FINCHforum

Hello,

I've experimented with health and diet of my canaries.. I even subjected them to cold temperatures in the hopes of making them hardy. It has worked to a degree. They will not die from drafts as others have warned from on the net. I live in northern USA it is brutal cold here now, and while my home has heating and my canaries are housed indoors I have placed them in a very cold and drafty room.

They are living well without any problems.

What I did to help them was feed them a fatty diet involving flax seed, thistle and other seed for fattening purposes.

I have also fed them probiotics daily mixed into their seed.

I then did something that has truly helped my birds sing and play wonderfully. I feed them natural honey, dates, and I put crushed nigella sativa in their seed mix daily. This black seed has worked wonders for me and it has made my canaries sing longer and harder. They are very energetic and happy with this seed.

I recommend all people use this seed, I even feed it to my zebs and they are doing great now too. This seed is powerful and medicinal and it works wonders for preventative medicine.

I've read about it extensively with many government tests being done to verify claims of super low toxicity and healing powers and gave it a shot myself

Please try it yourselves and see.

Where do you get this seed?

I would use caution with honey, if it is raw honey it can contain fairly high levels of botulism and should not be fed to birds. Use pasteurized honey instead

TailFeathers....is the seed black cumin seed?

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/black- ... hing-death

The seeds of the annual flowering plant, Nigella Sativa, have been prized for their healing properties since time immemorial. While frequently referred to among English-speaking cultures as Roman coriander, black sesame, black cumin, black caraway and onion seed, it is known today primarily as black seed, which is at the very least an accurate description of its physical appearance.

Sally wrote: Where do you get this seed?

It's easy to find in Indo PaK stores that cater to the Indian and Pakistani people's. However, the best quality nigella sativa comes from turkey, then Egypt.

You can find them in middle eastern stores. If not, the Internet is your last resort. I do know of a website that sells their oils, I'm not sure if their seed quality is good, but they are expensive. I buy mine for cheap locally.

This site amazing herbs.com sells oils and seed.

By the way... I took a cholesterol test and my levels were bad. All I simply did was add the seed whole to my food.. I eat eggs cooked in butter every morning. Next test I took, my doctor was shocked. My trigylceride levels were 63!!!!


Oh and I feed raw unpasteurized honey so far so good. Pasteurized kills all the beneficial bacteria. I just source a good organic provider here in Michigan.

dutch wrote: TailFeathers....is the seed black cumin seed?

I heard of many different names for it, which is why I just put nigella sativa in there. I would assume they also call it black cumin by the post by fellow members.

Sally wrote: Where do you get this seed?

Sally wrote: Where do you get this seed?

Try local middle eastern, turkish or Indian grocery stores. Otherwise, amazing herbs website.

TailFeathers
Thanks for the info . It might definitely be something to look into. How did you come upon this? How do you feed it to your birds, and in what amounts
Re. Honey: I like raw unpasturized honey for many things. It heals cuts quickly, helps with sore throats and tastes great. How do you feed honey to birds though?

~Elana~

Just a warning, you don't want your birds to get too fat from all these fatty seeds which will cause a whole nother set of problems.

lovezebs wrote: TailFeathers
Thanks for the info . It might definitely be something to look into. How did you come upon this? How do you feed it to your birds, and in what amounts
Re. Honey: I like raw unpasturized honey for many things. It heals cuts quickly, helps with sore throats and tastes great. How do you feed honey to birds though?

~Elana~

I basically crush the seed and then mix it into my seed mix. I try to measure by eye putting at least 1/8th by volume.

As for honey o have part of the cage that my birds can go to when I feed fruits or veggies. I like to use my honey when it becomes semi crystallized. Just take a tooth pick and dip the sharp end only and paste it onto the spot where the perch and the bars meet. They will continue to go at it even when no honey is available. Don't put too much but I feed 3x a week. Make sure you give fresh water at the same time.

debbie276 wrote: Just a warning, you don't want your birds to get too fat from all these fatty seeds which will cause a whole nother set of problems.

Yes I know. I just used it to fatten them up so they have so,e sort of protection before being subjected to cold.

I also worked them up to be fat and colder at the same time. By the way, one of my hens laid eggs and I had 1 fertilized egg last month and it's not even breeding season and she was Ina cold room, but the male destroyed the nest and the egg TWO DAYS before hatching !!! I got so upset.

I think it's important to remember these birds were bred in European homes that were cold for centuries so it's possible to weatherize them to a degree.

TailFeathers...how many eggs did she lay?

dutch wrote: TailFeathers...how many eggs did she lay?

4 the other 3 weren't fertilized because the male canary poked holes in them. The last egg was stuck to the bamboo nest with the yolk being the glue. I've since changed them to metal cup nests and separated him for the time being.

regarding the raw honey..google "raw honey toxic to birds or parrots" and a slew of articles will come up it is not recommended to use unpasteurized for your birds.

http://www.birdtricks.com/blog/unsafe-f ... r-parrots/

http://www.birdsnways.com/articles/efsep4.htm
"We avoid giving honey to our birds, due to the risk of botulism. Immature and/or compromised immune systems are not capable of handling the toxin. In addition to the botulinus toxin, you also have the possibility of yeast infections and mycotoxins from aspergillum mold that grows very readily in honey"

Google "dangers of raw honey" In humans... bird are much more sensitive...I would seriously use caution with raw honey. That being said....yes it is beneficial for humans. I personal would avoid it for birds, a small amount of bacterial spores and toxins can be harmful or worse. JMO. (I will run this buy both Avian vets in my area...)

http://www.livestrong.com/article/26366 ... raw-honey/

Risk for Infant Botulism

"Botulism spores are in air, soil, water and plants. In the absence of oxygen, the spores germinate and produce toxins. The process of boiling destroys the bacterial spores and toxins. Raw honey is a potential source of the Clostridium botulinum spores. The Centers for Disease Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Honey Board recommend that you not give honey to infants under the age of 12 months. Infant botulism is a rare disease caused by the bacteria, Clostridium botulinum. The disease causes varying degrees of paralysis. Children over age 1 and healthy adults have the mature digestive systems necessary to prevent botulism spores from thriving."


http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/dangers ... -5387.html
The National Institutes of Health report you should never consume raw honey in order to prevent food poisoning, particularly if you are already immunocompromised. It’s especially dangerous to give raw honey to infants under the age of one. According to MayoClinic.com, giving raw honey to infants may cause infant botulism, a rare but serious gastrointestinal sickness caused by exposure to bacterial spores. Infant botulism can be life-threatening.