Feeding Gouldian Finches
by Peggy Dalrymple
Originally published in the American Federation of Aviculture (Watchbird) March/April 1999
The gourmet meal I just spent 30 minutes preparing isn’t for any of the people in my life, it’s for the 200 Gouldian Finches that live and breed in my basement aviaries.
On the menu today is cooked rice and lentils, grated, cooked sweet potatoes and shredded broccoli blended with Bisko, a commercial dried egg and biscuit product. Added to this is Petamine, sterilized crushed eggshell and a vitamin mineral powder. This concoction is prepared daily and served in the early morning and again in the late afternoon, in small portions to ensure freshness.
Even the more nutritious diet can be improved by slight variation. The rice can be replaced by cooked and drained pasta such as couscous, pastina or aizo. A change of vegetables might include sprouts, frozen thawed corn, grated carrot or chopped greens.
A diet that is not varied, especially when coupled with stress in the bird’s environment, may lead to under eating and the eventual result of illness or even death.
While a soft food supplement may encourage a healthy amount of food consumption, a good clean seed mixture is a necessity and must be available at all times. Cuttlebone, seed treats, millet sprays, grit and bird charcoal complete the diet.
All offerings of food should be easily accessible and immediately recognizable. If the birds are frightened by the food container or stressed by its position in the aviary then may eat only minimal amounts. Young birds and recently moved birds are at a great risk for under consumption of food.
A “teacher” bird – one familiar with the food and the environment- can often minimize feeding problems in the Gouldian Finch.
Gouldians have an aversion to filth. Fouled seed, dirty water unclean bedding or cages can all cause not only bacterial problems but also decreased food consumption.
Perhaps the reputation of the “delicate” that continues to plague this bird is in fact a failure on the part of the bird keeper to recognize the special needs and fears (stress factors) associated with a captive environment. Failure to correct these needs and fears may result, again, in poor food consumption in the Gouldian.
The “gourmet meals” that I prepare for my birds are but a small part of catering to the needs of the “prima donnas” of the finch world.
