taste of africa seed mix?

[Jayburd]

Hi all,
according to some sources, most finches eat about 7 grams of seed a day. so since I seem to have planned a mix of mainly waxbills, this mix seems to be a good idea. I've calculated that i would be far to expensive a venture to give this mix all year round, especially since I will need to have a 'normal' finch mix being fed as well. so I reckon 182 days (half the year) should cover most or all of the breeding season... but that would still cost me $244 a year for 20kg (I reckon for my collection plus any young it would be around 17kg a year eaten at 3 grams per bird per day). so my question is, does anyone know how I could get this mix any cheaper than the $61 for 5kg Birds R Us is selling it for? could I get it cheaper mixed to my specs by Elenbee or the Australian wildlife supplies people?
Thanks ;)
jay

[VR1Ton]

You still need to feed your regular seed mix, & add tonic mixes in small portions, eg 1/2 tablespoon per pair per day during the breeding season, & say every second day to non-breeding birds. This will give you a greater range of nutrition as well as the usual softfoods/livefood/greenfood.

[Jayburd]

like I said I still need to feed my normal seed mix along side otherwise the parrot finches and stuff will get sick of it...

[jusdeb]

Pop off an email to the companies mentioned and get yourself some quotes happening ..only way to know for sure.

[VR1Ton]

Just looking at buying the ingredients for my mix in bulk, but it's a little exy, some of the seeds are about $400 a bag, but would be saving on some seeds upto $8 or $10 dollars a kg, but at the end of the day, it'll still set me back about $15-$20 a kg, depending on whas available at the time, so $61/5kg isn,t to bad. You could try the Peppers Greens & grains, I think it's alot cheaper than the other.

[E Orix]

Gee my poor birds are so neglected when it comes to seed, all they get is Plain Canary, Yellow Millet and White Millet mixed and each day the same mix that has been soaked.Green feed is what is available in the aviary so the early bird gets the seed heads.They do get Live Food,Cucumber every day,Fruit but not every day. Sarah Lee Pound cake during the breeding season and thats it. My collection is too big to get involved with bits and pieces and the aviaries are not heavily stocked though.They seem to breed ok and I go by full clutches being fledged.

[Fincho162]

Alas Peppers Greens N Grains (or any other products) is no more and each surviving bag treasured!!!

With the African mix might I suggest you research the kinds of seeds that your waxbills eat in the wild and what is available here in Oz......places like Southedge Seeds and Williams Seeds (at Murwillimbah) have a range of African type seeds and you can get a few kgs of the ones you want........they are used for cattle fodder.......saving you money on "stocking filler seeds" in some mixes........get a few mates involved and the cost falls.........

Best way of making a specialty mix......we do it every year and works out well. Our Blue-caps luv it!!!

We feed it as a supplement in addition to their normal finch mix.
HTH

[west finch]

There is a fellow at Quirindi NSW selling a product the same as peppers greens & grain . I got a 10 kg bag the other day for $25 the birds love it. He slso has a finch mix for $28 a 25 kg bag it's good seed.I got 10 bags again the other day and have been geting my seed from him for about 5 years with no problems.

[Jayburd]

Thanks guys I'll look into that.
West Finch, do you know what seeds are in that mix? sounds like good prices to me.
Fincho162, what's in your speciality mix?

[Jayburd]

just had a look through one of my older posts, and someone recommended the 'clifton finch mix' and the 'clifton tonic mix' from Elenbee seeds... could anyone tell me what seeds are in these mixes? This is M. Pollard's mix isn't it? if it is, it probably has his same formula used in the Taste of Africa mix...