The following recipes are those which I use to feed my finches.

Dry finch seed mix:

2 parts red pannicum

1 part plain canary seed

1 part white-french millet

1 part jap millet

I mix this seed mix in a concrete-mixer using only Australian-grown seed. I add 20ml of oil to each 2 buckets of seed. Oils used as seed additives vary but include garlic oil, hempseed oil, polyseed oil, & breeding aid (only one at a time). Oil additives settle any dust whilst mixing, make the seed shiny & clean and provide additional vitamins and amino acids to the seed thus improving its nutritional quality.

Mixed seed is stored in chest freezer “shells” to prevent codling moth infestation. Each aviary has a glass-fronted metal seed hopper containing this mix at all times.

Dry tonic seed mix:

This is a highly varied mix of miscellaneous seeds. The proportions of each seed type in the mix varies year-to-year according to seasonal availability and price of the component seeds as well as their acceptance by my birds. I add extra amounts of a few of the more highly favoured seeds. Currently this mix includes:

Signal grass (extra amount)

Rye (Tetila)

Green panic (extra amount)

Gatton panic

Bambatsi panic

Barnyard grass (extra amount)

Phalaris (Sirosa)

Bahia Grass (Pensicola)

Carpet grass

unhulled Couch

Purple pigeon grass

Cocksfoot

Fescue

Bluegrass (Kentucky)

Broadleaf paspalum

Niger

White lettuce

Black lettuce

Sabi grass

Siberian millet

Sesame

Maw

Rape

Anise

Carrot

Linseed

Chicory

White clover (Haifa)

This is also mixed in a concrete-mixer as per the dry finch seed mix with oils added whilst mixing. Each breeding aviary is given only a small amount of this mix each day to ensure it is all eaten (about 2 heaped dessertspoons).

Green seed mix:

Frozen green “milk” seed comprising  7 parts white-french millet to 3 parts red pannicum

Each breeding aviary is fed 3 heaped dessertspoons of this mix each day.

*** I have recently simplified this mix considerably.  I used to also add mixed sprouted seed, peas, corn kernels and a small amount of finch softfood powder but found that as the mix became more varied its palatability to a wide range of species reduced.  Since simplifying it back to the half-ripe green seed alone it has been consumed 100% - just husks remaining by the afternoon in every breeding aviary, whereas the varied mix had some uneaten leftovers in at least some aviaries by afternoon.  I always regarded the half-ripe green seed as the most valuable component of the original mix anyway - in terms of its nutritional value, its ability to stimulate and sustain breeding activity in many finch species and its obvious palatability. 

Enriched Red Pannicum:

Each breeding aviary is given a small dish of red pannicum which has been supplemented with a combination of Polyseed Oil and ID Yeast (from Australian Pigeon Company). To prepare this I take a large plastic breaky fruit jar of red pannicum and add 10ml of Polyseed Oil, shake well, then add 2 heaped teaspoons of ID Yeast, shake well again and store in fridge until fed.

Only a small amount is fed to each aviary each day (about a handfull) to ensure all is eaten by the next day.

Red pannicum is used as a medium for these supplements due to its unparalleled acceptance by a wide range of finch species.  Day-to-day I regularly notice breeding pairs with pre-fledged young feeding heavily on this offering.

*** Polyseed oil can be purchased commercially or a far more economical alternative is to purchase from the supermarket component oils and mix them yourself.  Useful component oils are: Sunflower, Canola, Wheatgerm, Flaxseed (linseed), Rice bran, and Sesame Oils. 

Fine Grit/Mineral mix:

4 parts Biocal (Aust Pigeon Co.)

4 parts Canunda shell

4 parts fine shell grit

1 part PVM powder (Aust Pigeon Co.)

1 part F-vite (Dr Rob Marshall)

2 parts crushed cuttlebone (about 5mm & smaller)

1 part crushed eggshell

This mix must be kept totally dry. I feed it to my breeding birds near the ground in “Mason” Jar Feeders. This mix is available to breeding birds at all times. Additional mineral supplements provided separately to breeding aviaries include uncrushed eggshells, large whole cuttlebone and coarsely crushed charcoal (about 10mm & smaller).

My daily feed routine

The basic essentials including fresh water, dry finch seed mix and the grit/mineral mix are constantly available to all aviaries.

Each morning and afternoon the additional "breeding foods" are provided to the breeding aviaries.

The morning feed includes the green seed mix and live termites.

The afternoon feed includes the dry tonic seed mix, enriched red pannicum, live termites and lebanese cucumber.

The only variable component of the diet I provide my finches is additional green food.  This is one part of the finch diet where I believe in providing as wide a variety of options as is possible.  This varies in frequency from up to 3 times per day to breeding aviaries containing Red Siskins with dependent young down to 2 or 3 times per week for the leaner times of the year.  Additional greens provided vary enormously but include any in season seeding grasses, weeds and home-grown green leafy vegetables.  During warm months seeding grasses fed mostly include green panic, summer grass, signal grass plus any other grasses found with seedheads.  During winter when many grasses are not seeding, I provide more chickweed, fat hen, amaranthus and dandelion.  Commonly fed vegetables regularly fed are broccoli, bok choy, chicory, kale, small loose-leaf lettuce varieties, and yugoslav cabbage. These veges are all fed at the juvenile leaf stage, flowering bud stage and green seedpod stage. During Siskin breeding season I also regularly provide mature flower pods of cosmos, niger, milk thistle and small-seeded sunflower varieties (Yates' "Bronze Shades" is the best of these).  These flower heads are also readily eaten by other species particularly Singers and Parrotfinches.