Aussie Finch Forum

I would have to agree with E orix that you should try it, but the birds like mine may ignore it but I always give them a shot here and there because with me it won't go to waste as I leave them egg biscuit in powder form and an egg what the finches don't devour my canaries certainly do.

The commercial egg & biscuit mixes vary enormously in the ingredients used & hence their nutritional value. Some just use custard powder as an egg substitute others use proper whole egg powder. Similarly, the biscuit component varies from just breadcrumbs to crushed biscuit. Some include maw seed & other goodies. The original homemade hardboiled egg + crushed arrowroot biscuit is a traditional canary breeder recipe which is fine if offered fresh & leftovers discarded. If finches are housed in cages or small aviaries these mixes can contribute to obesity if relied on too heavily with some species. If you don't have access to regular quantities of livefood these foods are very useful protein supplements during the chick rearing period for many finch species. Feed sparingly outside breeding season though.

Well said Tiaris there are a few things around from the past that are better than todays methods

Well I think i will make my own egg and bicuit for my finches, Thanks for youre help guys.
Nathan

There sure are E Orix. Its easy to get caught up in all the hype of the "latest & greatest" ways of doing things but by far the most useful bird breeding techniques I know were those I learnt from my old mentors (most now dead). Repeated visits to the aviaries of old blokes like Tom & Jack Gibson, Eric Brown & Les Milton were the best lessons in finch breeding a young bloke could get.

You are even older than I thought. I was talking to Glen H and he told me old Les Milton has retired from bird breeding.
I think he is the last of that old brigade around Aust. Sadly it is us who have filled that void and the next generation are emerging

And that's why it's so important that successful breeders like yourself and EOrix are so willing to impart your knowledge in a public forum such as this.

Too many old breeders have taken their knowledge and experiences to the grave with them, which means reinventing the wheel for most new people in the hobby.

So thank you to you guys and all the other experienced breeders out there

I have made an attempt to get some of those older ideas in writing.
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so come guys send me the ideas and I will write it if no one else is interested.

I'm not that old (43). My dad was mates with these old blokes & I used to tag along from an early age.

I overheard a couple of blokes on the aviary tour at Brisbane this year. They were saying isn't it funny how there's none of them old bird men around like there used to be. They then compared ages & realised they were both old bird men.