Dry bird seed normally provides a satisfactory diet, but many experienced fantiers maintain that a diet of soaked andsprouted seed proves more nutritious.Cheap seed should be avoided since itusually contains a great deal of dust andproves difficult to germinate. Birds withyoung must be provided with amplequantities of good quality soaked andsprouted seeds. The vitamin content ofsprouted seed is extremely high. Seedsshould be soaked in cold water for 24hours, then washed, drained and left tosprout in a warm place, until the shootsare about 6 mm ( 1/4 in) long. This can taketwo to four days, according to thetemperature.
The most universally popular seeds arethe four varieties of millet seed: white,panicum, Japanese and red millet. Theseare usually mixed together. Plain canaryseed is the next most frequently used withother seeds fed as required. Maw seed,rape, linseed and hemp seed (if available)and the black niger seed are useful,particularly during cold weather whenbody fat needs to he maintained. Hulledoats, groats and sunflower seed are usually fed to larger species. Parrotlike birdsneed adequate supplies of sunflowerseeds and many eat maize and peanutstoo.
