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Diet for adult House Sparrow

Ephy

Walking the driveway
Joined
8/8/19
Messages
226
Hello again :)

Just wanted to check in with anyone that has or have had adult sparrows before.

I am always scared that he is not getting tbe best nutrition and would love some feedback to learn what I can do to improve his health and diet and to hear what the rest of you are doing.

Since there are not many resources (that I have been able to find) online about raising adult sparrows, I try to offer a variety.


Here is a look at what I offer Kiwi, my 5yr old House Sparrow

Fresh water 2x day, morning and afternoon.

He has 3 food dishes... all seed options look like a mash of the same seeds slapped with a picture of different birds on the front...so i dunno what is best.

Daily:
Dish 1 - half Hagen budgie seed and mixed with half mixed budgie type seed mix meant for wild birds from bulk store
Dish 2 - hagen canary seed mixed finch seed
Dish 3 - Avian Organics bitty bird blend ( appears to be his fav)

He also gets 3 tiny foraging dishes that are covered with different thicknesses of toilet paper/paper towel he has to rip into to get to... in those dishes can be salad, cucumber, zucchini, celery, once in awhile piece of nut (almond, pistachio or cashew) or piece of baked bird bread mix.

Lately, because im too busy in the morning, I just give him a tiny bit of his daily cooked mash. Normally, I would only offer this in the evening once I am home and they come out of their cages.

He is a carb-o-holic and I worry it may be too much or could be spoiling him off eating his seeds. Some nights, he appears to be starving when I offer it, even though he gets fresh seed every morning.
He prefers to pick out the pasta, quinoa or oats out of it.

This mash is made up of, Avian Organics veggie harvest mash, little wings buffet, busy day mash, diced carrot I toss in, organic quinoa, and organic quick oats. Sometimes, I sprinkle alfalfa or calendula or harrions high potency mash on top as it cools.

He hates the taste of red palm oil no matter how hard I try to hide it in his food, he wont eat it. Are there different flavour options for red palm oil?

Daily, he gets fresh cucumber, zucchini, mixed salad greens, celery or carrots.

Once a week or every 2 weeks or so, i will offer hard boiled eggs or share my scrambled eggs, which i only put coconut oil in the pan to prevent sticking and will put water in the eggs in place of milk etc.

I offer cooked egg shells everytime I make eggs, but toss them after 2 days. Do cooked shells go bad?

I offer fruits maybe once or twice aweek, apple, pear, mango, cantaloupe, grapes, peaches, or watermelon.

And everynight before bed he gets 2 freeze dried mealworms, that he loves.

I have tried Harrisons pellets in the past as another side option. He does not seem to care for them.

I also offer all these things to my dove, along with his regular Hagens dove seed, I do not offer Harrisons pellets because he just doesnt drink as much water as he would need to if he ate pellets.

My dove (Baby) is very picky, but lately he has also been picking at the mash and veggies so thats good. Of course I would love diet tips for him too

Sorry its so long, thank you for reading!!
Tips, suggestions??
Thanks!
 

iamwhoiam

Ripping up the road
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Spee gets Volkman Avian Science Finch seed mix and Mazuri Insectivore daily. He also gets mixed veggies, corn, carrots and peas although he just picks out the corn. He gets millet spray every now and then as well as small pieces of roasted, unsalted cashews. I used to give him egg whites but since I haven't been purchasing those he doesn't get that any more. I also used to give him pieces of apple which he liked but the last time I did that there were ants everywhere. YUCK He is a picky eater unless it comes to junk food which he very rarely gets (small pieces of Mother's oatmeal cookie or small pieces of white cake are his favorites). Sometimes I mix some tart cherry juice with his veggies because he has arthritis. He has a small piece of cuttlebone in the cage.
He always has two bowls in his cage: one for the seed/Mazuri mix and one for water and then I add a 3rd one when I give him his veggies.
You may want to consider trying the Mazuri pellets. You can probably use those instead of the meal worms, if you wish.

