How to sprout seed for finches and other birds
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- Опубліковано 24 гру 2024
- How to make sprouted seed for feeding finches. This 'Tea Strainer Method' prevents seed from turning musty or mouldy, producing clean, fresh, sprouted seed quickly and without the use of disinfectant chemicals. The same method, done for a shorter period, produces 'soaked seed'.
This is the type of tea infuser I recommend:
3" amzn.to/2pc4OEa (like the one in the video)
4.5" amzn.to/2nHZKdz
5" amzn.to/2oCLfXN
Watch my Gouldian Finches eating it here: • Stunning Lady Gouldian...
(The background sound is Cicadas calling - sorry about that! They are so loud this Summer that even with all the doors and windows closed you can still hear them.)
Check out my finch web site: finchstuff.com
Mix some organic vinegar just a little with water and rinse off the seeds it will help prevent fungus and is good for all birds.
Thanks so much for your great idea, so simple and effective. I have tried so many methods and had almost given up! U r a lifesaver!☆☆☆☆☆
You are welcome! When I landed on this method after years of trying other well-known techniques with poor results, I figured I just had to share! So glad you've found it helpful. :)
Thanks so much for taking the time to post this..i was just about to order some Virkon as well. needless to say i wont now. glad i checked youtube now, your tutorial was the first i watched, seems i dont need to look at any others.. brilliant..now to ebay to find a strainer..bless you..
You are welcome. Glad it's helpful. Virkon-S can be useful for other purposes though, so not a bad thing to keep on your shopping list :).
Very nice idea with the tea strainer. I will have to try this. But I think you are supposed to actually soak the seed 10 hours or more first.
I've heard that, but in practice the seed absorbs moisture easily, just like with rain or moist soil. It sprouts, no problem. Leaving it fully submerged for 10 hours may also work, but is not necessary and may be a bit suffocating.
I'm going to try this today! Thank you! Using tri-color quinoa because I already have it on hand.
DaysFlyBy007 did it work?
thanks for posting this video, after a whole lot of searching over he internet this helped me out
OMG.... THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! Your method is great. I tried so many ways and the seed always went smelly or bad. Your way WORKS and is so easy. I just started to breed my Gouldian finch pair and so really hope this will be good for them (they are just making their nest now). PS. Can I feed this sprouted seed to non breeding birds (I have some pet budgies in an aviary that I don't breed). Thanks you again!!!!
My finches don't seem to eat sprouts. Perhaps mungbean seeds are too large for them. Any thoughts?.
Hi! Thanks so much for this video. I too was leary about using bleach or other chemicals..I just bought your strainer. I have a couple of questions. I have only one canary. How long will the sprouted seeds last, and do the go in the refrigerator? Also, can it be frozen? Thank you!
I agree with you about virkon s. Even if it's safe, I just feel weird potentially giving any chemicals to my birds.
YESSSS...... many thanks, best method by far, simple and always works a treat l..i bought a 9cm wide similar strainer for $1.79..
I'm so glad this worked for you! :)
Thank you! The most informative source I found
You're brilliant! Thanks for sharing!
Sorry, I am very new at this and maybe I missed a comment or two. How long until it sprouts and gets fed to birds?
Hi Linda. In very warm weather you can feed the seed as early as 24hrs. Usually 36hrs is about right. In cooler weather, or if you want a little extra sprouting, feed after 48hrs.
i live in sydeny as well!
So every bird will have about a teaspoon serving?
+neff bel Yes, that's about right. When feeding babies they may take more, and off-season, less.
Do i serve it saperate or mix it in thier normal seeds
Nice job 👍
Thank you, that video is very informative I will be definately trying this for my gouldians :)
You are welcome! I'm so pleased with how well this is working for me so thought I'd share :).
Thank you for sharing what works for you :) if you see my channel, you can see my 7 birds and what I feed them. I don't have finches though, and that is where my question is. For the birds I have, which are parrots, would this method work as well? Is there a larger scale for this (instead of feeding one bird, feed 7)? Also, is this counting towards their natural veggie intake that birds are supposed to have? Do you feed this everyday? Thank you so much for the detailed video :)
I think for parrots the method will still work. You could use a larger container, because larger seed like Sunflower should still rinse and aerate effectively. I'm not sure if this counts toward their veggie intake - yes and no. A sprout is a seed en route to becoming a vegetable! Certainly I think it will contribute, but they will appreciate some fresh veggies too.
