soaked,sprouted or whatever?

[matcho]

I have been reading on this forum over the past couple of years and have been a bit perplexed over the terms of "soaked" ."sprouted" ."chatted" etc etc. relating to seed. I have read that some members soak their seed for as few as 3 or 4 hours and freeze and feed out over a period of time. The reason I ask this is I normally feed my birds with which I call "sprouted" ie. soaked for anywhere between 8 to12 hrs (with Virkon) and left to sprout after draining on top of the aquarium. The seeds after 24 to36hrs have sprouted? And have small green shoots about.5cms long and some even longer. I am asking this because I got a bit caught out time wise with my usual seed preparation and can only barely see the seed starting to germinate. My question is this: what are the differences between "sprouted" "soaked" and "chitted" in regards to nutrition?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Matcho

[Niki_K]

My understanding is that chitted is the most nutritious, as growth has been activated, but not all of the seeds nurtrients have gone towards growth. Longer sprouts are supposedly not as nutritious. I'm not sure about seeds that have been soaked but haven't chitted- I don't see what the benefit would be (unless soaked/coated in Breeders Aid or something similar).
I soak mine in Virkon for only 2 hours, and leave them in a sieve to drain overnight in a warmish room, and find they have chitted by morning.

[Craig52]

[quote="matcho"]I have been reading on this forum over the past couple of years and have been a bit perplexed over the terms. My question is this: what are the differences between "sprouted" "soaked" and "chitted" in regards to nutrition

Some people only soak their seed for only 2-4 hrs,this seed has soaked up enough water to soften it which is easily digested when the young are in the nest but the seed hasn't reached the stage where nutrients/sugars have formed so its not really nutritious.
Spouted seed is past it's nutritious stage once it has a green sprout and long roots,except for some of legumes and clovers.
Chitted or pipped seed is just when you can see a small white spot on the seed(beginning of the root)This is the stage it should be frozen as it is packed full of the sugars and nutrients for the plant to begin life,in other words this is the perfect stage for it to be feed to the birds and the freezing holds it at that stage.
Hope that makes sense.
I freeze large amounts,enough for 3-4 months feeding,it saves time and energy and if all done at one time and watched over a couple of days(like a weekend)when your home,its not that hard to do. Craig

[matcho]

Thanks Craig,
Makes it all so much simpler now and will save time. I do about half a kilo a week and choose to feed fresh rather than freeze. Appreciate your advice.

Now have to get into the cocci regime because it is pretty wet here at the moment. Sheesh, I just want to put the boxes in and kick off the new season.

Thanks.

Matcho

[SamDavis]

I understand the just chitted seed is best nutritionally but I've found my birds greatly prefer it with a slightly longer shoot. It's not long enough to be green but it is a definite shoot. Not much point being nuitritionally better if the birds don't eat it.

[Canary]

I have always fed sprouted seed to my canaries when it has just sprouted as shown in the photo, before it gets any green shoots.

sprouted seed.jpg

[E Orix]

Why do I only feed soaked seed.
It is for the feeding parents,they can eat it and internally prepare it far quicker than dry seed to feed their chicks.
I have no speed percentage but I do know the more feeds they can get into their chicks the better.
The best example I can think of now refers to Cuban Finches.When the days have the extra hours of daylight Cuban chicks fledge fully feathered
the same parents fledge chicks with head and wing feathers and little else during the short daylight days(winter) simply because they have less light to access the food.
I was watching my Weavers today and they go to the livefood tray and it seems eat their fill of live food but then go directly to the soaked seed tray and top up. Then they fly to their nests of young. I gave up on chitted seed as the soaked was preferred by the breeding birds.From memory the non breeders or ones getting ready to breed seemed to like the Chitted though.
So for the last ..... years I soak the seed for around 3 hours, drain well and freeze it.
If you do freeze it make sure it is in an air tight container otherwise it will dry out.

[jusdeb]

For those of us that cant seem to get a batch of soaked seed going and wont use chemicals to avert funkies in the mix >>> 4 bean mix from the supermarket soaked for a hour then boiled up .
Birds love them , no cooties and easy to chop up for those funny little birds with the straight beaks .

Boil the whole bag and freeze into portions easy peasy or is it beany

[Trilobite]

Jusdeb,
I am perplexed by your statements and made me think about our do's and wont's. We wont use anitmicrobials to make a batch of sprouted seed, yet we will worm all our finchs regularly, give them some baycox after wet weather, maybe a dose of something for ext parasites and ASM. We add x, y and z in the water/seed/grit/softfood to help aid in this and that, spray the aviary to get rid of a, b and c. Seems odd to me. I dont for one condone programmed medication nor sterilized, heated, cooled, misted, humidified, sealed aviaries shielded to elimate voluntary exposure to the elements. I am not saying what I do is right ( I hope I have at least another 35-45 years of learning ahead of me yet) or cant be improved (we are and should always be willng to listen look and learn from your birds first and breeders/reasearchers alike) but it seems like sometimes we do things to make our lives complicated. I like your idea of if you cant or wont - here is another option and it fits all the KISS principles same with Eorix's revert to soaked seed after years of other actions. why would you soak and or sprout seeds every day or couple of days when you can do in bulk and freeze - Great stuff!!!

[Craig52]

Jusdeb,
I am perplexed by your statements and made me think about our do's and wont's. We wont use anitmicrobials to make a batch of sprouted seed, yet we will worm all our finchs regularly, give them some baycox after wet weather, maybe a dose of something for ext parasites and ASM. We add x, y and z in the water/seed/grit/softfood to help aid in this and that, spray the aviary to get rid of a, b and c. Seems odd to me. I dont for one condone programmed medication nor sterilized, heated, cooled, misted, humidified, sealed aviaries shielded to elimate voluntary exposure to the elements. I am not saying what I do is right ( I hope I have at least another 35-45 years of learning ahead of me yet) or cant be improved (we are and should always be willng to listen look and learn from your birds first and breeders/reasearchers alike) but it seems like sometimes we do things to make our lives complicated. I like your idea of if you cant or wont - here is another option and it fits all the KISS principles same with Eorix's revert to soaked seed after years of other actions. why would you soak and or sprout seeds every day or couple of days when you can do in bulk and freeze - Great stuff!!!