Guess who got new birds last night?! UPDATE: Jan 29, 2011

[Jan]

May have some good news for you... I have a flight of African finches including Lavenders that I am bound and determined not to use live food on.. I am knocking on wood as I type but I have a pair that has three babies, six days old & still alive ... They are on a very high protein diet that is working with everything except my darn CB's who still want a pile of meal worms daily just to think about raising babies

[annague]

What kind of high protein diet do you have them on?

I have a friend who claims she can raise them on some kind of homemade cornmeal bug patties but she hasn't given me her recipe yet.

I do eggfood but I can't get away from the mealies with the CB's -- and I have far more of them than anything else African.

[L in Ontario]

May have some good news for you... I have a flight of African finches including Lavenders that I am bound and determined not to use live food on.. I am knocking on wood as I type but I have a pair that has three babies, six days old & still alive ... They are on a very high protein diet that is working with everything except my darn CB's who still want a pile of meal worms daily just to think about raising babies

Ooooh very interesting story there Jan! Thank you. Any chance you'd like to share the high protein diet contents?

[Jan]

The change this breeding season has been a mix of Volkmann egg food, Hemp & Sunflower seed, freeze dried meal worms, & finch pellets that are course ground mix... I also give them a homemade cornbread (for several years) mix every few days that has everything I can think of from the pantry.. I make several large pans of it, cut it up into small squares and freeze it.. The other thing I really think is making a difference is the new flights we built 4X12X8 ft tall.. We built 6 of them in our indoor aviary (so far) & filled them with artificial plant & trees to the point I really have to look close to see all my birds. The birds are so much more happy then those in my breeder cages, I can tell by the look of these birds, the amount & volume of their song and a lot of babies so far this winter.

[L in Ontario]

Sounds like birdy paradise. Thank you so much Jan.