FINCHforum

Having taken in an unwanted finch, Ive been trying to get it to eat something bar seed (Im fairly certain thats all its ever been given).

so far Ive tried millet (which at first it was very dubious of, now loves it), a honey seed treat (which it will eat if crumbled) but wont go near any fruit of veg. Indeed, it looks at it as though its a threat to its very existence.

Tried so far

Banana
Apple
Kale
Tomato
Spinach
Cucumber.

Any ideas? Ive tried leaving these things for a while but still no joy.

Societies basic diet is a good finch mix, but they will usually eat many other things--the kale and cucumber should have been eaten. It may not have ever been offered anything but seed, so it might take a little time for it to try something. Spray millet is a good treat, and commercial or homemade eggfood is good as well. You can make your own eggfood by mashing a hardboiled egg, shell and all, and then adding some yellow cornmeal till the eggfood is crumbly.

I dont think cornmeal is availible in the UK. Never even heard of it before. Is there an alternative that I could mix in with the egg?

take a look at this link

http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/introducing_new_foods.php

It might help your finch if you try offering the food several different ways. My zebras would not touch big leaves of spinach or lettuce, but they gobble it down if it's finely chopped. Someone else here noted that Target stores have a cheap food chopper, and it works great - much better than chopping by hand. they seem to like the smaller, bite size pieces better than big chunks.

Urgh, I've tried everything, chopping things, mixing with the seeds, etc. Only things Ive managed to get it to eat is the millet and this honey seed treat thing, and Im guessing thats because theyre seed-based.


Also, Im having a big problem with the cuttlefish, its another thing it wont go near, and since it came with the bird and cage, Im guessing by the state of it its never been touched. Can I buy calcium suppliments I can put in its water? When I was clipping its nails the other day, I was quite concerned by how brittle they were. Of course I have no frame of reference for how hard or soft finch nails are, they just seemed not quite right to me.