Australian Niger Seed

[Greg41]

I live in Perth WA and have been trying to source Australian Niger for my Siskins.
None of the Seed Merchants over here stock it and the seed suppliers that I have spoken to in the East
only have imported seed.Does any member know where I may be able to buy 5 or 10kg and have sent to WA?
I live in hope.

[gomer]

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=19908

Nutri wing dont have it ? are they still about.

Try
http://www.wildlifesupplies.com.au/
They had it early in the year.
or
http://www.elenbeebirdsupplies.com.au/

[george gaoutsos]

I live in Perth WA and have been trying to source Australian Niger for my Siskins.
None of the Seed Merchants over here stock it and the seed suppliers that I have spoken to in the East
only have imported seed.Does any member know where I may be able to buy 5 or 10kg and have sent to WA?
I live in hope.

Hi Greg 41,this is the number for niger seeds.Its in kununurra W.A tel:08 9168 2122
call them,as they always have plenty,or ask them for stockists near you???George

[Craig52]

I live in Perth WA and have been trying to source Australian Niger for my Siskins.
None of the Seed Merchants over here stock it and the seed suppliers that I have spoken to in the East
only have imported seed.Does any member know where I may be able to buy 5 or 10kg and have sent to WA?
I live in hope.

Hi Greg 41,this is the number for niger seeds.Its in kununurra W.A tel:08 9168 2122
call them,as they always have plenty,or ask them for stockists near you???George

Excellent and direct information George, thanks for sharing. As Greg lives in WA he should have no problems getting it. Thanks.
Craig

[Greg41]

I contacted the Kununurra supplier in July who told me to place my order in Nov.
I put in my order late Oct only to be told it had all being sold.[ not the way I used to do business ]
I don't think that Nutri Wing has had any fresh Niger for some time.None of the Kununurra Niger stays in WA.
None of our seed merchants can get any from Kununurra [so I'm told].Don't think that I haven't spent hours trying to
track down fresh Aust Niger. If any of you can find it please let me know.
Cheers

[STUART WHITING]

I contacted the Kununurra supplier in July who told me to place my order in Nov.
I put in my order late Oct only to be told it had all being sold.[ not the way I used to do business ]
I don't think that Nutri Wing has had any fresh Niger for some time.None of the Kununurra Niger stays in WA.
None of our seed merchants can get any from Kununurra [so I'm told].Don't think that I haven't spent hours trying to
track down fresh Aust Niger. If any of you can find it please let me know.
Cheers

Jeez I really didn't realise how difficult it appears to be in getting Nyger in Aussie

Over here in England we've got absolute s##t loads of it in abundance and I'm using it within me finch mixes all of the year round,

Incidentally if any of you good people can get canary conditioner seed then I'd definitely be inclined to use this and mix a couple of kilo to about 10 kilo of yer normal foreign finch ( millet ) seed

There's a lot of various seeds within the canary conditioner mixes that aren't particularly associated with foreign finch mixes but one would be surprised in how many foreign finches will pick through and eat the various seeds, there's a lot of oil seeds in the mix which will give increased protein aswell as carbohydrates IE :
Plain canary, Rape, hemp, linseed, Nyger, aniseed aswell as a few other wild grass and thistle seeds etc.

I've been using the canary conditioner mixes mixed with me std foreign finch mixes now for some time and can say that me waxbills and Asiatic finches all thrive on it

[starman]

Hi Stuart,
That's an interesting post.
Just to clarify the Niger situation in Australia....there is plenty of Niger available but most of it is imported from Asia (I believe usually Northern India). Our importation laws require that it be sterilised/irradiated upon entry. Most breeders go to great lengths to source locally grown Niger, and hence the interest in the WA product. Some one did a comparison by putting the imported and local seeds in adjacent bowls... the birds cleaned up the local seed before moving on to the import..... voting with their beaks.

[STUART WHITING]

Hi Stuart,
That's an interesting post.
Just to clarify the Niger situation in Australia....there is plenty of Niger available but most of it is imported from Asia (I believe usually Northern India). Our importation laws require that it be sterilised/irradiated upon entry. Most breeders go to great lengths to source locally grown Niger, and hence the interest in the WA product. Some one did a comparison by putting the imported and local seeds in adjacent bowls... the birds cleaned up the local seed before moving on to the import..... voting with their beaks.

Hi there Sm,

Yea I can see where yer coming from now, presumably the irritated is nowhere near as good as locally fresh grown Nyger,

I believe the article you mention about the comparison would be Doug Hill of Aussie and Marcus Pollard of Tasmaia from Clifton finch avaires

I've also noticed the difference between using old cheap grade Nyger and good quality often dearer fresher Nyger

[Tiaris]

The irradiated stuff is dead - may as well feed cardboard. No store of energy in dead seed and rapid loss of nutritional value from the time it is treated. The birds can tell straight away. I've seen fresh untreated niger & treated niger both offered to Red Siskins where the birds demolished the live seed & didn't even touch the dead stuff. Not that long ago, most Aussie grown niger seed was grown in the Ord River irrigation area. Lately, Peter Slade at Quirindi NSW seems to be the main one growing it.

[STUART WHITING]

The irradiated stuff is dead - may as well feed cardboard. No store of energy in dead seed and rapid loss of nutritional value from the time it is treated. The birds can tell straight away. I've seen fresh untreated niger & treated niger both offered to Red Siskins where the birds demolished the live seed & didn't even touch the dead stuff. Not that long ago, most Aussie grown niger seed was grown in the Ord River irrigation area. Lately, Peter Slade at Quirindi NSW seems to be the main one growing it.

Interesting Tiaris

Thanks for sharing