Making my own seed mix

[Ira7]

I have met the enemy, and I am his. Archie (YNA) wins. He will not touch anything but the sunflower seeds in his ZuPreem mix.

I’ll try a different mix, but it’s ridiculous. I wind up throwing out 99% of it.

Now, he only gets a tiny bit of seed each day anyway because thankfully, he’s such a good vegetable and fruit eater. So I’m thinking about just buying sunflower seeds, and adding one or two other seeds to it to move him towards a more varied seeds diet.

1) Pet stores only sell sunflower seeds in their wild bird feeder department. What kind of seeds should I be looking for? Human edible in the supermarket instead? Do they come roasted and unroasted? And of course, I assume unsalted.

2) He loves pistachios, walnuts and pine nuts...but I gotta think these aren’t good as part of his regular seed diet, only as occasional treats. So if you were me, what other seeds would be okay if consumed regularly, but like I said, not large quantities?

3) How many Nutriberries a day are too many? And is one type worse than the other, since they have different formulas?

 

[Scott]

Been a while since I purchased seed mix, but my flock enjoyed safflower (small white seeds) as much as sunflower. Have no idea which one is the "better" nutritionally. Buying human grade is preferable, though some large bird specialty stores create their own mixes. You might be able to specify an order of very specific seeds and freeze upon receipt. Not sure what constitutes a minimum order for custom mix.

 

[Flboy]

For plain sunflower seeds, don’t make the same mistake I made. You want the stripped seed, the small solid is the oily!
https://www.ams.usda.gov/book/sunflower-seeds

For human grade, most likely, all you will find is the stripped

 

[fiddlejen]

Nutriberries are supposed to be acceptable as a main source of food also. Their bags have some guidance. (Ive looked into this since nutriberries are a large part of my Sunny's diet.) I think they're all supposed to be nutritionally similar. (My Sunny only eats Tropical.)

Sun Conure is smaller than YNA of course but I had the similar realization about mixes some time back. She picks thru mixes and eats only the SAFFLOWER seeds. You can get safflower only, I ordered online and I think it wound up coming from Chewy or else Petsmart.(Check your ingredients list first, though. Mine Loves safflower, but safflower could be what yours is already refusing...)

I sometimes add a small amount of dried quick oats to whatever I give her and she eats that too. A lot of pellet ingredient lists start off with a grain so something like oats or corn or something should be okay to add in.

 

[Ira7]

For plain sunflower seeds, don’t make the same mistake I made. You want the stripped seed, the small solid is the oily!
https://www.ams.usda.gov/book/sunflower-seeds

For human grade, most likely, all you will find is the stripped

I’m totally confused. See below.

I bought this, whole flax seed, and an almond/walnut mix, which I’ll use vary sparingly.

 

[fiddlejen]

For plain sunflower seeds, don’t make the same mistake I made. You want the stripped seed, the small solid is the oily!
https://www.ams.usda.gov/book/sunflower-seeds

For human grade, most likely, all you will find is the stripped

I’m totally confused. See below.

I bought this, whole flax seed, and an almond/walnut mix, which I’ll use vary sparingly.

Most of the seed-mixes for the birds have the sunflower seeds still in the shell.

That said, I have a couple bags (small bags, like yours) of out-of-shell which I specifically bought for Sunny from Trader Joe's. Not too hard to find human-edible out-of-shell sunflower seeds Un-Salted; harder to find them Un-Roasted, which my Sunny prefers. Strongly prefers; she turns up her little beak at the roasted ones. TJ's is quite a ways from me, but they were the only place I found them. Does your Archie accept the Roasted ones? -- You will probably want to get him some in-shell sun-seeds also; as I understand, getting them from the shell is some part of the bird's enjoyment.

 

[Flboy]

Those shelled seeds, I would save for myself! I do prefer raw though! I buy the raw, shelled, in case lots from amazon for personal use! They are conveniently packed in 1 pound bags! FYI, the roasted go rancid quickly! Most store bought are already turned! For me, freezer storage is a must!

Also, I just noticed, $1.99 for 7 oz!!

 

[Ira7]

Those shelled seeds, I would save for myself! I do prefer raw though! I buy the raw, shelled, in case lots from amazon for personal use! They are conveniently packed in 1 pound bags! FYI, the roasted go rancid quickly! Most store bought are already turned! For me, freezer storage is a must!

Also, I just noticed, $1.99 for 7 oz!!

Cost isn’t a problem. He ain’t eating them anyway.