Aussie Finch Forum

Just wondering what everyone else is feeding out daily to their birds? I have a mixed collection of waxbills, parrotfinches, gouldians to name a few.
I feed out daily:

Mealworms, mini meal worms, deactivated fly pupae and termites (when I have been able to get out and get them)
a fruit veggie mix (current mix has sprouts, lebanese cucumber, grapes, apple and frozen veggie mix)
madeira cake (small amount only)

The also always have egg and biscuit mix, grit with calcium and multivite mixed in,mike fiddlers soft food mixed with insectivore mix, sprouted seed.

Anybody else have anything they feed their birds that they particularly do well on in the breeding season. Looking for some new ideas for the live food species....

I am moving to your house , your birds eat better than I do..

Not all my cages get special treatment , I dont feed out termites or fruit at this point. maybe a peice of apple for the scarlets but plenty of mashed and whole peas and , maggots ,crickest , mealies, home made soft food , fresh seeding grass , I have managed to keep the cockies and the roos away ( touch wood) but they have found the lebanese cucumbers which is a pain, I have access to termites but will only feed out if I am running out of other live food, some birds I find can become addicted to them. made up my own calcium and mineral mix( smashed cuttle fish and aniseed salt lick with the occaisional egg shell) .. pretty much it.

oh.and soaked dog buiscutts for the bleeding hearts , havnt seen the finches eating it....pete

LOL Poitta Hubby thought I was baking cakes for hiim the other day (madeira cake) he was mortified that I was baking for the birds and not him!!
The large breeding aviary gets most of the above the gouldian aviary and zebra aviary only gets some

Trying to get the waxbills to breed without having to be so dependant on livefood, which is why I am offering so many options

I know i will get shot for saying it but, i reckon your feeding out too much and too many options on a daily basis, it sounds like a smorgasbord. The Parrot finches in paticular could become obese . If they are currently churning out nest after nest then i retract my comments.
Some of the waxbills will require live food whilst breeding, but too many mealies and suppliments leading up to the season could have a detrimental effect.

My daily feed out consists of bugger all. Seed, water , cucumber and a few varieties of seeding grasses,Cuttlefish is available but thats about it. The temps have just dropped off a bit so i will start adding livefood nesting material and nesting sites over the next few weeks.

Totally agree with DB,my daily feed is pretty much the same as his.After the novilty wears of a bit you might find it a daily job and not an enjoyable hobby.
Cheers Craig

I'm at about the same stage/situation as DB. And for the same reason. 1st day it has been forecast for below 35 in longer than I care to remember. Birds here are not encouraged to breed anytime during summer. Boiled eggs don't hatch.
LML

Some wise person on here once suggested that the only person benefiting from giving my birds such an extravagant diet as I was at the the time , was me .

Of course I wanted a voo doo doll so I could poke that person in the eye but in time I came to see that they were right .

All my $$$ spent on spoiling them only resulted in wasted food and an entire breeding season lost because they had turned onto fat feathered freeloaders .

Of course its your hobby and you can do whatever you want to make it more enjoyable but just think about the pros amd cons of giving them so much food.

And to the person who suggested my birds were getting too much , than you and Im glad I didnt find a voo doo doll

Only daily extras for my breeding finches are termites (twice), green seed/sprouted seed & lebanese cucumber.

Always available are dry seed, grit, water & breeder's brew (breeding aviaries only).

why is lebanese cucumber the most recommended green for finches?
Does it have additional benefits over stuff like spinach/parsley/milk thistle?

Mine are getting ordinary finch mix, soaked seed, seeding heads from my friend's vegie patch, occasional spinach, egg and biscuit mix and water