Canary seed food

[L in Ontario]

When you have canaries in with finches - do you provide specific "canary mix" seed in addition to the finch mix seed? Or do your canaries just eat what the finches eat?

[Jan]

I just up the percentage of canary, rape, & niger seed in those flights.. My Goldfinch's & Green Singers will pick through the mix for their favorite seeds..

[colorin]

I give them a specific mix for canaries:
canary seed, niger, perilla, red rapeseed, linseed, hempseed,etc

it's very different from the finch seed mix

[L in Ontario]

I agree the canary seed mix is very different than finch seed mix but a lot of my other finches are jumping to the canary's dish and helping themselves and the canary goes to the finch dishes to eat as well as their own dishes.

I suppose it doesn't matter if they nibble on each others foods (seeds)?

[colorin]

Very much like my cat and dog used to do. I think they decided that the other's food was much better

[CandoAviary]

Canaries will get fat on millet seed which is the basis of most finch mixes. The canary mixes are mostly high protein seed, and oily seed which is what canaries need to keep fit.
An occaisional treat of millets, millet spray, and finch mix is fine but should be as a treat and not the staple diet....It's like us eating too many chips

[Jan]

I have always been under the impression that the grain based seeds & millets were much lower in fat & higher in carbohydrates.. The oil based ones like the sunflower, hemp, thistle, niger, etc. were the ones you had to feed in moderation for a general diet & increase for breading season. My mother in law raised Canaries for years, & in those cages, they would balloon up eating those fatty seeds.

[debbie276]

I have always been under the impression that the grain based seeds & millets were much lower in fat & higher in carbohydrates.. The oil based ones like the sunflower, hemp, thistle, niger, etc. were the ones you had to feed in moderation

I have a chart with protein - carbohydrate & fat of a few seeds and I have to agree with you Jan.

protein carbs fat
canary seed 13.67 37.23 3.52
rape seed 19.54 17.99 45.00
niger 19.37 12.37 43.22
oats 12.07 58.23 4.42
millet 12.77 62.30 3.27
flax 24.28 22.10 36.50
sunflower 15.19 17.36 28.29
hemp 21.51 15.89 30.41
sesame 21.12 18.63 46.78

[Dayna]

Debbie do you still have/use the chart? Where did you find it/buy it?

[Chichireeo]

I've looked at canary mixes and I don't see any seeds that are not in my finch mixes. It's only the percentages are different. Canary mixes are over 60% canary seeds, finch mixes are over 60% millets.
Overall, the canary mixes tend to be higher in fat, with protein about the same. Interestingly, many makes of pellets do not have separate formulas for canaries and finches. When I looked at the nutrition analysis, the protein and fat in the pellets are more similar to canary seed mixes. So I would think a finch can very well get fat on pellets. (if he eats it)