Daily routine

[Jayburd]

Hi all,

Just wondering what people's morning feeding routines are, or even do you have one? After reading all over the place about how essential a fixed morning routine is, I've been trying to get into the habit of feeding the birds at the same time every morning. Clearly I'm not good enough at it yet, as my RFPF have just thrown out another two chicks which I suspect is due to my accidental oversleeping...

What I'm most interested in is the time that people do their birds. To my mind, it would be the earlier the better? So as to ensure there's plenty of food at first light when the birds/any chicks will be hungriest. Although I try to make sure I feed enough for a little to be left over when I collect the dishes the next day, because if there's some left they must be getting enough for a good feed before I go out there.

Thanks
J

[TomDeGraaff]

An interesting topic.

I'm pretty lucky in that I have always been able to do 2 feeds a day due to getting up early and finishing work/school at a daylight time (in all except winter).

My personal feeling is that the evening feed is most important to me (and the birds, of course). I can inspect and act on issues before birdie bedtime. Extra goodies go in to make sure chicks have full crops before sleep. Also, I feed my lorikeets at this time so that food can be accessed before sleep and is still okay first thing in the morning, especially in warmer weather when things can spoil.

Morning sees me throw grasses, special feeds etc in willy nilly, check the floor (for disasters!) and generally check them over. I suppose I just don't want them to go without.

Making sure all is well for the night is crucial to my peace of mind.

Tom

[Trilobite]

Jay, I don't think a bit of difference to your morning feed routine will be the cause of the chicks being thrown out, look for other causes.
Ok our routine
AM - (somewhere between first light and 9am after coffee on the weekend) Ensure water clean, seed is topped up, Soft food mixed with frozen sprouted seed and maggots/moths.
PM - (somewhere between 1630 and 30min before sunset) check waters, winnow seed husks, remove uneaten soft food mix, give some other live food (mealies/crickets/roaches) and some seed heads
That's it except for winter austerity diet.

[Canary]

My routine is more set to feeding canaries than finches, and I follow the timing of the sunrise.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/risesetsyd.html

At the moment I am in the birdroom at 5.55am turning the lights on as I enter, and feeding the hens with chicks first their eggfood an sprouted seed. The birds are usually active before I go in the room.

I am lucky to be able to go home at lunch 1pm, to feed them eggfood and sprouted seed in the middle of the day

I turn the lights off at 6pm when I get home and feed them eggfood to allow the hens to feed the chicks before dusk.

[E Orix]

The most important live food feed is late in the day, and you must put EXCESS in to make sure there is livefood available at first light as birds feeding chicks are desperate to get food into their young then.
By dawn the chicks have generally digested all the food fed to them the evening before and are bordering on starvation.
Going out at 7am-9am you are wasting your time it's TOO LATE. When the very first indication of dawn my birds are into
livefood, cake and soaked seed all put out late in the afternoon. Then fresh food is then put out at around 8am and the birds are nearly ready for a new batch to last them through to the evening feed. If you are feeding bushfly maggots there shouldn't be any reason not to have an excess all day. Each morning what hasn't been eaten is just dropped in a large square plastic container near the feed station, during the day there are birds sitting on the edge waiting for the flies to hatch and are eaten quickly. This is done even though there are Maggots available. I notice a large number sitting there on Friday and counted 25 birds just waiting for a quick snack I guess.

[Jayburd]

Thanks for the responses!

I find it interesting that all the responses so far are doing multiple feeds per day - seems like it's something I should be doing.

Do any of you (other than Orix ) find entering the aviary towards the end of the day to be disruptive? My aviary is smaller and my birds are pretty flighty, so that could be just my problem. The main reason I am only feeding once a day right now is that I try to stay out of there as much as possible.

Wish I could feed flies Orix - but this info will come in handy soon enough!

Thanks,
J

[Trilobite]

Jay, twice a day is no issue so long as you dont linger. Get in to your routine (ie efficiency - aim to do everything in the one trip to avoid going in and out several times) and you will find that the birds soon know what it means. My Black Breasted Button Quails know that my afternoon feed means mealies. They come and are almost hand fed, despite there being maggots available 24/7. Like Eorix, I have live food (maggots) available 24/7. Mealies moths crickets and roaches are extra treats. I agree that the last feed is important as it is what the parents are using to get their babies through the night and so high energy food (fat and protein) is very important.

[vettepilot_6]

I feed when I'm up in morning but afternoon I bulk up when chicks are there with greens, egg n biscuit, maggots mealworms etc....also they have a moth light and a vinegar fly trap as well (rotten fruit in a bucket with wire over the top)..

[firetail555]

Jayburd. it is important to feed in the morning as early as you can when the birds have chicks so that the breeding birds have food that is easily digestible by the chicks. I have found that most breeding birds jump straight onto the sprouts/soft food &/or livefood as soon as I put it in. They quickly eat and go straight to the nest and give the chicks a top up. Then they come back and take their time to fill right up before feeding the chicks again.

You have to do what your life style will fit in, but I do a main morning feed and a top up feed in the evening as soon as I get home from work. The best results I ever had per pair was when I lived near work and came home at lunch time and gave another feed then. So the more often the better.

As far as entering your aviary to feed, the birds wont care as you are giving them more tucker, they will get used to it, but as someone else said, dont linger there.

David

[gomer]

Time of the day is not Crucial here it has to fit in with my lifestyle.Anytime between 7 am to 9.30 am once a Day. Aslong as there is still a little green seed or chitted seed left from the previous day and a good amount of live food works for me. Feed time works around me 7am working day shift 8am nights and when ever I get up on my days off 8.30 to 9.30. I may have daytime temperature here as a advantage for spoilage, as it doesnt get hot like other places.