Trying more "exotic" seeds with gouldians

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Tiaris
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starman wrote: 15 Jan 2018, 08:23 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'.
The "sorghum" which wild gouldians eat is very different to the cultivated grain sorghum (milo). The wild sorghum in northern australia is actually speargrass which is nothing like the cultivated one in appearance or nutritional value. The nutritional data I've seen for wild sorghum/speargrass is phenomenally good compared to most grains/seeds. If this were promoted more I believe there would be an excellent market for harvested speargrass seed. It is seasonally abundant & so would lend itself well to someone running a header over a paddock of it & bagging it up. I know I'd buy some if it were available.
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Tiaris
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Darkangel1977 wrote: 20 Jan 2018, 13:00 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
Tried all these & many more varieties but not exclusively on Gouldian finches - usually fed to mixed finch aviaries including Gouldians. The only ones of these I still regularly feed to Gouldian-only aviaries as dry seed are signal & barnyard grass mixed & offered in a separate jar-feeder to the usual dry seed mix. Many other grass seed types are given as green seed heads whenever seasonally available.
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Craig52
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I have also tried many different seeds including wild grass seeds on many different species as well but you can't beat a good proven clean commercial seed specifically for our captive Native finches not a cup nesters mix that contains different oil seeds as most Native/Foreign finches wont eat.
The only finch that benefited from all these wild and small seeds were painteds and green strawberry finches.
I think wild sorghum ( Spear grass) would be very hard to harvest Tiaris, it grows to 1.8 mtrs high then it seeds and dies very quickly leaving a thick layer of dead stalks on the ground which then becomes a huge fire risk for machinery,weather conditions and Native burn offs but it would be and is the staple seed of gouldians in the wild. Craig
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starman
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Tiaris wrote: 22 Jan 2018, 13:22
starman wrote: 15 Jan 2018, 08:23 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'.
The "sorghum" which wild gouldians eat is very different to the cultivated grain sorghum (milo). The wild sorghum in northern australia is actually speargrass which is nothing like the cultivated one in appearance or nutritional value. The nutritional data I've seen for wild sorghum/speargrass is phenomenally good compared to most grains/seeds. If this were promoted more I believe there would be an excellent market for harvested speargrass seed. It is seasonally abundant & so would lend itself well to someone running a header over a paddock of it & bagging it up. I know I'd buy some if it were available.
For one of my soft food experiments I crushed gluten free Weet-bix (red sorghum based) and along with a small amount of blended frozen corn and peas, mixed it into a small bowl of sprouted seed. The reception was slightly less enthusiastic than for sprouted seed without the extras, although it was eventually eaten . That recipe was subsequently filed under "Don't bother".
Sm.
Avid student of Estrildids in aviculture.
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