Live food for finches: maggots, mealworms, fruit flies, etc.
Live food for finches: maggots, mealworms, fruit flies, white ants, moths, crickets, aphids
Offering live food to finches is a great way to provide essential protein and nutrients, especially during breeding or when raising chicks. Here’s an overview of suitable live foods for finches:
1. Live food for finches: Maggots
- Nutritional Value: Maggots are rich in protein and fat, making them a great source of energy for finches, especially during demanding times like chick-rearing.
- Feeding Caution: Ensure maggots are clean and free from any chemicals before feeding.
2. Live food for finches: Mealworms
- Nutritional Value: Mealworms are one of the most common live foods for birds. They’re high in protein, which is vital for growth and overall health.
- Feeding Tips: Offer small, young mealworms to finches, as larger ones might be too tough for smaller birds to eat. Mealworms can be offered dried or live, but live mealworms are more beneficial.
3. Fruit Flies
- Nutritional Value: Fruit flies are small, easily digestible, and perfect for smaller finches or young chicks.
- Feeding Tips: These are often fed to newly hatched finches as a source of easily digestible protein.
4. White Ants (Termites)
- Nutritional Value: Termites are nutrient-rich and an excellent source of fat and protein. In the wild, some finches forage for termites, especially after rains when termites are active.
- Feeding Tips: Make sure to collect termites from clean sources to avoid harmful chemicals.
5. Moths
- Nutritional Value: Moths are soft-bodied and can be consumed by finches without difficulty. They are a good source of protein.
- Feeding Tips: You can collect moths at night or attract them using a light trap.
6. Crickets
- Nutritional Value: Crickets are high in protein and are an excellent source of energy for finches, especially during the breeding season.
- Feeding Tips: You can buy crickets from pet stores and feed them live. Cut the larger ones into smaller pieces if needed.
7. Aphids
- Nutritional Value: Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects that are easy for finches to digest. They provide essential nutrients like protein.
- Feeding Tips: Aphids can often be found on plants or purchased in controlled environments.
Tina Billings: So delighted I have these Aphids on my honeysuckle bush I harvest them every morning for my birds they are very juicy.
Benefits of Live Food for Finches:
- Protein Boost: Live food offers a high amount of protein, which is essential for breeding finches and raising healthy chicks.
- Natural Foraging: Offering live food stimulates finches’ natural foraging behaviors, making them more active and engaged.
- Supports Breeding: Live foods are critical during breeding seasons, as they help provide the additional energy and nutrients required for egg production, incubation, and feeding chicks.
Tony Arnold: Fly boxes for maggots
Make sure any live food you offer is clean, free of pesticides or contaminants, and not too large for the finches to handle. Some live food can be cultivated at home, or purchased from reputable sources.
Some pictures of the fly boxes I make.
The food for the flies is sugar cubes in a small dish and water in a bird drinker with cotton balls in the spout.
Mix for the flies to blow is:
1 cup of bran
1/4 cup of full cream milk powder
Sometimes i add 1/4 cup of chicken starter.
Each day I add a heaped tablespoon of new mix to each tub and stir well. On the 3rd day, I take the tub out of the fly box and put it into another box with shelves to grow the maggots to the desired age/size.
