Romaine, and other newbie diet questions.

[Amaiko]

Hey all, I guess I'm the new kid here.

So I have had this zebra finch for about six years now; he's quite a lively creature, outlived all the other birds I've ever had, and is currently living with his buddy, a ringneck dove. Not really a standard setup I guess, but he thrives.

Now to be honest this little guy hasn't had much of a balanced diet. Over the years I've tried to feed him many things; I remember reading about eggfood, sprouted seeds, etc., and tried to give it to him but he just never really touched the stuff. (Well to be honest I never felt confident enough to give him my sprouted seeds because I was always terrified they had molded and that I did something horribly wrong).

By the time I had to leave him in the care of my parents to go off to college, I had pretty much given up on getting him to eat anything good for him. He was pretty much just eating pet-store-bought "vitamin enhanced" finch mix, along with grit and cuttlebone, the occasional millet spray, etc. But four years later I reclaimed him and he's still the happiest little bird you ever did see.

So while there is that part of me that says "don't fix what isn't broken," I feel like I should be feeding him better, so I've been trying again to get him to eat a wider variety of foods, and the other day I gave him a romaine leaf, which to my surprise, he absolutely adored and happily shredded to bits. Naturally, I want to give him more of this.

All that long-winded back story is really just to ask; would it be okay to give him romaine leaves on a regular basis, or does it fall under the category of "in moderation?" I plan on watching him to make sure he doesn't completely forsake his seed for his new beloved romaine leaf, but I am quite overjoyed that he has finally eaten something other than seeds and whatever other weird stuff is in that mix.

I would also appreciate any general advice for getting him to eat other foods, particularly proteins, as he just refuses to touch any form of eggfood I try to give him. I have tried mixing it with seed and other things but he won't even go near it. It's like he's scared of the color yellow or something.

Thanks a lot all!

[Ursula]

My finches and budgies get romaine daily, because it's the only leafy greens that they eat, except parsley. (I've tried spinach, kale,... they only like romaine.)
I'm sure you get different opinions on greens, and some say too much can cause diarrhea in the birds. If he has eaten only seeds for years I would start introducing it slowly and not every day, until you can be sure that his digestive system can handle it. You can try other things too, such as broccoli or finely grated carrots etc.

One more thing: only feed organic greens, because on the normal lettuce there's lots of fertilizer and insecticide that you can't wash off.

[ac12]

I would give him a small piece a few times a week, then gradually over a few weeks increase it to every day. But not a large piece of lettuce, that way he has to go to eat the seeds also.

Try mixing in other veggies w the lettuce; broccoli, carrots, yams, chard, etc. I chop the hard veggies (carrots & yams) up into small beak size pieces.

If you go to the grocery store in the morning, go to the back and ask for the veggetable man, and ask him for the outer cuttings from the organic veggies. They give it to us for free, they throw that away anyway.

[nixity]

Before you start giving him romaine every day I would try feeding him a piece of Collard or Kale or Chard first to see if he'll eat that, too or not.
My guess is if he'll eat the Romaine he'll probably eat the others, and they are MUCH more nutritional than Romaine - which, as far as lettuces go is better than, say, Iceberg.. but it's still essentially just a water vessel and doesn't carry much in the way of nutrition for the birds.

Kale especially is loaded with nutritional value.
I haven't found a bird that won't eat it - even my Cordon Bleus eat Kale

[Ursula]

Before you start giving him romaine every day I would try feeding him a piece of Collard or Kale or Chard first to see if he'll eat that, too or not.
My guess is if he'll eat the Romaine he'll probably eat the others, and they are MUCH more nutritional than Romaine - which, as far as lettuces go is better than, say, Iceberg.. but it's still essentially just a water vessel and doesn't carry much in the way of nutrition for the birds.

Kale especially is loaded with nutritional value.
I haven't found a bird that won't eat it - even my Cordon Bleus eat Kale

Well, mine just don't like kale at all! I tried and tried several times, different types too, and they just don't eat it. How are you feeding it to them, Nixity? Chopped or as a whole leaf? And do they get any other greens?

But I agre, Amaiko, it's better to try kale first, your bird might be smarter than mine...

[nixity]

I have fed it possibly every way you can feed it.

When I lived in NJ the grocery store near us offered whole bunches of Kale and Collards and I'd just clip the greens to the cage and they would eat it bare down to the stalk.

In MD where I am now, the closest place I can find whole (not pre-packaged/bagged) Kale is a Whole Foods that is almost 45 mins away.
At first I tried clipping the bagged pieces but they are cut too small to clip and too large to just place in the cage - so I use a food processor to chop them up really fine into a mash.
You can mix in other veggies that they like as well such as broccoli, carrot, a tiny piece of red pepper for extra vitamin A, etc..

[Ursula]

I am lucky to have a whole foods close by and that's where I get most of my organic stuff. I will try again. Maybe I'll try it chopped and mixed with carrots and couscous this time...

[nixity]

Oh my birds love couscous That definitely might help - I'd start out small.. mix it in with something they already like at a really small ratio.
I started by mixing the chopped stuff in with the sprouts..
I can't do that anymore because if I mix, they pick out the Kale and don't eat the sprouts!

[Ursula]

...they pick out the Kale and don't eat the sprouts!

Can I borrow some of your finches to teach mine?

[ac12]

Tiffany
About the red pepper.
Do you mean red BELL pepper?
I got one then the veggie man told my wife that it is coated with wax So it went into the compost pile.

[nixity]

...they pick out the Kale and don't eat the sprouts!

Can I borrow some of your finches to teach mine?

[nixity]

Tiffany
About the red pepper.
Do you mean red BELL pepper?
I got one then the veggie man told my wife that it is coated with wax So it went into the compost pile.

Yes, red bell pepper..

Commercial veggie washes generally get the wax off - even if you don't use a veggie wash you should at least wash all fresh veggies (that are not pre-washed and bagged) in a solution of white vinegar and water to sanitize them before feeding to the birds.

The white vinegar won't get all the wax off so a soft scrubber helps - otherwise just use a potato peeler to get the outer most skin off.
In the case of the red bell you aren't using more than an 1" square piece in about 1 cup of veggie mash anyway...

[Amaiko]

I would certainly like to try feeding him kale or collard, but despite searching all the supermarkets within reasonable distance I am having a hard time finding organic versions of either of those (organic romaine, on the other hand, is quite plentiful). I will keep looking though.

Thanks for the advice guys

[B CAMP]

Welcome to the forum ,if you fill in your profile with where you live it makes it a lot easier to answer questions sometimes

[jimlas43]

I use to feed my birds Romaine until I read about the Green Day Diet. Now I use a broccoli base with a little carrot chopped up into beak size pieces. It has to be small or they won't eat it. A food proccesor will do the trick. Every afternoon at 3:00 they get a little pile on top of their food dish.
As far as egg food, I use Abba Green 92 to mix in with my mashed up boiled eggs, along with wheat germ oil, and cod liver oil. They get this on top of their food every morning and gobble it right up. If I have any babies, the parents get two helpings a day. I actually gave my Red headed parrot finches three helpings yesterday because they are feeding , maybe 5 babies and they gobble it right down.
All of my birds are in exceptional health so I am pretty confident with this diet right now. Of course I also sprinlke on Bag's O Bug's and freeze dried blood worms for those insect loving birds