Everyone has their own ideas about feeding their birds with this that and the other but I just keep it nice and simple.

I buy straight seeds to make my own mixtures because the commercial mixtures are inconsistent. If you mix your own you know they’re how you want them.

For the basic diet, plain Canary seed is in the hoppers at all times. This is backed up with the oil seeds of (Niger) + (Black rape) + (Linseed), and cereals by means of (Japanese millet). These backup seeds are to be used as a mixture in equal parts being fed daily. From February the Linseed is to be withdrawn from the mix.

My soaked seed mixture is two parts each of (Canary seed) + (Japanese millet) and (Black Rape) along with one part (Niger seed). It is soaked for 12 hours, rinsed and then kept moist for a further 24 hours until it is split before use. This mixture has a soaked and sprouted content as the Canary seed takes much longer to germinate than the other three seeds. Ideal mix for rearing purposes. I always feed a fresh supply and never put any surplus in a fridge.

For green foods the only produce I have ever used is Lettuce (Romaine + Little Gem) and Broccoli. Some fanciers condemn lettuce but I have used it from the very beginning of my bird keeping days without any problems. I never have and never will use any greens or seeds from the wild.  

I have always used (CE-DE) for my commercial soft food but have sometimes mixed it (50%) with (EMP). I use couscous to bulk it out and prepare it as follows.

I take a cup of cold previously boiled kettle water to which a teaspoon of honey has been added and pour it over the dry couscous and leave it for 30 minutes so it can swell to its maximum. I then sieve the couscous to drain away the surplus water. The dry soft food is then added and mixed in to dry it out to crumbly moist. It is then finish it off with maw seed.  A mix for me is usually 4 tablespoons of couscous + 8 tablespoons of (CE-DE), finished off with 4 tablespoons of maw seed.

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From (October 1st ) To (January 31st) I feed green food and soft food once weekly.

From (February 1st) To (February 28th), twice weekly.

From (March 1st) To (March 31st), three times weekly.

From (April 1st) To (June 3oth) I feed to the requirements of the breeding cycle.

Then from (July 1st) To (September 30th) I feed green food or soaked seeds every day with the soft food being offered twice weekly.

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I don’t use grit of any kind but do offer charcoal every week throughout the year.

I add liquid calcium to the drinking water from (March 1st) until the first chicks hatch for two consecutive days each week.(Tues & Wed ).

Apple cider vinegar is given to all stock for three consecutive days every week of the year ( Fri, Sat & Sun) in the drinking water at the rate of (10ml) per litre.

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On the subject of added vitamins and magic tonics, I keep my money in my pocket. When we raced the pigeons we did a two year experiment. We raced all of the birds on the natural system as we always did but put half of the team on added vitamins and magic potions, etc, etc. There was no difference whatsoever in the performances of the two teams, so that was the end of that, no more tonics.

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