- Page Three -
Notes on my 'Canary Diet Research'
March 2019
*** Experiments and Comparisons:
| I began these experiments and soon learned I had many misconceptions about the quality of ready-made commercial egg foods!
They are so common in online bird supply shops, in YouTube videos and articles by breeders.
I ASSUMED the claims by the manufacturers were true: that these bird foods, were 'complete, healthy and scientifically researched'.
In my opinion, I found the opposite!
There were so many that contained cheap sources of protein and carbohydrates, and the range of vitamins and minerals was severely limited. Most contained artificial coloring, so the yellow granules gave the impression of being egg. Most contained preservatives, and yet also smelled rancid. Some smelled of the sweeteners included, which of course, would encourage the birds to accept the mix.
In the end, I DID find several products I will use and trust
to contribute to the health of my canaries! |
|---|
al analysis of a dozen soft food mixes.
I also studied the various types of couscous and poultry mashes.
I purchased 10 different dry mixes/mashes/ingredients to test and compare:
- --- I had very good results from the original Petamine Breeder Formula in the past. I also ordered Petamine Nestling Formula, even though I had not been impressed in the past.
- --- I ordered six other commercially prepared eggfood-type mixes.
- --- The Purina Flock Raiser poultry crumbles were not available in our local feed store, so I ordered online. The Nutrena Starter-Grower poultry crumbles at our local store had a slightly more complete ingredient list. I also ordered a third poultry mash, because I liked the ingredient list.
- --- I ordered a whole wheat small couscous made by a US farm company.
- --- My home-made soft food mix that I based off the original Petamine ingredients was included.
- --- I also baked my favorite Bird Bread recipe and dried half into bread crumbs.
➽ The First Experiment:
There are many things to save time in the bird room. But I wanted to test commercially made soft food mixes, to decide if one or more of them would save time.
Simple Analytics
on the 8 dry nestling/soft/egg food mixes,
plus the Flock Raiser Crumbles, couscous, and
my home-made soft food mix with and without eggs:
on the 8 dry nestling/soft/egg food mixes,
plus the Flock Raiser Crumbles, couscous, and
my home-made soft food mix with and without eggs:
| Volkman Featherglow Gourmet Egg food 15% protein -- contains egg/dairy, no sugar -- | CeDe Yellow 16% protein -- contains sugar -- |
| Raff Holland Cova ?% protein -- no egg, contains sugar/dairy -- | Raff Bisko 16% protein -- contains egg, contains sugar/dairy -- |
| Abba Ralf Yellow 15% protein -- contains eggs, meat/dairy, contains sugar -- | Abba Green 92 15% protein -- contains eggs, meat/dairy, contains sugar -- |
| Petamine Nestling Formula 8% protein -- contains egg/dairy, contains sugar -- | Purina Flock Raiser Crumbles 20% protein (completely different and much better than the other chick starters I tested) |
| Petamine Breeding Formula 9% protein -- no egg/dairy, no sugar -- NOT the same as the original formula | My Soft Food Mix dry 9% protein 18% carbohydrates -- no egg/dairy, no sugar -- |
| Whole Wheat Couscous approx. 3.7% protein 21% carbohydrates Good Texture | My Soft Food Mix with eggs 16- 18% protein 15.5- 13.5% carbohydrates -- no dairy, no sugar -- |
| Bird Bread slices or dried crumbs varies with ingredients (use whole pieces when I am away from bird room) | One bird bread recipe, without protein powders 5% protein 21% carbs, fresh 6.5% protein, 27.5% carbs, dried |
✱ CONCLUSION:
The Ones I Liked:The Purina Flock Raiser crumbles had a mild, grain odor, and a light texture. When moistened, the crumbles were soft, but distinct. The two other chick mashes were less appealing and cannot be recommended.
CeDe Yellow and Raff Bisko made into nicely textured soft food. The canaries preferred the Bisko, actually ate it very well. Both could be used as a base, with other ingredients added to increase their nutritional and protein content.
