# Feeding sunflower seeds to ferals



## draykie (Dec 14, 2006)

Hi all. Long time no see.

Our current feral is an avid fan, along with the family he's brought to us, of sunflower and red milo seeds. I have a slight question about sunflower seeds, though. We feed him unshelled, unseasoned, altogether plain sunflower seeds, the same we've fed to our ferals for years now, and he seems to be getting a bit chubby. He's not puffy, as is a sign of a sick pigeon, but just a little fat about the tummy.

The only reason I worry a bit is because, as I said, we've been feeding these seeds to our birds for years now and each of our birds has tended to grow a bit chubby, labouring their flight speed and occasionally making them seem a bit under the weather. Could it just be because, in this case, the pigeons get to eat around 1-4 times a day? Or is there something mildly harmful to a bird's digestive system in sunflower seeds?

Thanks in advance.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

They are VERY fattening. Cut back on them and the birds will be fine.  In fact, I'd give them about a week or so without the sunflower seeds.


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## pdpbison (Mar 15, 2005)

Personally I NEVER feed any Pigeons the 'large' Sunflower Seeds.


I will only feed the 'small' so-called "Black Oil" kinds.


These are about 3/8ths of an inch long, in the shell.



Phil
l v


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## draykie (Dec 14, 2006)

Alright, good to know. Thanks a lot for the really quick answers. I'm regretting having fed these things so much to my other ferals now. 

After a week of no sunflower seeds, what would be a reasonable rate to reintroduce them, if at all? My current ferals really seem to love the red milo seeds that come in pigeon/dove seed mixes, as well as these little glossy white ones. In fact, they prefer them to the sunflower seeds hands-down, so maybe putting the birds on a diet won't be so hard on them after all.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

draykie said:


> Alright, good to know. Thanks a lot for the really quick answers. I'm regretting having fed these things so much to my other ferals now.
> 
> After a week of no sunflower seeds, what would be a reasonable rate to reintroduce them, if at all? My current ferals really seem to love the red milo seeds that come in pigeon/dove seed mixes, as well as these little glossy white ones. In fact, they prefer them to the sunflower seeds hands-down, so maybe putting the birds on a diet won't be so hard on them after all.


If the little white glossy ones are safflower seeds.......guess what?? Those are fattening too!! Sorry.........I guess they are like us. They like best what's not REALLY good for them. My birds love the safflower too.


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## draykie (Dec 14, 2006)

After image-searching safflower seeds, yeah, those are them. Then again, to about 200 red milo, there are about three safflowers, so maybe it won't be too hard on them.

There are also little brown ones that look somewhat like the safflower seeds, but smaller, more rounded, and duller. They liked those for a while, but then they turned their collective attention to eradicating the red milo seeds. I hope the red milo are good for them; they -love- those.


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## Victor (Dec 18, 2004)

Hi Drakie,

Try lentils and plit green peas found on your grocery shelf. Another good one is BROWN dry rice. All cheap and healthy!

By the way, I love the name! (my newest grandson)


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## draykie (Dec 14, 2006)

Haha. It's a good name. 

I picked up some pearl barley and red split lentils at the grocery store today for the ferals. They're pretty small and are apparently 'high in fibre'. Hopefully, they'll like them.


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## draykie (Dec 14, 2006)

Good news! Little Evil gorged himself on the pearl barley today.  I think he was even stuffing himself so quickly that he started to make little 'woo' noises as he ate. I looked over at him from inside the house and he glanced up at me, crop bulging, and made one of those weird sounds. Maybe he was saying thanks.

The red lentils were another story. He threw those everywhere and didn't seem interested in them in the least. It might be the vibrant orange colour they have, because none of his foods so far have ever had that colour to them. His son wasn't a big fan either, but he also didn't even try the barley and just went straight for his favourites - safflower and red milo. What a little brat. Meanwhile, Mum just got terrified of the new food and flew away without a bite.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Sounds like the new food items caused quite a stir! Seems that your little one really enjoyed the barley.

Terry


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## george simon (Feb 28, 2006)

I see no reason NOT to feed sunflower seeds to wild birds in the winter time they Burn the fat to keep warm, further more shelled sun flower seeds are more bulk as the shell is of very little value except as bulk. We must remember that wild birds are not race birds or house pets they need all the help that they can get so they can survive during the winter. .GEORGE


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## draykie (Dec 14, 2006)

I think I've irritated the little prince. After discovering he liked the barley, I filled about 75% of his dish with it, and the rest with his favourite - the red milo. He dug through the barley, throwing it halfway across the balcony, to get to his reds. 

I'll probably give our ferals sunflower seeds once or twice a week, not everyday like I used to. It's just that I worry about when predators move into the area; often, it seems our pigeons got too fat to fly fast enough and escape the hawks that were after them. Nonetheless, Evil has a good house within the local rental store's broken sign, so I hope he's warm enough.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

george simon said:


> I see no reason NOT to feed sunflower seeds to wild birds in the winter time they Burn the fat to keep warm, further more shelled sun flower seeds are more bulk as the shell is of very little value except as bulk. We must remember that wild birds are not race birds or house pets they need all the help that they can get so they can survive during the winter. .GEORGE


I would normally agree with you George, however Draykie said that the birds were getting to fat. They're there, I'm not, so I have to take his word for it. If that's the case, then they ARE in danger of not being able to move as quick when there's danger, so that's why I said what I did.


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