BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Birds Question about finches

Hi all,
Can i give my finches romanian lettuce as a treat.Considering it`s all washed and all.They just love apples and cucumber.What other fruits and veggies can i treat them to?Hope anyone can answer.thanks. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

We do a lot of garden stuff for our birds. Zucchini, squash, okra, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, green beans, black eyed peas, and cucumbers are fresh things that we offer. This time of year I buy corn when it was on sale and chop the cobs in foot sized pieces. For your finches you probably just want to offer kernels of corn. I also buy kiwi, beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, oranges, limes, lemons, strawberries, grapes...and I also buy frozen bags of mixed vegetables in the freezer section. Today they had the 16 oz bags for sale 5/$5 so I stocked up! I fix cornbread for my birds and add a hunk in with some of the mixed veggies. At Christmas time I buy bags of cranberries on sale cheap and wash and freeze them. I just put them in the freezer on a cookie sheet. I do the same thing with my garden produce and that way we have produce for when the garden is done for the year. Have you tried bread on your birds? Mine love whole wheat bread also and popcorn is one of their favs. My husband cooks it on the stove and always fixes a bowl for the birds and dogs. Good luck trying new things on your birds! Connie

LOL, got carried away and didn't answer your lettuce question. I have always heard that lettuce is mostly water, therefore zero as far as nutrients. You can try collard greens instead. They are full of things that are good for your birds. Connie

Hi again,
thanks for all your great info.Have you ever tried banana with the finches?Just wondered if they liked it.Also what are collard greens?
thanks again.
<img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Yes, bananas are fine, my birds like them, guess I just left them out of my list! Collards are greens that look like spinach, you can purcase them in your produce section at your grocery store. Last time I bought them they were in a plastic bag. Spinach is also good for your birds, it is very high in calcium also. Here are some other items you can offer: brocolli, cauliflower, melon (watermelon, cantalope, honeydew, ect), turnips, kale, dandelion (you can pick this in your yard, just make sure it has NOT been sprayed with pesticides), brussells sprouts, celery, cooked beans. Sprouted seed is also a great way to get good stuff into your birds. I have a little sprouter I purcased in the garden section at Wal-Mart, they sold little packages of seed to sprout also. Hope this helps! Connie

This is true of iceberg lettuce (and any other "light" colored greens) but romaine is great for birds, be-careful of feeding too much spinach, it has a lot of iron and too much can be bad.

Dark leafy veggies are good for birds, the "deeper" colored veggies are best, carrot, beets, dark greens, peppers (try Hot peppers, most birds LOVE them) go easy on fruits, lots of sugar and lots of water. limit corn too, more starch and sugar than nutrients <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

HTH