value seed mix?

For all your questions about diet and food for your finches
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noah.till
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E Orix wrote: 29 Jul 2019, 10:59 If you are worried about the quality of your seed it is quite a simple test to judge its quality.
Get a tray and place a layer of material in it then wet it. Once that is done sprinkle the seed mix over
the very damp material pad. Place the tray in a warm place, within 3 days you will be able to see how many
seeds have germinated. The more seeds that have shot the better the seed quality. It will also tell you
if the seed you are buying has been radiated.
The better the seed mix the less filler seeds(rape etc). as well.
Pre packed super market blends are terrible in my opinion.
Agreed, canola/ rape is terrible as a filler, the only birds that eat it that I have ever seen eating the canola are Green cheeked Conures and Ringneck Doves
Super market boxes of seed always seem to have their seeds falling apart, losing their colour and flaking away and the birds never seemed too fond of it. :?
Thanks
Noah Till
Downs Bird Breeders Association and Queensland Finch Society Member
2018 Australian Birdkeepers Magazine Young Birdkeeper
Javan Munia, Black Rumped Double bar and Aberdeen Breeding Project
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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Well, the only reason I buy supermarket seed nowadays is because of the price, and breeder quality seed is going rapidly up in price because of the drought. Once the drought finishes (if it ever will) I will go back to better quality seed. My birds aren't a fan of supermarket seed, especially the wild birds I feed, who don't eat the dried corn, and my aviary finches, who don't eat the white sunflower put in finch mix.
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
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2019 ABK Magazine Young Birdkeeper Winner
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finchbreeder
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I only buy seed supplier seed. Because a couple of years ago when life got hectic I grabbed a bag of seed from the supermarket, fed the birds, and lost 2 dozen in 10 days. Fortunately the fancy finches had not been out of seed only my Zebs - still very sad as I breed the fancy mutations. But not as financially devestating. Yes it had to be the seed - adjoining avairys and absolutely nothing else different. Can only assume the bag had been contaminated by being packed in a wharehouse next to something toxic.
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Brisbane_Finches_333
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Wow! I'm really surprised I haven't lost any birds yet!
Aidan [] Junior Moderator [] Breeder of Native and Foreign Finches
Queensland Finch Society Member
2019 ABK Magazine Young Birdkeeper Winner
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finchbreeder
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This was probably an unusual and unpredictable event. But upset me enough to avoid any possible repeat. I also get frustrated with "fillers" as my current bulk finch seed has some small off white "grit" in it that my finches dont eat or need, and a little wheat which they also cant eat. It seems to have snuck in as the price of seed has gone up. Will be complaining to the suppliers. Some time back one of the companies was putting filler Kalo seeds in and mum and I complained and said we would no longer buy that brand. They fixed it. Between us we buy a lot from our local supplier. I have no problem with small quantites of rape or canola as i have canaries and they love it.
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E Orix
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People should pay more attention to what seed they are feeding.
Is fresh or old and dusty
Is it the correct blend of mix and not too big a percentage of the seeds the specie do not require.
The seed may look similar but is it the correct one, for example.
You want to feed Red Millet but is it Red Millet it could be Dekota Millet which looks similar
but is no where as good.
Is it Yellow Millet or Panorama both look similar but the latter is a very hard seed and eaten because
that's all that is available for it.
If you blend your seed change the ratio to suit the Genus, Siskins,Canaries etc prefer a higher percentage of
the oil seeds. Canola,cracked Sun Flower and Niger as well as the Millets. Yet with Waxbills and Aust. specie the
ratio of oil seeds needs to be very small otherwise it will just be wasted.
Sadly a large proportion of people do not even think about the quality or mix, to them seed is seed but will worry
about far less important dietary items that had been mentioned to them.
Remember those that pay attention to detail tend to be very lucky breeders
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noah.till
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Exactly
I am pretty picky with my seed, I gave the riverina brand a go, and it was absolutely full of canola seed, most was wasted and completely useless
Luckily, the 20kg bag of Avigrain finch blue mix is only $42 a bag from my local produce, far cheaper than some in the drought, and is a pretty good mix
Downs Bird Breeders Association and Queensland Finch Society Member
2018 Australian Birdkeepers Magazine Young Birdkeeper
Javan Munia, Black Rumped Double bar and Aberdeen Breeding Project
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vicnorthone
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unbelieveable...people keep asking.....do you have a sprouting mix??

all viable seeds should sprout

therefore buy a BREEDER quality seed mix

problem solved!!
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mr skeeter
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There will be lots of seed available soon due to favourable conditions for the growers i have been told there is a grower up near kingaroy that has red panic, white french, jap millet , and siberien millet ready to harvest in may fingers x cheers
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finchbreeder
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Fortunately, while seed got more expensive here in WA it did not get too much harder to source.
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