Aussie Finch Forum

Hi folks,

Just picked some seed heads for my finches mainly for the goulds with young in the nest.

I'm not 100% on if these seed heads are ok to give or not so I thought i would check first.


Thanks for the help

AB

the seed-head on the left is paspalum, a sticky nuisance that my birds snubb there noses at. i don't think its harmful to them if they feed on it though.
the one on the right is one of the summer umbrella grasses and the birds will eat it readily when half-ripe and as nesting material.
hope this helps

My goulds wont touch those grasses,hard to get green seed at this time of the year ,that's why you use sprouted or soaked seed,or tubs of veldt panic seed,but it takes time and effort to do the right things by your birds,garyh.

garyh wrote:My goulds wont touch those grasses,hard to get green seed at this time of the year ,that's why you use sprouted or soaked seed,or tubs of veldt panic seed,but it takes time and effort to do the right things by your birds,garyh.

Gee Gary, what a difference 1200 km makes. There is green seeding grass everywhere up here at the moment.

Hi iaos,Except for today very little rain= no grass,im a stickler for green seed ,and i hear your in for some heavy rain again soon ,hope all goes well,garyh

how lucky are you iaos...my birds love the veldt panic seed, but it's farily scarce from about Dec onwards in our part of the world. This year I have promised my birds that when it flourishing (Sept/Oct) I will fill my bird freezer up with it......but until then we'll continue with the sprouted and milk seed.

Cheers
Paul

As a kid an old birdo told me never to feed paspalum because it can poison your birds. Does it have a toxin within the heads or does it develop a fungus that makes the birds trip like on old hippy?!

landferno wrote:As a kid an old birdo told me never to feed paspalum because it can poison your birds. Does it have a toxin within the heads or does it develop a fungus that makes the birds trip like on old hippy?!

That is true LF,i think the toxin is the sticky black gunk,but it is safe to feed when it is dry and dispersing its seed but why would you,i wouldn't chance it. Craig

The "toxin" isn't actually produced by the paspalum but by a floret infecting fungus (Claviceps spp) so if the seed head doesn't have a sticky black exudate then you won't poison your birds. Cattle eating enough affected paspalum stumble around but seldom die from "paspalum staggers". What affect the toxin has on birds is not actually known but you'd be wise not to feed it to them.

The sticky black stuff is called ergot and is toxic , But I have never had a problem with it and the birds . It’s a bigger problem in the horse paddocks , the horses get covered in it (what a mess) . I have paspalum growing in my big aviary but the birds don’t touch it , it was there naturally so I’m going to remove it over winter and replace it with a more usable variety .