Wild Bird Seed? / Millet

[ChipmunkLuver]

mjs Short version -

Can you give wild bird food to chipmunks?

Audubon Wild Bird Food
Ingredients - Millet, grain products, sunflower seeds.


:D Reason -

Recently I began re-reading all my books about owning Chipmunks and noticed that my favorite expert (Henwood - A well-written guy who's been raising/breeding Chipmunks for ages, and has been a published writer since before I was born), recommends having half your diet, not as pellets as I've done, but as grains (oats, wheat, millet, etc). I checked the analysis of the pellets and decided adding some more grain wouldn't be a bad idea at all. So far my two boy Chippies have been introduced to oats (milled, biggest ones I could find) and barely (pearled, was tougher for me to find). They love them! They tend to eat the oats first though. I noticed, when feeding the birds earlier, that the ingredients in their mix was millet & grain. I'm planning to remove the sunflower seeds if I give some millet and grain to the the boys - but should I?

I've heard of seed companies using protective coatings on wild seed and that was my main reason for hesitating. Years ago they used to, before removing them altogether, put a protective layer around the Hemp seed in USA bird food so that the seed would be unable to germinate (By the way, such seed is available in the UK and is the best source of Omega-3's and is not just nutritious but I've heard is very loved by chips & squirrels). I don't know what the coating is made of and don't like the idea of anything un-organic so when I remembered that seed coating I paused.

Should I feed them the seed? Or try and find millet elsewhere? Should I forget the idea altogether? Anyone's thoughts are appreciated! :grouphug

[Pointy Tale]

ChipmunkLuver—I am not an expert by any means, so I’ll leave all the technical stuff to the experts, however we have wild chipmunks who will eat this food, if available. Mine did enjoy the Audubon Wild Bird Food a little too much, but I’m not sure if it’s that good for them and have stopped giving it to them. Is this for a pet? If it were me, I would give one HHblock, much healthier, IMO. Have you looked at the nutrition section yet? Also psychotic feather feeds her pet chipmunk Ahrlan a wonderful diet > Ahrlan the Escape Artist > post # 139, page 7, I think, essentially she feeds him:


Romaine lettuce, Baby carrot (every other week), Bell Pepper, Cucumber, Spinach, Portabella Mushroom, avocado, A few kernals of fresh corn,
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Smile piece of whole wheat bread, a few cherrios
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1 cherry, 1 blackberry, 1 blueberry
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small dab of peanut butter
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spoonfull of yogurt
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1/4th cup of chipmunk food
which can be found here http://www.cunipic.com/ if you go to the "Home > Productos > Alimento > Alimento Conejos y Roedores > ARDILLA"
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5 mealworms
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2 squirrel blocks
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1/4th tum once a week

[ChipmunkLuver]

ChipmunkLuver—I am not an expert by any means, so I’ll leave all the technical stuff to the experts, however we have wild chipmunks who will eat this food, if available. Mine did enjoy the Audubon Wild Bird Food a little too much, but I’m not sure if it’s that good for them and have stopped giving it to them. Is this for a pet? If it were me, I would give one HHblock, much healthier, IMO. Have you looked at the nutrition section yet? Also psychotic feather feeds her pet chipmunk Ahrlan a wonderful diet > Ahrlan the Escape Artist > post # 139, page 7, I think, essentially she feeds him:


Thank you for replying! Yes, this is for a pet - my chippies, or at least the ones I'm mentioning here, are indoor pets. I had wanted to incorperate millet but just wasn't sure if wild bird feed would be okay. I've already basically figured their main diet, though it's had a few changes - primarily they get pellets, yogurt raisins/drops, oats, barely and rosehips. Plus whichever fruit is around, and any treats (IE: peanut, etc).

(X I /may/ order some of those HHblocks but I bought a ton of food (for new girlie chips!) just recently as well, that kinda cleaned out my bank.

Perhaps I'm a bit too cautious.. If it works for wild critters it should be fine, but better safe than sorry. Especially when it comes to the health of my beloved boys ^_^ Oh, and it is also funny you mention Ahrlan - I have just ran into his owner and she really calmed some of my fears earlier. Totally pwnsome. One thing I didn't get - "1/4 tum" - what's that? I'm picturing those pink Tums tablets but that doesn't make much sense XP

[island rehabber]

One thing I didn't get - "1/4 tum" - what's that? I'm picturing those pink Tums tablets but that doesn't make much sense XP

That's exactly what she means -- one fourth of a Tums tablet, for calcium. :D

[Pointy Tale]

It is great to see that you are asking questions, making adjusting and doing whatever is best for them, just brightens the day a bit. Can't wait to see pictures of the new ones when they arrive. Good luck figuring everything else, which I was more help, but so glad you've chatted with PF, very good chipmunk owner.:)

Oh, I almost forgot, but wanted to restate, I No Longer feed the "bird food" anymore, IMO, I just don't think it is healthy for them, although I am no expert. So, the Blocks you are getting that is a great idea.:)

Good luck to you.

[ChipmunkLuver]

Aha, tums XP I find that amusing to picture a chip eating that little pink block..

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Well, I've learned it's a process XP One book only has one person's opinions so you need to read more, talk to other people and get some direct experience.. Difficult since they're rare to find as pets! That's why this forum is so awesome.

I just posted a picture of my new chips' house, but it looks so empty X( I can't wait for Sunday.. I'll probably have some pictures next week ^_^

I'm shying more & more away from the wild stuff - I think that'll indeed be for the outdoor critters only.. Though, I need to pickup another nestbox so when I do I'm thinking about buying some millet then to try out..