Post a photo of Kiwi when you get a chance.

Check out Starling Talk: The Care and Feeding of Injured and Orphaned Starlings
 

Ephy

Walking the driveway
Joined
8/8/19
Messages
226
I have never heard of Mazuri insectivore diet. How did you know to give this to sparrows?

Does it affect his hormone level?

Kiwi also loves corn, peas and his favourite treat is bread, cooked rice or cooked noodles.
He also really likes shelled sunflower seeds, the smaller ones and has learned to chomp on it enough to get to the yummy sunflower seed inside.

He also loves ice. So i freeze his herbal teas and give that to him too.
He is terrifiec of millet for some reason, i have to break it into tiny individual millets before he will eat it.
I would also love to see pics of Spee, i hope you will post some too
 

Ephy

Walking the driveway
Joined
8/8/19
Messages
226
Oops forgot my picture..

Here is Kiwi sitting on his "poo, poo" spot. He is pretty good about pooping while standing on his basket...but we are pretty relaxes about it, so he doesnt always go there.
 

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Laurul Feather Cat

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Sparrows and starlings must have insect proteins as one third of their diet. I raised starlings who fell out of their nests in the parking garage at work.
 

Ephy

Walking the driveway
Joined
8/8/19
Messages
226
I know sparrows needs to get some protein in their diet and have tried to offer enough mealworms or egg.
What is the best way to determine the correct amount of protein for sparrows?
From what I have read, they dont require as high a protein diet as starlings do.

Whenever I have increased his mealworm or egg amount, his hormones kick into over drive. He becomes aggressive, nest obsessed, territorial etc.

That kind of behaviour only fades when I reduce his protein intake.

It is an on going learning process, but from what I have noticed, is that, he seems the most balanced when only receiving 2 mealworms a night and hard boiled egg once a week.

Is this not enough?
 

iamwhoiam

Ripping up the road
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Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
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Location
the zoo
I have never heard of Mazuri insectivore diet. How did you know to give this to sparrows?

Does it affect his hormone level?

Kiwi also loves corn, peas and his favourite treat is bread, cooked rice or cooked noodles.
He also really likes shelled sunflower seeds, the smaller ones and has learned to chomp on it enough to get to the yummy sunflower seed inside.

He also loves ice. So i freeze his herbal teas and give that to him too.
He is terrifiec of millet for some reason, i have to break it into tiny individual millets before he will eat it.
I would also love to see pics of Spee, i hope you will post some too

I've never seen Mazuri Insectivore affect Spee's hormones. I believe I got the recommendation from Starling Talk. I purchase it directly from Mazuri and he gets a few tsps. of this in addition to his seed mix.
Insectivore Diet 5MM3 3 lb | Mazuri® Exotic Animal Nutrition
Photo of Spee....he is currently my avatar.
Kiwi is very cute. The fact that you have had him for 5 years old and he is thriving shows that you are doing a good job with him.
Spee is 11 years old and his age is showing. Moving slower, not jumping into his bowl, not as vocal as he used to be. Here's another photo of him in his bowl.
He started out life with two broken legs, one was splinted to redirect growth. He has never been able to perch although he can grip onto things with his left foot for extra support or to lift himself up.

spee 2 7-18.jpg
 

Ephy

Walking the driveway
Joined
8/8/19
Messages
226
Aww Spee is beautiful! 11 years old is amazing. Is he the only sparrow you have?
How did you come to care for him and how old was he when you found him?
2 broken legs, omg that is so sad. Im glad you were there to help him through that.
How long ago did you start him on the insectivore diet?

What is Spee like? Do you have a blog or anything that I can follow about his life?

Does he talk? Does he trim his own beak and nails? What kind of routine do you have, is he your only bird?

I wish I knew how to pm you, i have so many questions!

Thanks for sharing your picture, i hope you will share more
 
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