What's your feeding and supplement routine ??

[Cacoonkitty]

Hi peeps...I am interested to learn what other people's feeding and supplementation is like...I keep Gouldians, Stars, red headed Parrots, and cordon blur finch...what supplements and brands do you use ?

[Tiaris]

Termites, sprouted seed, seeding grass heads & a dry pasture seed mix. No brands, all natural.

[Cacoonkitty]

So where do you get the termites from please !! ! ? :-/ and you mentioned the pasture seed mix.......do you harvest this seeds yourself !! If so you must have a large area to work with wow !.....very lucky are the seed heads ones that have been collected yourself ?

[Jayburd]

Dry seed, soaked seed (2/3rds normal finch mix, 1/3rd greens and grains mix at the moment), handful of homegrown lettuce and spinach all shredded up, homemade egg food mix (posted a recipe around here somewhere a while ago...), mineral/grit mix, cuttlebone, frozen termites and there's a peanut-butter lid of avi natural powder in there too. People say there's no benefit to feeding it, but they pick at it and I have some, so can't hurt them to have it

[Tiaris]

So where do you get the termites from please !! ! ? :-/ and you mentioned the pasture seed mix.......do you harvest this seeds yourself !! If so you must have a large area to work with wow !.....very lucky are the seed heads ones that have been collected yourself ?

I get the termites from the bush (forests), break up the mound & tumble (sieve) out a week's supply at a time & refrigerate them into a daily feed per lidded ice-cream container. Refrigeration suspends them in a dormant state for up to a week. Within 20 minutes out of the fridge they come "back to life".
I buy the pasture seeds from rural produce/seed merchants.
I collect/pick the grass seed heads from my own property mostly or where ever else I find a decent crop growing. I usually freeze some extra seed heads in summer whilst they are abundant for feeding out over winter when fresh grass seed is scarce.

[Cacoonkitty]

Wow...wish I knew where to find some near here...none to my knowledge around...think my partner would well and truly think I had lost it if I began digging up termites...l.o.l....if it was just me however of I would go...l.o.l x he already thinks I'm a animal nutter. x

[Pete Sara]

Cacoonkitty your cordon's will benefit from the termites , but as it can be a bit of a chore to collect them most of us substitute with maggots and meal worms . Red face are a pig on live food stars will have bigger broods and Goulds don't really eat much live food.

All mine get basic finch mix , but depending on what I tend to add extra seeds to the mix if needed , fresh seeding grass as required with a small dish of a mix of cuttlefish ,charcoal and Iodine salt lick that you can get from your local stock feed. Breeding results are better with fresh seeding grass but freezing some for the winter months helps along way as not all birds breed at the same time. If I can get soaked seed I will place some in , but over here in the west getting seed to sprout is a challenge.

Not all my aviaries get live food only those that rely on it to raise young and for the softbills, if they don't need I don't waste it.

A big tip is to make sure your local council hasn't spray the seed heads first , most councils wont if they are on private property but its best to make sure .. pete

[Myzomela]

Hi Cacoon Kitty,

Why don't you join the Hunter Finch Club?

They meet in Newcastle monthly and there are a lot of experienced finchos there; they also have aviary visits for members during which you will learn a lot.
There's nothing like talking to these guys and seeing how they do things first hand.