FEATURE


your initial stock. Many will give you small quantities to last a few days until you can arrange for a regular supply. However the basic requirements are a seed mixture, an egg-based softfood, grit and water. As far as the seed is concerned foreign


finch mixtures and mixed millets are suitable. We find the most economic and nutritious way of supplying our birds’ seed requirements is to use a millet- rich budgerigar mixture – which also happens to be the cheapest in the suppliers range. There are more good proprietary,


eggfood mixtures on the market now than there have ever been before. We find it difficult to understand why breeders buy


22 BIRD SCENE


a specifically-balanced product and then add other foods – such as more eggs or carrot – to them. Our grit mixture consists of small


mineral grit and oyster shell, in equal quantities. Cuttlefish bone is also provided as are millet sprays. As already explained, we offer filtered tap water. The only additive we feed is a mineral/vitamin supplement that is added to the drinking water at the rate and frequency recommended by the manufacturer. Again there are lots of good products of this type on the market. With a good, balanced diet such as the one we have described we see no reason for feeding other ‘extras’ – home grown, collected from the wild or purchased.


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