Food Quantities

[edarling]

Another thing that's been on my mind- I have read a lot about what kinds of things to feed Linnies, but how much of it?

Our Goose is getting a mix of Linnie Mix, Miracle Meal and a diminishing amount of the ZuPreem pellets he's used to in his food bowl. About 1/2 of a normal spoon of each. We've been giving him that food bowl outside of the cage to encourage him coming out, and he has been hanging out with me for a few hours in the morning and evening while I work from home and eating as he pleases. So, he never finishes what's in the bowl and likely it could last him two or three days, maybe this is kind of wasteful?

In the cage each day we put a bowl of bits of fresh fruit and veg so that's available all the time. Like, half a grape, a baby spinach leaf, a chard leaf piece, a few almond slices, a slice of cabbage, and an orange section, something like that, but it differs depending on the fruit and veg on hand. Plus a water bowl, bowl of "bird salad" herbs, and some millet and pine nuts in the foraging toys I've made out of egg cartons. And we eat fried eggs a lot in this house, so he often gets a few tiny bites of that (sans salt or hot sauce!).

This is just my best guess at how to do this... but I'd love more specific quantity guidelines if there are any!

 

[Love My Linnie]

Laura (EddiesAviary) has written a very informative article in the feeding section here on the forum. She’s a very knowledgeable Linnie breeder and shares a lot of helpful info and advice on healthy diet for Linnies in that article. It sounds like you’re feeding Goose a good diet. I got my Linnie, Toula, from Laura and she’s helped me immensely with regard to advice for feeding a healthy diet. Sounds like Goose is a loved little Linnie!

 

[Eddie's Aviary]

Another thing that's been on my mind- I have read a lot about what kinds of things to feed Linnies, but how much of it?

Our Goose is getting a mix of Linnie Mix, Miracle Meal and a diminishing amount of the ZuPreem pellets he's used to in his food bowl. About 1/2 of a normal spoon of each. We've been giving him that food bowl outside of the cage to encourage him coming out, and he has been hanging out with me for a few hours in the morning and evening while I work from home and eating as he pleases. So, he never finishes what's in the bowl and likely it could last him two or three days, maybe this is kind of wasteful?

In the cage each day we put a bowl of bits of fresh fruit and veg so that's available all the time. Like, half a grape, a baby spinach leaf, a chard leaf piece, a few almond slices, a slice of cabbage, and an orange section, something like that, but it differs depending on the fruit and veg on hand. Plus a water bowl, bowl of "bird salad" herbs, and some millet and pine nuts in the foraging toys I've made out of egg cartons. And we eat fried eggs a lot in this house, so he often gets a few tiny bites of that (sans salt or hot sauce!).

This is just my best guess at how to do this... but I'd love more specific quantity guidelines if there are any!

Your diet sounds good, but I would focus your fresh on the high Vitamin A veggies most. Red, orange and yellow veggies are generally highest in this. You can google "high vitamin A vegatables" to get a list. Sweet potato (steamed), peppers, carrot, and beets (I go with golden over red in show season to prevent feather staining) are some favorites enjoyed by mine.

As to the amount of food to feed, Linnies don't have a propensity to get obese like some other species, even when free feeding. The amount you offer does matter however because if you don't leave Linnie Mix in long enough, they may just pick out the papaya or their favorite seeds first, and if you replace it too soon... they just repeat the cycle and can miss all the other important ingredients.

Start with a tablespoon, and see how long it takes to consume it. Feeding a little less, more often is helpful in getting them to eat it all. I like to offer the fresh foods/cooked/sprouts BEFORE I offer the tasty mix so that they get that in them. Age of produce, and where it was produced matters in remaining vitamin and mineral content. I am excited the weather is getting better so we can all take advantage of our gardens and/or farmers markets.

 

[srirachaseahawk]

This lines up with how I feed my boys.
They get a bowl of fresh veg and/or sprouts in the morning, followed up with their pellets for the day to free-feed.
They have a separate bowl with the Linnie Mix and Bird Salad from chirpcentral (along with ground up Tops pellets, since they won't just eat them ).

I like to give them time to attack the veg first, since they are both pellet hounds and would eat that to the exclusion of everything else if they had the chance.

Seed mix gets replaced every other day or so.