Finch Food

Every single fancier has his own recipe for keeping foreign finchesand in time you will develop yours, but if you start by following mysuggestions you will not go far wrong. Bear in mind, though, thateach species of bird has slightly differing requirements, soalthough my recommendations will suit a mixed community in alarge cage or an aviary, if you are intending to keep a single pairof Red Eared Waxbills or Cut Throat Finches or Black HeadedNuns you might very well find that part of the food is not beingeaten, in which case simply alter the proportions of the ingredients.Provided that your local pet shop sells first class seed, by allmeans get it. The seeds should be plump and shiny, and shouldnot have little holes in which show that weevils have got therebefore you. There should also not be a lot of dust in the bag ofseed. This is an expensive way of buying seed, but if you keep asingle pair of birds that will not matter since they eat so little.

Ifyou want to maintain a collection of birds, it is much more sensibleto buy your seed from a well-known big supplier, and by buying inbulk you can easily pay less than a third of the retail price.When most pet keepers start to keep these birds, they buy a ready-blended Foreign Finch Mixture, which is fine, but to make up my own selection of seeds, and if you would like to dothe same, the proportions of seeds are 60 per cent yellow millet,30 per cent white millet and 10 per cent plain canary seed.Although this is a basic diet, on which some unfortunate birds arefed for years, there are several other elements that must not beomitted if you are to keep the birds properly. To the basic mixtureI like to add a mixture of so-called tonic seeds. You can buy TonicMixture from the good seed dealers and if you only want a smallquantity this is the best way to get it, or alternatively you can makeit up yourself from species like cress seed, white lettuce, gold of pleasure, teazle, red rape, linseed, niger, maw, hemp and safflower.You only need a handful of this mixture to about 6.3 kg (14 lb) ofbasic foreign finch food. Throughout the spring and summer yourbirds should have a daily dose of sprouted seed mixture, whichcontains essential nutrients. You will need to buy a special mixturefor soaking.

To prepare them for your birds, soak the seedsovernight and pour off the water, rinse them well and leave them,still damp, in a jamjar. The next day rinse and drain them again.After three or four days they will be well sprouted at which timethey ought to be given a final good rinse through a sieve, allowedto drain and offered to your stock in a separate pot. Millet sprays,alfalfa seeds and mung beans can all be treated in this way.Millet sprays should be constantly available and, of course,mineral grit and cuttlefish bone. The reason for the grit is thatbirds do not have teeth, so the seed and the grit are mixedtogether in a muscular organ known as the gizzard, and the sharpbits of grit break down the seed into a digestible paste. On top ofall these assorted seeds, birds will have to have a daily supply ofgreenfood which has been washed well. Whole lettuce heads willsoon be torn to pieces and half oranges and tomatoes, groundsel,chickweed and other wild plants will all be eaten avidly. Yourgarden is a rich source of food, as long as it has not been sprayedwith chemicals. If you have thought far enough ahead to growbroadbeans or Canada balsam, you ought to have a good healthycrop of aphids for your birds which can do with all the livefoodthey can get, especially during the breeding season.

During the winter, a tiny weekly dose of cod liver oil sprinkledover the seed is a good thing and if you sprinkle a pinch ofpowdered yeast mixture over the seed at the same time it will help.Throughout the spring and in summer feed some stalesponge cake soaked in a honey/water or honey/milk solution, andoccasionally a drop or two of multivitamin compound can beadded to this concoction. Finally, consider it important to let thebirds have a pot of commercial softbill food at all times, and youwill soon discover that they love it. In an aviary all these things canbe supplied in separate pots but in a cage you can put the seed inone, the sponge cake in another and everything else in a third.The birds need a constant supply of fresh, clean water, - both in afountain, and in a wide shallow container for bathing.

There are many other Clings you can do to keep your birds inperfect condition and to make your hobby more rewarding. Experi-ment with as wide a variety of foods as you can - there are allsorts of things you can feed. Some people add powdered seaweedto the menu and fanciers who have,swear by it. If there is a long hot summer you can grow spray millet with no difficulty, but it will not ripen in Britain if the seasonis not a good one.

The diets will keep most foreign finches inexcellent condition but there are some species that are specific intheir requirements, such as the Pintailed Nonpareil which will needpaddy rice, which is not at all the same as rice from a supermar-ket. It is still in its husk and can be bought from the better seeddealers. Many of these finches will take surprisingly large quantitiesof insects, especially during the breeding season, and this shouldbe borne in mind. It is quite a good idea to keep a Fruit Fly culturegoing in an aviary throughout the summer, though rain must beprevented from entering or you will lose the lot.