Very interesting. Thank you.
Do more bird vids!!!
Thanks for the video =] can't wait to try that with my gouldians THUMBS UP =]
*IMPORTANT WARNING FOR PET BIRD OWNERS* : The food that we normally give to the canaries (and other companion birds) consisting of a "complete, balanced and top-quality seeds mixture" bought in pet stores or malls, makes the owners trust that their pet is well fed, but it's not so: indeed the birds health is at imminent and serious risk.
The owners of canaries, parrots, cockatoos, parakeets, cockatiels, etc., WE MUST PAY ATTENTION TO DOMESTIC BIRD BREEDERS AND VETS and keep in mind that although we feed them with such a typical seeds mixture, our birds are very likely in danger of suffering an unexpected, painful and practically inevitable PREMATURE DEATH BY FATTY LIVER DISEASE. Canaries, for example, will surely die at 4 - 6 years of age of the more than 14 that they can live.
It's sad that pet birds are fated to die early and painfully in so many cases. You have to warn people to avoid it!
This deadly disease is very common in pet birds but owners usually don’t know or detect it in time. And we can’t imagine that *THE CAUSE IS IN THE FOOD ITSELF* that we provide to our birds, in which such *a typical mixture contains low-fat seeds such as canary seed together with other VERY fatty seeds such as niger, hemp or nabine and, in addition, the birds usually prefer to eat the fatty seeds* so that their REAL DIET is unbalanced by excessive fat, gradually causes the fatty infiltration of the liver and in a few years causes fatty liver hepatitis and PREMATURE DEATH to pet birds.
*Also the breeding paste and its pigments and the sunflower seeds can attack the liver* if they are taken too much or for too long.
It's a cruel disease that progresses silently and, when its unexpected symptoms begin, they are easily confused with other ailments so the owners usually postpone the visit to the vet at a time already critical for the life of the bird (besides that not all vets are trained to recognize this elusive and misleading disease, even to administer lipotropic and regenerative liver protectors in curative doses, just in case it's that and not a supposed blow). It's a process of slow and asymptomatic progression, but when their visible symptoms begin (acute phase) the disease accelerates.
*SYMPTOMS OF THE ACUTE PHASE OF FATTY LIVER DISEASE* : First, emotional decay or progressive lack of interest, hard belly (in many cases, with a dark spot with a half-moon shape on the belly, which seems a "tumor", to see it you have to wet your fingers to remove the down), falls from the sticks of the cage that seem for "errors of calculation" and then lameness (that make believe that they are by the previous falls, but both symptoms are due to that it hurts the liver), lack of flight and singing, the bird fluffs up his feathers or bends more or less slowly; Then, within a few weeks or a few days, forced breathing with open beak, remaining lying on the floor of the cage near the food, sudden spasms from time to time (which make people believe that the bird is "epileptic" but it are twinges of pain of diseased liver), abundant greenish stools (caused by biliverdin which if it's not fasting, it means hepatic harm), then black and watery (from hepatic hemorrhages), then a strange purplish color of skin and beak, an excessive appetite and the final "improvement" of a few days (in the last phase, the already degenerated liver becomes deflated by what the bird seems to ameliorate), after which it suddenly dies among seizures (which may seem a heart infarct).
For the first symptoms the liver has already degenerated to 80% and only an urgent (and accurate) vet action can save your bird and revert the liver situation. If you simply feed your bird with the loose seeds mixture (even if you give it fresh fruits, vegetables and let it exercise, for example by letting it out of the cage at home), right now your pet's liver is degenerating, and neither you nor your bird know. *Without liver protectors, it's almost certain that your bird will die early and in many cases you won’t be able to determine its real cause* .
Hepatic lipidosis it's not only deadly by itself when the visible symptoms begin (sometimes even it does not warn at all until few moments before the death). Even before the acute phase it predisposes the bird to suffer infections, as it weakens the immune system. Obese pet birds have an higher risk of many other diseases, like arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Obesity in birds it's not so apparent but it's more dangerous than in other animals like mammals.
So in addition to giving to the birds lipotropic and detox / regenerating hepatic protectors preventively and routinely, breeders usually make their own mixtures with low fat seeds.
