Ran out of mash, sprouting mix okay?

[Ephy]

Hey

I ran out of mash i alway feed my birds.

I have a bag of sprouting mix in my fridge i havent used yet, and i am wondering if this is okay to feed my house sparrow and dove?

Ingredients say, millet, buckwheat, amaranth amd quinoa.

I soaked it for a sec and popped it into the microwave for 45 secs. Once cooled, is it safe to eat raw?


Thanks

 

[ChristaNL]

As far as I know it would be perfectly safe to eat unprocessed.


Putting it through the microwave also destroys a lot of provitamins etc. (as wel as the potential bacteria - I asume that is why you did it)


Doves and sparrows in the wild live on seeds, bugs and human leftovers ... they can handle "just seeds".
I know you are a wonderfull caring birdie-parrent, but really, they are old enough to chew their own food (beaks, crops and stomacs).


You could do a presoak for 12 hours and rinse (normal tapwater is fine, you have good waterquality coming from the taps I think) - it is what we raised legions of baby-pigeons with.
Presoaked seeds, just like mum and dad bring back up for them.

 

[EllenD]

I agree with Christa, it should be fine to feed them the sprouting mix, but a Dove and a Sparrow don't need to eat soft foods, they normally eat seeds, grains, legumes, bugs, etc. in the wild. So there's absolutely nothing wrong with feeding them a healthy, low-fat seed mix.

And just to add something to this, there is much research that eating seeds (meaning hard, dry seeds), grains, legumes, etc. is actually quite beneficial to a bird's GI Tract, as that's what it is meant to do.