The two Abba nestling mixes were very nice. They appeared packaged well, with date of production stamped on label. Their list of ingredients leads one to feel the nutritional value is high. However, I did not want to include some of the items in my canary diet, such as the various meat meals, etc.
The Ones I Disliked:
The two Petamine formulas were poor quality and their nutritional analysis were less than mediocre!
(see a comparison of the original Petamine breeding formula and the current Petamine product on page four.)
The Featherglow Gourmet Eggfood moistened quickly and evenly, and looked appealing... good enough to eat, but it too was an equivalent of white bread. (a slight exaggeration, but not by much!)
Raff Holland Cova was extremely sticky, like honey, which is listed as an ingredient.
✿ Interesting NOTES:
- While modern opinion generally says 'no dairy for canaries', over half of the commercial mixes contained whey protein!???
I believe dairy protein is okay for canaries. I feed soured skim milk to my chickens, with very good results. - I did some research into the various popular protein powders, and, in my opinion, soy protein is the most complete, in the most edible, digestible form. Pea protein is a little limited in the essential amino acid part of the protein, and hemp protein is often higher in fat content, as well as also being somewhat limited. Soy protein compliments the amino acids in corn, oats, and wheat. I may also use the pea and hemp proteins, but feel the soy is adequate. Whey protein works best in a baked bird bread as it makes a dry mix absorb more moisture and become sticky.
- I discovered a slightly misleading popular meaning for the term EGGFOOD!
Many commercially prepared products that are called eggfood or nestling food contain egg;
others do not and still describe themselves as an eggfood.
Many breeders' websites talk about eggfood, such as 'mixing eggfood', or 'feeding eggfood', when they are actually mixing or feeding a mix containing no egg.
Other breeders mix egg and other ingredients and call it a softfood.
These terms give no real indicator if they are HIGH Protein or HIGH Carbohydrate, or HIGH in both.
As I put many commercially manufactured soft and egg food recipes through an online nutrition calculator, I found most of them to be quite high in carbohydrates. The percentage of protein is listed on their packaging, but they do not list the percentage of carbohydrates.
For example: one dry food mix contained approx 14.5 % protein, but an estimate of the ingredients listed on label came to approx. 37% carbohydrates. The remaining percentages were made up of fats, fiber, ash, moisture, etc.
(Disclaimer: this is just for my own satisfaction in making my choices of diet items. I have no idea how accurate the nutritional calculators are, and I had no specific recipes for the commercial eggfoods.) - I was surprised at the low protein content of the couscous. I had felt that anything whole wheat would be high protein. Even the rolled wheat flakes were lower than I expected.
I do feel they both add to the PROTEIN PROFILE, combining well with the oats and corn.
The next step was to find which combinations made a soft food with a good texture, that appealed to my canaries. I also wanted to have combinations of which I knew the approximate protein levels.
I did not realize, when I began, that there were many other things to think about ... such as types of protein, amount and types of carbohydrates, additions such as sugars, vitamins and minerals!
I decided to make a simple basic soft food, to complement my seed
diet, and the vitamin/mineral supplement. I will use a limited number
of fresh ingredients, remembering not to worry about the many other
choices that I see advertised.
I will NOT include ingredients that
may spoil, are difficult to prepare, or expensive to purchase,simply to add more 'food value'. I am depending upon fresh seed, raw greens and veggies, plus the vitamin/mineral supplements to provide the basic necessary nutrients. The soft food will be for the times when additional supplements are needed, such as when feeding chicks or molting. |
|
| |||||
|
| |||||
|
| |||||
|
|
✱ CONCLUSION:
The mixes that were easiest to make, contained the food items I wanted, and that the canaries ate well:
--- The Flock Raiser poultry mash (20% protein ? % carbs) with couscous (4% protein 16% carbs) and grated carrot (.5% protein 7% carbs).
