Mellowmalt
Songster
no it's 26% protein, and 20-50% fat for sunflower seeds actually. So since the numbers seem to just be plucked from thin air anyway, maybe just focus n whether they are healthy or not.
the black seeds have the highest fat content which is why no more than a few of them should be fed but fat provides them with energy so sunflowers are a good treat when they are stressed, when it is cold or ill.
I add lots of fat to my diet, it is not what makes birds actually become fat, fat gets turned into energy. It's only if they can't burn off that energy then they might become fat.
I find sunflower seeds too expensive to feed more than an occasional treat, it is more expensive than corn, wheat, barley, rye and their layer feed etc and certainly not worthy for wasting on wild birds but it's interesting to see some people would avoid the healthiest seeds altogether because they can make birds fat if fed in excess.
To me that would be the equivalent of a human deciding never to eat fruit again because fruit contains too much sugar.
As the saying goes a bit of everything and everything in moderation.
I have seen first hand what a deficient diet does to hatching eggs - it makes them weaker so if hatching out some eggs I think it is more important to add lots of different seeds, not just sunflowers.
The other argument already mentioned is that the layer feed is formulated to be all they need and feeding scratch will dilute that ratio of perfect feed.
So scratch should form no more than 10% of their diet (includung sunflower seeds) but it should be given as treats.
the black seeds have the highest fat content which is why no more than a few of them should be fed but fat provides them with energy so sunflowers are a good treat when they are stressed, when it is cold or ill.
I add lots of fat to my diet, it is not what makes birds actually become fat, fat gets turned into energy. It's only if they can't burn off that energy then they might become fat.
I find sunflower seeds too expensive to feed more than an occasional treat, it is more expensive than corn, wheat, barley, rye and their layer feed etc and certainly not worthy for wasting on wild birds but it's interesting to see some people would avoid the healthiest seeds altogether because they can make birds fat if fed in excess.
To me that would be the equivalent of a human deciding never to eat fruit again because fruit contains too much sugar.
As the saying goes a bit of everything and everything in moderation.
I have seen first hand what a deficient diet does to hatching eggs - it makes them weaker so if hatching out some eggs I think it is more important to add lots of different seeds, not just sunflowers.
The other argument already mentioned is that the layer feed is formulated to be all they need and feeding scratch will dilute that ratio of perfect feed.
So scratch should form no more than 10% of their diet (includung sunflower seeds) but it should be given as treats.
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