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Post by John on Jan 22, 2006 15:57:24 GMT 11
I am a great believer in sprouted seed and my birds get it every day, I have it sprouting constantly here and when one lot has finished I put another lot straight down, here is my formula for sprouting seed for your birds.
I place equal amounts of Australian Grey Striped Sunflower Seed, Maize, Barley, Oats and wheat in a fine sieve, about half an ice cream container full. If I cant get the seed individually I get a commercial brand called Morkal Wild Bird Mix at Woolworth's.
I wash it throughly under running water until it runs clear then place it in a container and add a cap full of Avicleans then add water until it is just covered no more.
It then stands in the water for 10 hours when it is then drained back into the sieve and rinsed throughly again making sure the water runs clear.
The seed is then left to stand in the sieve until it starts to sprout usually in about 8 hours making sure you rinse it every six hours under running water.
There is some debate as to when the seed is ready but my preference is when the sprouts are around half an inch long is fine.
It can be stored in the fridge and fed to your birds daily, I feed them a cup full everyday sprinkled with crushed egg shell and a pinch of Ornithon multi vitamin.
John
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Post by fox on Jan 23, 2006 13:46:34 GMT 11
hi john sounds good. one thing that i would change, the seed. i would stop buying the seed from wooly's, just because i can't see there seed being any good. also if you buy you seed froma bird shop you can buy a small amount first, and if the sprouting rate is good, you can buy up big. also i sprout all my seed in seperate containers. one thing i found was that even if i was to soak my seed for as little as 6 hours it'ld still sprout the same, even for those little red seeds, milo. the rest is about the same john. do you feed sprouts all year round?
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Post by wfbirds on Jan 23, 2006 16:41:23 GMT 11
Hi All I use the following soaked seed/bean mix, I feed every day for one month prior to breeding season and until the season is over then fed twice a week White stripe sunflower (not much) Dunn Peas Mung Beans Lupins Critical Whole Oates Hulled Oates Milo
The mix is soaked in water with a few drops of Multi Cleans for 24 hrs then washed and then stood for another 24 hrs (moist) then washed the mix has sprouted to about 6-8 mm shoots at this point it is at the highest protean level I feed out with a selection of veges, Apple, sweet pototo, carrot, capsicum, corn cernal's, peas. I don't see the point in feeding soaked small parrot mix as there no change in the diet and some of the mixes you would have trouble in getting them to sprout.
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