Trying more "exotic" seeds with gouldians

For all your questions about diet and food for your finches
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Darkangel1977
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Recently i received my first shipment of seeds from wildlife supplies in queensland. I ordered a few different seeds including : Phalaris, Ryegrass Seed, Signal Grass and Silk Sorghum. I placed a small amount in seperate bowls just to see which was preferred. My aim is to make a pre-breeding/breeding mix that i will add to my standard seed mix during the breeding season. I guess it may be a bit of an extravagance but i only have a few birds so thought it may be fun to experiment. Anyone used those seeds for their finches before?? More specifically gouldians? I also have another order coming consisting of Barnyard Grass, Gatton Panic and White Lettuce Seed which i will do the same of.

I set up my mobile to record the gouldians feeding so that i could leave them to it. It was quite interesting to see the results which seemed to be a preference for the phalaris, rye and signal grass. Im looking forward to trying the next batch. If anyone is interested i will post the video on my youtube channel shortly... doesnt make for rivetting viewing but thought someone may enjoy it. :)

https://youtu.be/aba8VLAxZtg
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finchbreeder
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Well your hen seems willing to give everything a go. Cock a bit more cautious. :thumbup:
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LML
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Tiaris
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I have used all of those grass seeds and quite a few more in the past & have come back to just a few favoured ones.
Most grass seeds will be eaten but with the price of some of these it can get down to cost, although such extra seeds need only be offered in small quantities to make the best (economical) use of them.
The best value ones (IMO) are barnyard grass, signal grass, carpet grass & rye (in fact a mix of these 4 is an excellent supplementary seed mix for most finches - I especially favour barnyard & signal for palatability and value so I include a greater proportion of these in my grass seed mix - both are excellent as fresh green heads when grown too).
Many of the panics, phalaris, etc. are just as eagerly taken but at $20-30 per kilo it is questionable whether the extra expense is justifiable. Perhaps as a smaller proportion of any such mix just for variety.
I would heavily bear in mind the difference in seed size when making up a mix too as the smaller ones (generally the dearer ones too) may sink/settle to the bottom of a mix when combined with larger grained types and hence are less accessible to the birds without scattering the larger grains to get to the smaller ones (perhaps 2 mixes is best, small & large).
Signal, barnyard & Rye are larger grained ones so go well together.
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starman
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Tiaris wrote: 15 Jan 2018, 06:30 I would heavily bear in mind the difference in seed size when making up a mix too as the smaller ones (generally the dearer ones too) may sink/settle to the bottom of a mix when combined with larger grained types and hence are less accessible to the birds without scattering the larger grains to get to the smaller ones (perhaps 2 mixes is best, small & large).
Signal, barnyard & Rye are larger grained ones so go well together.


I found this out the hard way.
It is disappointing to see your expensive offerings being scattered and overlooked as a result of the greedier inmates thrashing about in the seed tray to see what's on offer, then returning to the regular seed after spoiling the party.
Heed Tiaris' advice and spend wisely,....while it's nice to offer a large variety it's often a frustrating and expensive exercise for questionable gain.
Sm.
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Darkangel1977
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finchbreeder wrote: 14 Jan 2018, 22:44 Well your hen seems willing to give everything a go. Cock a bit more cautious. :thumbup:
LML
Yes definetly the case haha

Yes i think the chance to give them a variety of seeds is great, and as you say it is pricey. I settled on 500grams of each seed for the mix as i only have a very small number of birds so the expensive is not really an issue. If i had a large number of birds and aviaries id be alot less generous. And yes the smaller seeds will fall to the bottom of the mix so i think a good shake will fix that before serving :thumbup:

Thanks guys! And thanks for the advice
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starman
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It's this kind of experimentation that makes our hobby interesting.
Research tells us that the wild Gouldian's staple is the native Sorghum and apparently they only move to other varieties when this is unavailable. By contrast, I find that their captive cousins don't seem to share that preference (or, at least, for cultivated Sorghums) and are quite happy with domestic millets/pannicums, sprouted seed, and seeding grass heads. But, like you, I will be offering more variety as it comes to hand to see if I can find another 'winner'.
Sm.
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Darkangel1977
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Managed to get my 2nd video done today, part 2 of my seed trial. I think i am done trialing seed for now as i have a decent "breeding mix" now stored away. And yes as per previously mentioned the small seeds definetly sink to the bottom :lol: but a quick shake up seems to get the mix right again.

It was actually quite interesting this time to see them basically totaly ignore a seed and really tuck in with gusto on one in particular. The details of the seed can be found in the youtube videos description, but the seeds this time were : gatton panic, white lettuce seed and barnyard grass. Later today i will list the total seeds i used in trial 1 and 2 and which seemed to be favoured. Again i hope the videos are interesting to someone, i know they are a little long so maybe just 30 seconds or so is enough to get the idea. Cheers guys!

https://youtu.be/nW5RpvsedVQ
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Darkangel1977
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Ok so here is the list of seeds i used in the trial, i generaly found most were atleast sampled..... with the exception of the last on the list which for some reason seemed to be ignored..... number one on the list was a clear faveourite as can be seen in the 2nd video, so it was good to see a clear winner. Ofcoarse i have my standard seed mix i use as well and the birds have access to niger seed at specific times of the year as well. I would love to hear peoples feedback as to if they have used these seeds with success or perhaps other seeds you have tried. Anyway here they are in general order of favourtism :

1. Gatton Panic (definite favourite) :thumbup:
2. Phalaris
3. Signal Grass
4. Rye Grass
5. Barnyard Grass
6. Silk Sorghum
7. White Lettuce Seed (seemingly ignored) :thumbdown:

Heres a link to the 2 videos again :

https://youtu.be/aba8VLAxZtg

https://youtu.be/nW5RpvsedVQ
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finchbreeder
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Definate preference being shown. But I noticed in the 2nd video that they also seemed a bit concerned that the camera was getting their good side. :lol:
LML
LML
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Craig52
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Agree FB, but also gatton panic and phalaris will always be taken. Phalaris is just a small canary seed from the same family and should be fed sparingly due to its oil content but is good as a Winter seed as it has warming properties. All the rest are a waste of money and time imo, if you feed a good quality commercial finch mix and the two above sparingly as well as plenty of green seeding grasses/sprouted seed you will breed plenty of healthy gouldians. Craig
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