When Wasabi (Peas) died in late January of this year, I started looking again at liver issues in birds, since the vet guessed that his liver might have been what failed. Heather T. very nicely added some links to articles in the comments of the entry; they're worth reviewing, if you're interested in the issue. I found a few others, which I forgot to bookmark. Grin. But my research soon turned to diet, since diet is really the best way to address health issues for any living creature.

I've scouted out web sites of a couple of finch breeders, and they all suggest a similar diet: dry seed, soaked seed, egg food, and some vegetables. Well, I do that! And yet my Finsters seem to die of liver-related problems frequently enough to take notice. Could it be that breeders are focused on babies, while I'm focused on keeping the Finsters alive for as long as possible? Would these breeders change their birds' diets if they kept more of them as pets? Have they already changed their diets, but haven't updated their web sites?

Bigger birds have more diet options, partly because they're bigger, and can eat bigger things. So they get seed-based food like Nutri-Berries or Avi-Cakes, the packaged foods like Beak Appetit, and the human-prepared food like birdie bread, or Sally Blanchard's famous Glop. There are pellets that are small enough for finches, but for the most part, that's the only option besides seeds.

Now, that hasn't stopped me from trying things for the Finsters (and Peanut, of course): a few different recipes for birdie bread, broken into bitty pieces; Glop and its variations; new and exciting additions to egg food; and pellets, both dry and moist. The problem is, most of the time I haven't seen the Finsters actually eat these foods, and if they have disturbed the food dish, it's hard to tell if they ate anything, or if they simply played with it. Or walked through it a couple of times. Probably that last one.

But Wasabi (Peas) got me motivated to try again, and I've found a new diet that makes sense to me, and mostly fits into what I'm already doing for the birds. Basically, you use about two parts of whole grains to one part beans (to match the protein), and mix that with about equal amounts of vegetables, and add a bit of fruit. The vegetables are chopped into tiny pieces (you could use a food processor) so birds are less likely to flick them out of their dishes — and that means they're finch-sized! Finally, everything is mixed together so birds are less able to be very picky. Organic everything is recommended, and there are a number of suggested supplements, particularly essential fatty acids.

Now, as I write this down, it all gets a little overwhelming, and I think there's no way I want to describe it all, much less do it. But while there are a lot of details (which occasionally appeal to my obsessive-compulsive tendencies, after all), once you get started, it isn't so bad. You know, mostly not so bad. And starting in small steps not only makes it easier for the human, it also means the birds will more likely accept the new diet as food. I figure, if I've completely converted the Finsters to this diet in a year, I've done pretty well. And if all I end up with is about where I am now, it'll still help the birds.

The diet emphasizes sprouting things. Not for so long that you end up with the inch-long sprouted mung beans that you find in Asian markets and restaurants. But just for long enough that a root has started showing.

Hey! That's what I called "soaked seeds." I already do this! And the Finsters love them! You can see why the diet appeals to me.

Now, different grains and beans start sprouting at different times. And that's fine — in the wild you'd expect birds to snack on seeds at all different stages of growth. But some things need to be grown longer to be most beneficial to birds. The biggest difference are beans, which will make them fart "give them gas" if they're not sprouted for long enough. As a result, the beans for this diet are generally the small ones (lentils, mung, adzuki and sprouting peas): they're soaked overnight, then cooked for about half an hour. Grains can either be sprouted for a few days — until most of the varieties in your mix have little rootlets — or soaked overnight and then brought up to a boil briefly.

The interesting thing is that even by just soaking for 12 hours, the amount of enzymes in the food increases greatly, and even if you cook it at that point, it doesn't lose much nutritional value. Ah, the power of cheese "live" food.

So, to my normal 48-hour soaking mix of tasty seeds (three kinds of millet and canary grass seed), I am currently adding amaranth and quinoa. I might try oat groats, as well. To be terribly sneaky, I've also added a bit of broccoli and red clover seed. (I haven't added alfalfa seed because those should sprout for three to four days to be the best for birds.)

There are many more seedy things you could add, not to mention all the other grains, the beans, and the supplements. But apart from mincing up any organic greens I have on hand, slowly increasing the amount of soaked seeds and decreasing the amount of dry seeds offered, this is as far as I've gotten. Still, not a bad start.

Not that I can tell which bits the Finsters are actually eating.... But at least nothing so far has been Evil.

Peanut probably would have liked this diet, I don't think he ever met a grain he didn't like. Sigh.

A few links and things
The diet is covered on the Yahoo! discussion group called FeedingFeathers. Apart from the discussion group, the site offers quite a few files that go into even more detail than I have — which, I'm sure you'll agree, is a little hard to believe! While Yahoo! offers a fine service, I'm not fond of the fact that you have to register to get any information, and I've always felt their servers are slow. If you want to sign up, look in the files for "Shauna's mash" (there are other variations, and lots of files to look through), and start asking questions. If you don't want to sign up, I will send you that one file (it's a Word document) to give you a good introduction.

The Sprout People provide great details on all the different grains and seeds and beans that are good for sprouting, plus they sell all different sorts of mixes, organic seeds, as well as a variety of sprouting systems. They also have information and sprouting mixes designed for birds.

The Birdbrain LLC has some nice sprouting mixes.

Nature's Choice Essentials has a couple of lines of sprouting mixes for birds.

You don't need to buy sprouting mixes if you have a Whole Foods, co-op, or other natural food store around with bins of bulk foods available. But these mixes are a nice option.