finch eating habits

For all your questions about diet and food for your finches
nicko
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Posts: 129
Joined: 25 Nov 2014, 10:42
Location: Perth SoR

Does anyone have any tricks to encourage finches to eat greens.
Have tried to slowly introduce lebanese cucumber, bok choy, kale, rocket, grasses, apple etc,etc but they pretty well ignore all.
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Tiaris
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Joined: 23 Apr 2011, 08:48
Location: Coffs Harbour

Which species?
nicko
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Posts: 129
Joined: 25 Nov 2014, 10:42
Location: Perth SoR

red browed, orange breasts, jacarini's & plumheads
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Craig52
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Joined: 11 Nov 2011, 19:26
Location: victoria

They are grass finches so plenty of seeding grasses and sprouted seed will keep them happy but in saying that most finches will have a go at cucumber either cut length wise or cut across 20mm thick circles. I could never get my birds to eat vegetables unless they are starved of greens. Craig
nicko
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Posts: 129
Joined: 25 Nov 2014, 10:42
Location: Perth SoR

Yeah that's true Craig52, but just trying to find something different to feed them, seeded heads go pretty quick but thats about all, thought cucumber would've been a hit, maybe they're too well fed.!!
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Tiaris
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Joined: 23 Apr 2011, 08:48
Location: Coffs Harbour

If you regularly peg up some grass heads near a perch and put a wire hook to skewer a piece of leb cucumber next to it they will soon take it.
Jacs are not big green eaters - more keen on insects. Redbrows & Plumheads are avid grass seed eaters & I've found OBs to be keen on leb cucumber when feeding young, otherwise show little interest in any greens.
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finchbreeder
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Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

I persume you already have fruit fly traps? Try putting small whole weed grasses in, OB's will pick through the roots for insects and then proceed to the greens (usually)
LML
LML
nicko
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Posts: 129
Joined: 25 Nov 2014, 10:42
Location: Perth SoR

finchbreeder wrote: 20 Dec 2018, 09:29 I persume you already have fruit fly traps?
Nup ????
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BrettB
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Joined: 13 Jun 2012, 23:28
Location: Perth

"fruit fly traps"

Vinegar flies please FB, don't want the neighbors kicking up a fuss again :)
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are ." Anais Nin
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finchbreeder
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Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Small finches generally like catching and eating "fruit flys" or "vinegar flys" . (first name applicable in WA 2nd name applicable on the "other side" of the country. What I do is get an empty 2lt fruit juice bottle, put a couple of small access holes, loosly fill with fruit that has just turned and peel. No citrus. Place in the avairy in a bowl of water (to keep the ants out) and watch the flys infest it, then watch the finches feast. Catching daddy long legs spiders and dumping them in the avairy goes down a treat too.
LML
LML
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