FINCHforum

I ordered a small amount of Miracle meal to see if my birds like it.

Can this be left out for an extended period of time?

I have been adding to the seed but wanted to mix it with the dried egg food and Roudybush which I put in an egg cup and change out every week or sooner if they mess in it.

I leave mine out.
I like it for that reason. oops, speaking of that...gotta go change the egg.

thanks....

Cindy,

I leave mine in the dish for about a week and then I replace it with clean dish and miracle meal.

I also add mine to the fresh eggfood.

Donna, can I mix it with the dried egg food/ground Roudybush?

I leave that out for about a week or two. I called ABBA Seed, they told me the ABBA 92 was good left out for 2 - 3 weeks. I check it daily to see if anyone left "presents" in it, if so it is dumped and new is given. Everyone's egg food is changed weekly.

Mine don't eat boiled egg, mashed quartered, mixed with seed or wheat germ oil. Some of them pick at the yolk of a boiled egg but they mostly ignore it.

I get my birds to eat egg mixed as follows:

3 yokes
1-1/2 white (my wife gets the other 1-1/2 white)
2 baby spoons (approx = 1 heaping teaspoon) of MM
2 rounded teaspoon of organic corn meal (to dry out the egg)

All blended in a mini-food processesor.
I used to mash the hard boiled egg with a fork, but that compressed the eggs and the egg got sticky. I got several recommendation to use a mini-food processor, and that indeed worked much better. The birds seem to like the egg mix on the dry side rather than sticky and packed together.

When I serve the egg mix, I add chopped lettuce and egg shells.

For some of my birds, I had to use the technique in the FIC to get them to eat the egg.
http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/introducing_new_foods.php
I removed their food just before lights out.
In the morning, I put out the egg, and that is the only thing they have to eat for an hour.
Then I put their regular food back in.
I gradually increase the time that they only have egg available. Usually they will start to eat the egg before I reach 4 hours.

I keep this up for a few days.
Then I leave their regular food in the cage overnight, and when I put the egg in they start to eat the egg. That is when I know they accepted the egg as "good eats."

l have to try this, thank you for your advice. I can try this on the finches that do not have young in the nests. I find the zebras and owls are game for anything but the RCCB, Gold Breast, Orange cheek, and shaftail (though usually bold about new food) will not go near the boiled egg, they sit on their perch and look at it like it is going to kill them. I use their usual treat dishes so it would be less "scary".

My husband just bought home eggs from his sentinal chickens at work. The shell is thinner and the yolk is bigger. I will try those and see if they like them.

Cindy, try mixing some soaked seeds in with the eggfood.

Sometimes you just have to keep trying. My society finches at school would not touch it for about two weeks. I kept putting it in there anyway and finally they started eating it. I added the seeds and that is what finally got them started.

I am going to get millet on Sunday, I'll try soaking some and add it to the eggs. I would be a lot cheaper than mealworms. $20.00 worth gone in two day with the shaftails. That can get out of hand if more than one pair have chicks.