--- The hard boiled egg (12.5% protein 1% carbs) with my own dry soft food mix (9% protein 18% carbs) and grated carrot (.5% protein 7% carbs). ✱
---I also mixed my dry soft food mix with just grated carrots, for a lower protein food in which to add supplements and as a general soft food. ✱
---A mixture of equal parts Flock Raiser and hard boiled egg was very easy to mix, and the canaries loved it. This would have high protein, so I added some of my dry mix and seed. Couscous could be substituted for the seed. ✱( Note, some canaries did not like the Flock Raiser, and never did eat it. Please watch carefully. I now do not use Flock Raiser.)
---I also ran one bird bread recipe through the nutrition calculator: (5% protein 21% carbs, fresh).
When I dried the bread crumbs, the protein and carbohydrate levels went up as the crumbs lost moisture.
--- The fresh bread crumbs worked as a substitute for the hard boiled egg, IN TEXTURE and MOISTURE. The protein level in the bird bread is not equal to the levels in egg.
My favorite soft foods are ✱'d above. My dry supplement mix recipe and mixing instructions are on page five.
➽ The Third Experiment:
Of course, no Bird Diet Project would be complete without some study on SPROUTED SEED.
From past experience, I know my birds prefer two sprout/soak blends: Robirda's Soak Seed and Herman's Seedies mix. :)
Here are photos showing the difference between actual SPROUTED seed, such as the sprouts we use in our sandwiches and on our salads, and CHITTED seed, which is the stage of 'sprout development' that is recommended to feed our birds. The 'sprouted' mix, on the left, is the Herman's Seedies mix. The 'chitted' mix, on the right, is rape seed. All seeds were then fed as part of a soft food.
I found the Robirda's Soak Seed took too long for all the seeds to sprout, and my canaries did not like some of the seeds. The Seedies mix sprouted very evenly and quickly.. too quickly! As you can see, they all had actual green sprouts when I checked on them!
|
|
I have not been fond of 'sprouted seed'. I couldn't explain exactly why, until I watched the Naturally For Birds video. He clearly states that chitting increases the nutrients of the seed mix, and offers a way to offer supplements. He did not say the nutrients were unique to chitted seed, or of huge quantities... simply that the food value of the original seed was increased.
Other articles said soak/sprout seed could take the place of greens. I am not convinced that the nutrients in sprouted seed is as high as in other greens such as kale or broccoli.
Green peas received much praise as a food for our canaries. I could find only good things for using frozen green peas, quickly thawed in warm water.
For me, the work, expense, and risk of moldy sprouts, are not worth feeding sprouts over other greens.
Some breeders use SOAK SEED, as a food to encourage feeding by parents and to tempt youngsters to begin eating on their own. I can see this may be helpful.
➽ The Fourth Experiment:
As I fed the various combinations of food to my canaries, I made notes on how well they ate each batch.
✱ CONCLUSION:
- I found the birds would eat most combinations that contained the egg!
- They also seemed to be attracted to anything containing ground anise seed.
- Mixtures that were too wet or sticky were scattered around but not eaten very well.
Mixtures that were too dry were eaten. - I could add 'anything' to the grated carrot and the birds would, at the very least, investigate and taste it.
My birds are familiar with the finely grated carrot. Other breeders use other veggie items, such as green peas, that are familiar to their birds. My birds are reluctantly beginning to eat peas more easily.
✿ If your birds are not interested in carrots, it may be that you are providing them with other ingredients they like better.
If you want to get them to eat a certain veggie, I was told to feed it by itself, with no other ingredients, and not to feed other soft food at the same time. For example: feed only carrots in the morning or whatever time you would normally feed a soft food. Later in the day, you could feed your usual treat.
Our canaries are not much different than our children. It amazes me when some kids eagerly eat broccoli, calling them 'little trees', when I had such problems with my son and veggies.
It is all in HOW we introduce new foods to our families, both human and avian!
Continued ...
