Canary Grass Seed Equivalent?

[suefourmet]

I'd like to cut back on the amount of canary grass seed that is in the seed mixes that I've been feeding to my canaries because they seem to waste so much of that particular seed. Is there another seed that is somewhat equivalent in nutritional value that I could substitute with? If I read it correctly, the Avian Organics website suggests that canary grass seed should only be about 25% of the seed mix. I thought I'd give them a call and have them explain more about it, but I haven't done that yet.

Thanks,

Sue

[cindy]

I believe there was athread on this not to long ago. I'll see if I can find it through a search. We also talked about it on another thread involving fresh seeds that Foosa101 (aka Nancy) was maing available. Some birds totally ignore certain seeds. I tried a little experiment, the seeds they ignored (each seed was separately bagged, I blend it myself) like the red millet, I finely ground it to a powder and they ate it. I also tried boiling it and sprouting it (chitting). I don't know why it was accepted in the ways I offered opposed to whole, the only thing I can think of is that it was to hard to crack and the softer way is more appealing.

I bought flax seed, I am going to grind a little up and offer it to certain species to see if they will accept it. Along with a small dish of ground sunflower chips. Serving certain seeds or foods in the ground up for seems to eliminate a little waste.

[monotwine]

Sue what does your canary mix currently contain?
Canary seed along with what else and if you know in what proportions?

[cindy]

these are the two threads on the topic
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... ow#p171695

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15638

In the second article we mentioned canary grass and niger, both were left untouched. Nancy will be offering a blend fairly soon.

[suefourmet]

Thanks Cindy and Monique,

The mix I'm currently using is Canary grass seed and a little black rapeseed. I'm sure it must have something else, but I can't quite identify what it is - looks too much like grass seed. I'm going to try to take a photo of the mix and see if anything else looks familiar to you guys.

Thanks,

Sue