Ask Lafeber

nestling finch diet

Hi. If you have to hand raise baby finches, what diet do you recommend? What formulated diet would most be like the seeds the parents regurgitate to them?

Hi,

You shouldn’t have to hand raise the chicks. They are very hard to keep alive. If the parents aren’t feeding them, and you are only feeding seeds, this is the problem. Seeds are not an adequate diet for finches. If the parents stuff them with seeds, they often get an impacted crop. Or they don’t thrive because of the lack of nutrients. Loose seeds offer almost no nutritional value because the seeds in mixes are not fresh. You should be feeding the parents a nutritionally balanced diet like a finch pellet or granule, with only a very small amount of seed. You should also offer leafy greens, chopped veggies and while breeding, an egg food, daily. You can offer a commercial dry egg food, or cook an egg with the shell washed, crushed and cooked with the egg. If the parents abandon the chicks, you can try hand feeding them with a commercial baby bird formula, but again, they are not likely to survive, especially if you have never hand fed a bird before. Hopefully the parents will feed them.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda