FINCHforum

My husband and I are thinking about growing alfalfa and other types of healthy sprouts for ourselves and the birds. We want to do this the old fashion way using the Ball glass jars and cheese cloth.

Do you need to still rinse the sprouts in a bleach solution prior to giving to the birds as suggesting in the info section regarding sprouting seed?

We will rinse the once or twice daily.

Also has anyone else done this and what are the other sprouts that you have grown that your birds love? I realize that alfalfa should be given sparingly.

There is another thread that mentioned Birds R Us white blend and the Maintenance Blend, can these be done in a jar also?

Cindy,

I am not sure about that.... but to be on the safe side.... maybe yes..????

Thanks Donna,

My husband wanted to do types of sprouts we can eat also I guess I can do separate jars for the finches. The bleach/H2O rinse probably should be done to make sure ther isn't anything that will harm them like molds or bacteria.

I really like the wheat grass in a plate idea, since I have individual cages I can grow it in individual little dishes. My birds are odd, some of them love greens, the St. Helean eat everything while others no matter how many times offered the refuse it.

They all love the Herb Salad Tiffany sells; even Louey the lovebird is trying it! The little Silverbills John sent to me finish a little egg cup of it before any of the other finches.

Yes, you can use the Birds R Us mixes. But are you wanting to actually feed the birds a 1" long sprout?

Here is my method for sprouting for the birds.

I use the following jar with the wire screen mesh top:

http://www.amazon.com/Now-Sprouting-Jar ... 786&sr=8-2

I also use the Virkon S instead of Bleach.

http://www.fabulousfinch.com/VIRKON-S-D ... 1-135.html

I found even though I was using bleach and GSE - the sprouts still didn't smell fresh if left to long and in some cases grew hairy mold.

I use 1.5 cups of seed mix (Birds R Us) in the jar with 1/2 tsp of Virkon S filled to the top with water, let this sit soaking all day, when I get home I then drain the Virkon S water out of the jar and then let sit until the next morning. I then rinse, rinse, and rinse some more and then let the seeds drain inside of a strainer on top of a paper towel to pull as much water as possible off the seeds. I never soak or let sit for more than 24 hours, because anything more is more of a sprout vs. the chitted seed. There is more nutritional value in a chitted seed vs. an actual sprout. I do this daily and never make more than what I can feed in a day.

Thank you, Misty. This looks like something managable. You've been a great help.

cindy wrote:
There is another thread that mentioned Birds R Us white blend and the Maintenance Blend, can these be done in a jar also?

I have only ever sprouted/soaked in jars..
I use quart size mason jars.

Thanks Tiffany this is what we want to do, grow for us and the birds.

Do you rinse the sprouts/seed in the bleach/water solution?

cindy wrote:Thanks Tiffany this is what we want to do, grow for us and the birds.

Do you rinse the sprouts/seed in the bleach/water solution?

I soak them in a solution of Virkon S (about 1/4 teaspoon to 1 quart of water) for 2-4 hours and then rinse and drain, and rinse, drain and serve 24 hours after that.

This is not the way Mike Fidler suggets to do it - with his method there is no rinsing at all, only draining.

But I rinse out of habit, and I have no had any problems doing it this way

We even rinse several time if we plan on eating the sprouts. You almost have to, it gets kind of slimey.