Aussie Finch Forum

Went to buy a bag of seed yesterday, and they usually have finch blue, but they did not have it so I had to get finch red
Thanks
Noah Till

I'm sorry for you Noah.

Can I ask does Avigrain have an expiration time ..as in how long can it last?

To all those out there I would suggest saving your "Blue" for sprouted/soaked seed only and feeding out whatever alternative you elect to go with. I saved about 2kgs which should last me a few weeks but after that will have to make do with the "Red". Never had as much success as compared to the "Blue" but these are dire times.

Good luck to all.

Don't bother checking out the supermarket brands of finch mix (for emergency back-up), they are now largely wheat and other indigestible rubbish.
I'm confident (or at least, optimistic) that the major suppliers will be forced to import some edible seed before thing get too dire, but there may be a gap in supply before that happens.

Grove wrote: 08 Nov 2019, 13:31 I'm sorry for you Noah.

Can I ask does Avigrain have an expiration time ..as in how long can it last?

It's a bit too late unfortunately, the bag is already open, because I was running very low in the first place
Next time it becomes available at my local produce I will buy as many bags as possible, so could you ask how long does it last for please Grove
Thanks
Noah Till

I did a little research. The bags should have a used by date on them. But generally seeds have a 2 year shelf life, after that the nutrition in them is all but gone.

Grove wrote: 08 Nov 2019, 15:48 I did a little research. The bags should have a used by date on them. But generally seeds have a 2 year shelf life, after that the nutrition in them is all but gone.

That should be fine if I buy a few bags at once, thank you for doing that research Isabella
Thanks
Noah Till

I have just done a test winnowing of the 'flick-off' that is about 40 - 50mm deep around my Gouldian's seed tray. After 3 cycles and a bit of dirt removal, it rendered a few kilograms of clean, shiny seed. One thing that is very noticeable is the percentage of red panicum present … it has more of this than new Blue mix. This is the result of feeding out a large percentage of red panicum as a stand alone seed when it was readily available. (It comes from a protected part of the aviary that never gets wet and is not directly under any perches). I'll continue with this practice and store it for emergency use.

Jeez, I should start doing that
Thanks
Noah Till

Finches will scan the surface for seed and occasionally do a bit of bill flicking to help locate their favourites, but I've never seen any chook-like digging down to unearth deeper layers.
I think it likely that any deep seed would remain unearthed long after the finches starved. Of course, if they were starving their behaviour might change, but I wouldn't bet their lives on it. It's not much work to recycle seed for them, and if the crisis passes quickly, it will be donated to the wild birds.