annague wrote: a book on caring for finches CANDACE'S WAY-- I will be the first to buy one!
I periodically give my birds the dried herb salad -- I give fresh greens daily -- Does anyone feel very confident that it does just that?
HE HE, Anna, thanks but if I ever was organized enough to write an entire book...If I did, would give you a copy just for your vote of confidence
I do not give my bird herb salad all the time.... I think greens of any kind including herbs are really only nutritionally sound when fresh. )or juiced) They may have some medicinal bennefits dried and of course we all know that they make our food taste yummy
I give them some herb salad maybe once a week to every other week depending on my free time and other feeding routine...like in summer they get fresh pots of stuff and fresh carrot tops, or whatever is growing. It is much easier to feed the greens to flights/aviary birds as opposed to caged breeders.
I believe the idea behind the herb salad is based on the birds in the wild being able to forage and nibble different things as to their bodies needs.... though again, these are fresh, live nutrient rich plants not dried drab green and brown leaves.... that have lost a lot of their value due to the drying process.
Also I feel many people who claim their birds love and devour the salad are missing a cue in their birds behavior... their birds are lacking something. It is just like if you do not furnish a mineral and calcium source for a period of time then the bird is given a dish of oyster shells or eggshells....the bird will fly to it and consume it at a very fast pace... not because they love it but because they are lacking something and the deficiency takes over their normal eating pattern. ...sometimes even to the point of consuming so much that the gizzard becomes impacted which can be life threatening. A bird that has not been exposed to a mineral grit for some time should be limited to the amount that is offer to prevent any overeating health concerns. The same with greens/herbs, dried or fresh...a deficient bird will possibly consume more than is good for them.
My birds will pick and nibble the herb salad but they never consume it wholeheartedly or completely. I think the one gouldian that impelled his cheek with a leaf was actually just playing with the stuff...not actually eating it. I try to offer different foraging items so that the caged birds do not become extremely bored..... herb salad is just one. I also offer dried alfalfa, Blue algea, spirulina, etc. especially in winter when I am not gardening.
I do feed the australian blend every day. I usually mix this into the basic seed mix....
Well there you go, another chapter to my book
... I know I took pictures of my termite covered stakes...I will have to find them and write a chapter on how I drove my husband crazy while cultivating termites. Me with hammer in one hand driving pine stakes into the ground while he was running around the foundation with a bug sparyer..... Now if that's not compatability
) every since then I grind those big leaves up if I use this product.