*PREVENTION AND/OR TREATMENT* : The time to act is NOW that your pet doesn’t have yet the visible symptoms. It's necessary to ACTIVELY PREVENT THE LIVER DEGENERATION. Fortunately it's easy to do it: *It's very advisable to substitute progressively (within some weeks, as per the instructions of the manufacturer) the mixture of loose seeds for some pellets compound food of seeds, fruits and vegetables (preferably those that already include liver protectors), because this prevents the bird from filtering and eating mostly the fatty seeds (but without insisting if the bird does not get accustomed to eating pellets because he could die for starvation within a few days)* .
*And, whatever the diet, it's CRUCIAL to add to the drinking water or to the food a LIPOTROPIC LIVER PROTECTOR that includes carnitine and / or choline, betaine, methionine, etc., (and it's very convenient to add a DETOX / REGENERATING LIVER PROTECTOR with thistle milk, boldo, artichoke extract)* . Liver protectors are not medicine but cheap food supplements manufactured by pet bird vet laboratories that remove the fat from the liver, clean it and favor its recovery. It's essential to add them to the pet birds diet to conserve their liver. It's something that professionals as breeders and vets know, but we the owners usually don't know.
It are appearing in the market compound feed for pet birds that don’t include fatty seeds and that already include several liver protectors. But *the vast majority of owners still confidently feed their birds with the typical mixture of loose seeds with little fat and other very fatty seeds... And their birds continue dying of hepatic lipidosis in a large number of cases (likely, in most cases)* . Now we know that, as fatty liver disease develops from the daily food itself, it’s most likely THE FIRST CAUSE OF DEATH OF PET BIRDS, and more so as the bird ages.
Webs on FLD:
www.beautyofbirds.com/liverdisease.html
Liver disease is a slow, on-going progressive disease where the liver tissue is replaced with fat. When the liver disease has progressed, the bird may suddenly appear ill.
www.lovinghands.com/forms/Hepatic%20Lipidosis%20-%20Fatty%20Liver%20Disease.pdf
One of the sadder diseases many avian vets see is that of hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver disease. It's sad in a number of ways since often the birds are very ill, life-threateningly so, or possibly having died suddenly. Often the owners have been unaware of the dangers of feeding their beloved pet the seeds, peanuts, or other fatty foods the bird obviously loves to eat. These are truly cases of "loving your bird to death". Any bird can fall victim to fatty liver disease.
www.researchgate.net/publication/46105643_Treating_liver_disease_in_the_avian_patient
Dietary deficiencies of lipotrophic factors such as choline, biotin, and methionine may decrease the transport of lipids from the liver.
www.veterinaria.org/revistas/redvet/n111110B/111004B.pdf
The clinical manifestations of hepatic diseases in ornamental birds are much more frequent than people could imagine and in many cases they are not appreciated, progress in a silent way and when they are evident, vet action may (usually) arrive late.
Most any avian symptomatology should be considered as if it were a pathology that could be serious, and not allow the disease to develop because then it will probably be too late. We must closely investigate the symptoms, take preventive measures that don’t harm (such as giving liver and intestinal protectors according to the leaflet) ask for advice from vets, breeders, etc. and procure the most appropriate treatment RAPIDLY, but without rushing in the treatment or with the doses in such small animals. If the days go by and the bird doesn’t improve, it's necessary to continue investigating and, if necessary, change the medication in an informed and contrasted manner. Doing nothing or stopping research usually ends up with the bird dead, but acting without being sure of what is done and in what dose, it likely ends the same way. It's necessary to obtain and confirm the sufficient vet experience and have the serenity to determine in each case whether it's convenient to hasten to do and / or administer what medicine and in what dose, or if it’s better not to do and let the situation evolve without medicating for the time being, or according to the medication that has already been administered.
A limp in a bird is not always an injury caused by a blow, but the symptom of a disease of some organ (usually the liver or an intestinal disease) that needs to be discovered and treated ASAP. When in doubt, change diet to one with the lowest fat possible (only birdseed, or with other low-fat seeds such as millet, chia, fresh fruits and vegetables) and administer lipotropic and regenerating liver protectors in curative doses immediately... although nothing could foresee a fatal outcome. There are also food supplements protectors of the intestinal mucosa and stimulants of the immune system. In doses according to the leaflets do not cause damage, it will surely save the life of your bird (if it's not too late), and will keep them with a basic wellness.
Thank you for sharing this information. I had birds for 6 years before I learned I wasn't not feeding them correctly. I am now on my 13th year of having beautiful birds
Thank you. I will try this ☺
It works amazing en zo easy .top
No sound?
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