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Pictures Seed Mix Taste Test

Destiny

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I offer my aviary birds a couple different seed mixes, in addition to fresh food, pellets, and freeze dried veggies. Out of curiosity, I decided to do a side-by-side comparison to see if the birds showed a preference for a particular mix.

Here are the contestants, from left to right:

GoldenFeast Versele-Laga Australian Blend
Sleek and Sassy Garden Budgie
Glamourous Gouldian Millet Mix
Hagen Finch VME staple Mix

20220202_115438.jpg

I put the seed dishes in the aviary ... and then I waited.

20220202_115557.jpg

One week later, this is all that remained:

20220208_143151.jpg

Let's get a closer look at these seed husks.

20220208_143838.jpg

And here are some close-ups ...

GoldenFeast Australian Blend
20220208_143849.jpg

Sleek and Sassy Budgie/Parakeet Mix
20220208_143905.jpg

Glamourous Gouldian Millet Mix
20220208_143918.jpg

Hagen Finch VME staple Mix
20220208_143912.jpg

And here is a comparison between what was in these mixes before and after the birds got to them. I added fresh seeds at the bottom so you can see what is missing and what was left behind.

GoldenFeast Versele-Laga Australian Blend
20220208_144223.jpg

Sleek and Sassy Garden Budgie
20220208_144217.jpg

Glamourous Gouldian Millet Mix
20220208_144205.jpg

Hagen Finch VME staple Mix
20220208_144212.jpg


Summary of Results - This was an interesting test. I think I learned a few things.

I wish I had thought to weigh the bowls first, because I bet that would have been informative. Maybe next time.

Regardless, GoldenFeast Australian Blend was the clear loser. There was a TON of uneaten seed and other things in that bowl. Way more than any of the others. In fact, there is so much seed mix left behind, it is hard to tell where the fresh seed ends and the eaten seed begins in that last picture. I think part of the problem was piece size - lots of big chunks in this mix. Also, it has the most non-seed items - lots of nuts, dried veggies/fruit, and some dried herbs. Sounds good on paper, but obviously my birds did not agree.

This is the ingredient list for the mix I have. It has been reformulated a few times, so if you buy it, be sure to check the label:

20220208_161447.jpg

Nuts are at the top of the list. Roasted soybeans must not be well-loved by my birds, since they just ignored them. Pretty sure they ate all the millet and canary seed, left almost everything else. Ah well. On to the next one!

The Sleek and Sassy budgie mix was more appreciated. All the seeds are gone, but the birds didn't eat the hard bits of dry carrot and sweet potato. Most of them got kicked out of the bowl. Also there are a lot of uneaten pellets and a decent amount of pellet dust. So most of the extra vitamins listed on the label didn't make it into my birds

Here's the full ingredient list:

81y6PBu8AUL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

The Glorious Gouldian Millet mix was a bit of a mixed bag. It has a lot of fun seeds in it that are not present in the other mixes, but it looks like at least some of those seeds are not being eaten. Most of the dark seeds still look intact. Even so, the birds did eat a lot of this mix.

I don't have a complete seed list, but according to the seller, the mix includes eight types of millet, seven different grass seeds, sterilized hemp, black lettuce, white lettuce, nyjer, white and red clover, caraway, anise, fennel, chia and oat groats.

Last but not least, we have Hagen's Finch VME staple mix. This one was the clear winner, in my opinion. Very little waste. It is pretty much just empty husks. Which I guess shouldn't come as a huge surprise, since it is almost entirely canary grass seed and five different flavors of millet, a budgie favorite.

20220208_143939.jpg

And there we have it. Four seed mixes, budgie taste-tested and approved. :)
 

Sparkles!

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The Australian blend has a distinctive fragrance. Do the others have a smell?
 

Destiny

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Never really noticed. Hang on, I'll go check.

...

The Australian Blend smells the best, kind of fruity and nutty. Glorious Gouldian millet mix also smells good - sweet and herby. Hagen Finch and Sleek & Sassy have almost no odor, just vaguely grainy.
 

Destiny

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Regarding GoldenFeast Australian Blend, I mentioned above that it has been reformulated a few times. When I bought it for the first time, this was the ingredient list:

20220208_144001.jpg

The bag I have right now still lists the old formulation, but it looks noticably different from what I have used previously and my birds don't eat nearly as much as they used to. Not sure if it is actually the same mix and just happens to look different because it is from a different batch or if it was mis-labelled.

This is what my bag looks like:

20220208_161406.jpg

Current packaging looks like this:
GF_Australian_Blend.png
This is the product image from the manufacturer's website:

Australian+Blend.jpg

And this is the new ingredient list:

White Millet, Cashews, Roasted Soybeans, Flaked Corn, Oats, Almonds, Walnuts, Sesame Seeds, Canary Seeds, Flaxseed, German Millet, Rapeseeds, Papaya, Peanuts, Lettuce Seeds, Red Millet, Dehydrated Pinto Beans, Dehydrated Black Beans, Roasted Garbanzo Beans, Pineapple, Dates, Green Peas, Beets, Apricots, Caraway Seeds, Carrots, Chia Seeds, Nyjer Seeds, Quinoa, Anise Seed, Lemon Peel, Fennel Seed, Chamomile, Parsley Flakes, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Casei Fermentation Product.

...

It is no longer peanut-free and has white millet as the first ingredient instead of four different kinds of nuts. It also has flaked corn, which is not my favorite ingredient to see. Corn tends to be used as a cheap filler in animal feed. I am also concerned that there are dehydrated beans in this formula, since it is my understanding that beans should be cooked before offering them to parrots. Not sure if dehydration alone will make them safe to eat. There are also quite a few missing ingredients, for better or worse, like cinnamon, ginger, wildflower seeds and bee pollen.

Basically, it is a very different product now.
 
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Sparkles99

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The Hagen Finch VME has me intrigued based on these results. Do you think your finches ate it or did the budgies help?
 

Destiny

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I am sure the budgies helped. They love millet.
 
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