird Organic baby food vegetables. Makes it much easier to dole out, plus a larger variety without the added expense/preparation of each individual vegetable. They especially love the sweet potatoes.

nixity · Post by **nixity** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:58 pm

My birds are on a feeding routine that is based upon what "cycle" they are in. Because I follow seasonal cyclical feeding concepts, but I don't "colony breed" some of my birds are on different "seasons" than others - but it works out like this:

All of my juveniles are housed between my two 6' flight cages.
I have my two nonbreeding hens in a 3' flight, and my non-breeding males are in a 30"x36"x18" flight.

I have two pairs right now breeding, and they are each in their own breeding cage.
The molting (including juveniles) and breeding birds are on the same diet rotation, which is:
Birds R Us Gouldian Pro Breeding/Molting Formula (every day)
Fresh Spray Millet (every day)
Sprouts (2:1 White Sprout Mix:Black Sprout Mix from Birds R Us) &/or EggFood (Orlux Gold Patee) daily
Vegetable Mash or whole Leafy Green Veggies 3-4 times a week
The juveniles are also provided Feather Fast on the sprouts 5 days a week.
The water rotation for them is:
Sparkle M-T
Fresh Water W
Sweet Water R-F (VetaFarm Product)
Fresh Water S-S

My "Maintenance/Resting" birds (the nonbreeding ones) get the Maintenance/Resting Birds R Us blend Daily. They get the Sprouts/Egg Food mix and/or greens twice a week, and they get millet spray twice weekly as well.
They follow the same water rotation as above.
All of my birds have free access to Powdered Kelp, Crushed Egg Shell (Twin Beaks Aviary's "Hatched!"), a "Great Grits" convenience mix composed of soluble grits and minerals, crushed charcoal and bee pollen.

If birds are on Austerity, they get the Birds R Us Austerity mix and fresh water exclusively with absolutely nothing else (no supplements, no grits, etc.)

Phew... :)

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:25 pm

Lainey,
How long have you implemented the austerity feeding period in your breeding program? It makes a lot of sense. I did read recently that one of the reasons why cocks will sometimes toss chicks is because of their food being too high in protein and having too much energy.....which obviously makes no sense.

nixity · Post by **nixity** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:57 pm

atarasi wrote:Lainey,
How long have you implemented the austerity feeding period in your breeding program? It makes a lot of sense. I did read recently that one of the reasons why cocks will sometimes toss chicks is because of their food being too high in protein and having too much energy.....which obviously makes no sense.

Not sure if you were talking to me - my name is Tiffany, though I do know a Lainey very well in MA that breeds Goulds as well :)

This will be my first year implementing the austerity period - I wanted to do the research first and make sure all of my questions had been answered before I jumped into something I may not completely understand.

I do know Lainey (if it is the same Lainey you thought I was :) has used an austerity diet before and with great success.

I believe that tossing happens for a number of reasons, and the reason one bird may toss is not representative of why another does. Also, a bird may toss once for one reason, and a second time for a completely unrelated reason.
One of the reasons I feel Goulds may toss is they simply do not have the parenting experience or they are young and not mature enough to be breeding.
Another reason is that I feel like many people maintain a year-round "maintenance" diet that is too rich for the birds, so their bodies and their mentalities are not "in tune" with one another, so-to-speak.
I.e., the bird's body may be telling it that it's time to molt and rest, but the diet is gearing it in another direction. I think this ultimately causes stress and anxiety and this results in multiple failed breeding attempts.
I think this situation is compounded when individuals force the unsuccessful birds to continue trying without really understanding why they are failing, rather than simply resting them for the season (or a period of 3-4 months) and allowing them the proper chance to come into condition.
We have to remember that these birds are not robots, and although successful pairs will have back-to-back clutches if allowed, it is not good for their bodies and will ultimately impact their life longevity.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:28 pm

Tiffany,
Sorry, for some reason I thought you were Lainey. I clicked on your website and I could have sworn it went to hers. Now I can't remember what I did! Sorry for the confusion.

I read about Mike Fidler's new 3 Australian Grassfinch stages of food. I bought the Breeding/Moulting diet since I'm curious if they will actually eat it.

franny · Post by **franny** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:45 pm

Pukasand wrote:Let me know your thoughts on this, guys. I occasionally give my bird Organic baby food vegetables. Makes it much easier to dole out, plus a larger variety without the added expense/preparation of each individual vegetable. They especially love the sweet potatoes.

I used to feed my societies baby food. Years ago you could get a baby food that was dried (flakes) which you re-constituted with water. I used that, because it would keep until needed (I only had 2 birds). They especially loved the peas.

Since I got this pair I tried the sweet potato which they ignored, but will try the peas next time. Will mix with dry eggfood so it's not so moist. Sure wish I could find the dried baby food again. Maybe they no longer make it... Anyone else ever see that?

gomer · Post by **gomer** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:11 am

Tiffany,do you live in new jersey?Just wondering as all?, your products are available in Australia.And also from birds r us Australia.If so is there a birds r us in U.S.A.or do you get the gear shipped?