Green seed vs sprouted seed

[Tiaris]

I guess its availability is both a breeding trigger and is a coincidence of timing with the other favourable environmental conditions. Either way, in evolutionary terms, its plausible to expect that because of this natural availability and adaptaion of finches to it, they may be evolved physiologically to make best use of the nutrition offered by green seed during rearing irrespective of its comparative breakdown of nutrient components & our perceptions of which one best passes any lab testing.

[Craig52]

Please, after reading all these lenghy posts i am still not convinced of the better,or the best of the two. After all,i am just a breeder of finches and their is people out there who have PHDs out there to let me know about things like this.And yes,i do spout seed,especially white millet and freeze about six months supply.I have gone into the purchase of Ray and Wendy Lowes milk seed,spending a few hundred dollars, so i really want to know,am i wasting my money?
Cheers Craig

[ColouredFeathers]

HI craig i think you are right i might have to go back to school to get a phd { i don"t think so to old }
there one thing that i know is that green seed sprouted seed milk seed is good for the birds
especially when there breeding.
cheers flavio.

[Trilobite]

Craig, No your not wasting your money at all. it is all about providing diversity for the finches you keep and the ease to which you can do this. As with milk, green and sprouted seed there are variations in the stages when they are harvested/sprouted and each stage supplies slightly differing nutrional qualities, as do different seeds, what they are is yet to be qualified to some degree. No matter if the seed is milk or sprouted the benefits for breeding are unsurpassed and should not be underestimated from a nutritional or digestability perspective. Fresh on the stem or frozen in a tub it comes down to personal preferences, the finches you keep etc. If I had more freezer space etc etc etc I would be buying milk seed, harevesting wild seed heads and of course storing my sprouted seeds.
Dont worry you will see the benefits of providing both.

[Trilobite]

Colouredfeathers, WRT the comment on getting a PhD, I remember a very wise chinese man (Dr Low) once told me that a degree is not always cracked up to be. When I asked him what BS (Bachelor of science) and MS (Masters) and a PhD (Phylisophical Doctor) stood for he said BS meant that you learnt how to speak "bullshit", you then went on to further study to learn how to speak "more *censored*" and finally you were surrounded by a pile of dead shits - food for thought. Seriously thought it is not about what letter you have after your name. I am absolutely humbled everyday by the many people I meet that display the same intelect if not more because they look, listen and learn apply and refine and apply again - life long scholars.

[ColouredFeathers]

Trilobite
very true in your comments[ i like very much ]
cheers flavio.

[GregH]

I do detect a strong anti-intellectual sentiment in the posts which makes it difficult, at least for me, to answer in a manner that does provide evidence that breeding success is not only associated with the provision of green seed but is causative. You are right to say that this data is associative but the fact that it happens across so many diverse taxa strongly suggest it's causal. There is room for feeding experiments to be done but thus far no one has published the results. I think we can agree Estrillid finches are opportunistic breeders but there is a an underlying pattern within their capacity to breed that shows a spring bias (Williamson [itl]et.al.[/itl] (2008). There is a plethora of literature that associates peak reproduction in herbivores and granivores to the occurrence of green-seed in the diet see the review by White (2010). You will experience better breeding results with access to green seen than without and that sprouted seed is not a substitute for milk-seed.

[SamDavis]

I too would love to discover a scientific answer...

Whilst waiting I'll throw a further spanner in the green/milk seed works. I've noticed my finches prefer paddock green seeding grasses to green seeding millets. You know a rough mix of all sorts of grasses with no large nicely formed seed heads - looks pretty crappy really. And they don't just go for the seed they spend ages running their beaks along the shafts of grass. At present I have both growing in quantity so they get both but the birds always go down to the paddock mix for a goodly while and then later move to the nicely formed "just like a bought one" green millet heads. Makes me wonder why I went to the effort of planting/watering/fertilizing the fancy millets!

And is the milk in fresh corn similar to the milk in our finch milk seeds? Mine seem to love fresh corn when they've got chicks.

[gouldianpaul]

i think GregH and co have given us enough information on the scientific findings on the nutritional value of sprouted seed.....so there is not too much a simple finch breeder like me can add to that besides my reading of finch books which provide data that sprouted seed is slightly more nutritious than green seed......however the green seed has less risk of bacteria....no matter what method(s) used to sprout seed there is always the risk of bacteria forming no matter how careful you are....however in my opinion the added benefits of the sprouted seed out weigh the risks pertaining to bacteria.

For me I will be continuing to provide sprouted seed and will suppliement that with green seed.....so to avoid the seed going off during hot days (whilst I'm at work) i intend to feed the green seed in the morning (for the majority of the day) and the sprouted seed in the late afternoon hoping to minimise the possibility of the seed forming any bacteria whilst it is sitting in the bowl....cheers, Paul

[Tiaris]

.... I think we can agree Estrillid finches are opportunistic breeders but there is a an underlying pattern within their capacity to breed that shows a spring bias (Williamson et.al. (2008).....

Autumn bias at my place. Autumn bias for most native finches in the wild too - at least the tropical species where they respond to the grass seed supplies boosted immediately following the wet season. Temperate species only (minority of native finches) are likely to have a Spring bias to breeding activity (in the wild).