I would say it has been at least 10 years that I have made my birds seed mixes. I did this after I realized what the ingredients were that are in manufactured bird seed. What I mean by manufactured is the seed mixes you buy at pet stores, big box stores & many pet suppliers that sell online. There was only one seed mix that didn’t contain chemicals & artificial colors, & has ingredients that are all safe for birds. The mixes for larger birds contained corn (at the time of my research) & corn has no nutritional value & is a filler. This brand can be pricey if you are feeding multiple birds & I usually was. The brand is Dr Harvey’s, which I would feed a Canary. I have had good results with the seed mix I make, so I am staying with it.
Canaries & Finches are basically in the same family so they eat the same seeds. Finches are much more active than Canaries so they tend to eat a lot more because they are busy little birds.
My first birds ever were Society Finches. I had Zebra Finches a few years back. They are busy & it was hard for my one dog especially because they were so active.
I am in the process of potentially adopting a male Canary, I recently sent in my application & then photos of the cage tonight. The bird rescue is about 45 minutes from me. I prefer to adopt rather than buy, if the bird type I want is available in rescue. I hope within a week I will hear back & soon I may add a new Canary to my family.
When I learned that manufactured (purchased seed) bird seed bags contained harmful chemicals, sugars, lots of salts, artificial ingredients,synthetic Vitamins & ingredients that should not be fed to any living thing, I was shocked & really concerned. I searched every brand I could find when Google searching & looked at the ingredients & if I didn’t know what it was I researched it. I was shocked to find out what some were & the side effects of these chemicals & additives. What was I to do, when every brand I found had dangerous,unsafe or not recommended ingredients. I didn’t want my birds to eat this stuff but I didn’t know what to do. I don’t recall what made me decide to make my birds food, but I started to look into it & see what ingredients each type of bird eats. I then researched where I could buy the seeds & I started to make my birds & my foster birds seed mixes. I found it is not only not that expensive, but costs less than the manufactured seed mixes I was buying previously. Plus I can make as much as I want at a time.
If you decide to make your own seed mix like I do, then be sure your birds get fresh foods at least 3 days a week or minimally add Vitamins(made for birds) to your birds water. I wrote a blog post on Vitamins for birds it is #83.
Store bought seed or pellet mixes have Vitamins added in (many add Synthetic Vitamins ). If you decide to make your own seed mix it won’t have added Vitamins. They will get Vitamins from fresh food if they are provided with it & are eating it.
My Recipe for Canaries/Finches is:
2 lbs. White Millet
2 lbs. Red Millet
2 lbs. Niger Seed
2 lbs. Canary Grass Seed
2 lbs. Oat Groats (I request they are put in a separate bag so I can crush them smaller)
2 lbs. Canola Seed (Rape Seed)
1-2 lbs of raw nuts (Walnut, Pecan, Almonds, Brazil & Filberts)
I add in 2-3 bags of Kaytee brand greens (which is a blend of alfalfa,kale,parsley, chia seeds & sweet potatoes), no additives or chemical ingredients.
I also have added Sesame seeds, Caraway seeds & Poppy seeds (again making sure no salts, sugars or preservatives added), these I usually have purchased at natural food stores or bigger stores that carry a variety of foods.
I shell out the raw nuts & crush them to the size of the tiny seeds so the birds can easily eat them.
When I buy seeds I freeze them for 3 days to be sure that there are no seed moths or eggs in the seeds. Seed moths are hard to get rid of, so I find it best to prevent them by freezing the seeds. I mix all the ingredients together & store the seed in clean, rust free dry popcorn tins.
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