FINCHforum

Branching out

Take a sprig of broccoli and clip it to the side of the cage. They will often treat the tiny little round "heads" on the broccoli as if it were seed.

You could also tempt them with fresh spinach leaves clipped to the side of the cage, but don't offer it every day because it can cause calcium deficiency due to very high levels of oxalic acid.

I offer a "salad mix" consisting of kale, chicory, sliced brussel sprouts, and shredded broccoli stems that they eat happily. They also love arugula. I now offer them their "bird salad" on a plate on the floor of the cage but I STARTED with fresh greens and veggies clipped to the side of the cage. My theory is that most finches are unused to eating on the floor of the cage, they're used to eating out of seed cups or from things like cuttlebone attached to the side of their cage, so perhaps starting by offering them things clipped to the side of the cage will encourage them.

If they ignore it, just remove it and replace it daily (or twice daily if necessary, depends on the particular veggie) with fresh. Eventually they'll take to it.

I had no trouble introducing fresh veggies to my finches, though they have very nearly completely ignored fruits. However my budgies were quite a different story. Took me over a year. I finally got them to try the bird salad by introducing them to a home made bird bread (corn free) chock full of pureed veggies. They loved the bread, which I then started crumbling over the bird salad. Eventually they started eating at least some of the bird salad. Another year gone by and they now readily eat their greens even in the absence of bird bread.

Two photos of my little gang. They are still refusing fruit & veg!

Very pretty birds and aviary!

One of the owl finches is looking very slightly scruffy today. It's moving well and eating and it sits with the others, so I think it might be moulting. The creamish colour on its breast is looking a bit grey and the black bar is incomplete.
They have access to cuttlefish bone, oyster grit and sand and have a seed based died but are still refusing green stuff.
There is daylight through the window and aviary light goes on during daylight hours at the weekends.
I was wondering if there is some sort of supplement to put in the water to help with moulting, or whether I should just leave well alone as all behaviour is normal. Eyes and vent are clean etc.
Any advice?

No, I wouldn't put anything in the water. You could put some dried egg food in that you can get at most pet stores. Or hard boil an egg and shred some of it for them. You can shred some carrot and shave broccoli tops and mix it in there too. But the hard boiled egg would have to come out in two hours so it doesn't spoil. The dried commercial food can stay in all the time. They need light during daylight hours all week.

Welcome to the forum! If you are trying to house as many pairs as you can, make the cage as big as you can. Finches like to have a lot of space.

I’ve used a supplement in the water called moulting

It works well but u can only add it three tiles per weeks and emtpty after 24 hours

wildbird wrote: You could put some dried egg food in that you can get at most pet stores.

I would need to order online as it definitely isn't available in most pet stores in the UK.

But I though the egg food was for when they weren't moulting?

Fraza wrote: I’ve used a supplement in the water called moulting

It works well but u can only add it three tiles per weeks and emtpty after 24 hours

Thanks, that's the stuff I was wondering about.

Branching out Yh it works well I only used for three weeks

I've tricked them into eating some grapes today by chopping the grapes up and covering them with seeds. I'm pretty sure the grapes didn't just dry up!

The egg food is for when they are moulting. They need the protein to help grow new feathers. You can get Quicko Classic dried egg food from DrsFosterSmith.com or 800-443-1160. It is a product of Germany.

For the greens try clipping some greens very close to where they eat or even on the dish they eat from. They may not recognize the greens as food since there is so much inedible greenery in the aviary. Maybe buy a food chopper and finely chop some kale. Mine love organic romaine lettuce hearts and organic dandelion greens. Always rinse well several times in clean water to remove any pesticides or other contaminants before feeding. I clip the greens to the side of the cage.

I use to make a box mixed off mealworms, millet, seeds and then greens so that they just new that was a various food box.
This might work

wildbird wrote: For the greens try clipping some greens very close to where they eat or even on the dish they eat from. They may not recognize the greens as food since there is so much inedible greenery in the aviary. Maybe buy a food chopper and finely chop some kale. Mine love organic romaine lettuce hearts and organic dandelion greens. Always rinse well several times in clean water to remove any pesticides or other contaminants before feeding. I clip the greens to the side of the cage.

Yes, I've been putting it in the food bowl but they've just been taking it out and throwing it around. They might have eaten carrot tops. My other birds love dandelion leaves in particular but the finches threw them out of the cage. Now they've eaten grapes, I think I might make some headway.