Fonio Seed

[laurab]

Hey Matthew

My Waxbills love that very over-priced Fonio seed :razz: ;-)

[Waxbillman]

i'm glad to hear it Laura,

£8 a bag, i will never pay that Laura, you southerners have too much money!!

i would like to know what it does, because we love chocolate and would eat nothing but that given the chance, but we can't because its bad for use :D

Matthew

[chris]

Hi All,

2 questions:

1) what is so special about fonio paddy/seed

2) will they be selling it at stafford:)

Chris;-)

[Waxbillman]

they will sell it at Stafford, look for the stallholders who have pound signs in thier eyes and them constantly rubbing their hands together:lol:

another one has fallen for it then?

Matthew

[chris]

nope, the plan is to buy a small bag, feed half of it to see if the birds like it, then plant the other half and have some fresh fonio later on in the year:lol:

[Waxbillman]

good idea, worth a try, if it works i will grow it

Matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Hello all,

Laura,

Although I'm not surprised, I'm pleased your Waxbills are enjoying the Fonio,:D does this mean you will continue to offer it to your Birds throughout the breeding season?

Matthew,

What Fonio does is give our Birds the opportunity to eat a far more Natural Grass Seed, other than Millets etc, I have used search engines to research the properties of Fonio and although this was a time consuming task I am convinced that Fonio is a valuable addition to my Birds diet.

Also I don't agree with your comments regarding chocolate, I would be very happy to eat a Chinese Take Away one night, a Curry the next, followed by Sausage, Egg and Chips the night after and rotate throughout the year.:D

And another thing I love Marlboro and Kronenbourg, and as you know full well for having met me, despite giving in to these two things I'm still very much a picture of health.:lol:

Chris and Matthew,

Fonio apparently does hold Medicinal properties of some kind exactly what I still don't know, but then again Perrilla Seed contains unexplained Medicinal properties too, some Birdkeepers where put off of providing Perrilla for their Birds based upon the high price of this seed also (although it is a lot cheaper than Fonio).

But please consider this, for quite a few years now Continental Birdkeepers have been regarded as the leaders in the breeding of several Bird Species, why?
Just think about it for a while, do we in the UK house our Birds so differently?
To a degree yes we do, but only because most UK Birdkeepers don't tend to specialise as much as Continental breeders, then think of the other factors that could be so different, the single factor that we in the UK that sets us apart from Continental Birdbreeders is diet!

Then think of what exactly a Finch, Sparrow, Bunting, Mannikin, Waxbill, Grassfinch etc would feed on in the Wild, it certainly wouldn't be Kiln dried Millet Seed.
Fonio and other Natural Grass Seeds etc contain far more nutritional value than Kiln dried Millets etc.
When a Wild Seedeating Bird feeds itself or youngsters will always chose to eat the softer, recently ripe Seeds other than the over ripe and hardened Seeds when both are available.

So during the breeding season I offer my Seedeating Birds the usual dry mixtures, but in addition I also offer these Seeds in soaked form including Pannicum and Red Anjou Millet sprays, also Fonio, Perrilla (White and Brown) is also offered as well as seasonal Wild Grasses.

But the single most important Seed I have seen used by my Birds is the highly priced Fonio Seed, although tiny (slightly smaller than Blue Maw) I have found Seedeating Birds from Africa, Asia and South America etc eat this for themselves as well as feeding it to their youngsters.

Chris I look forward to your results in growing Fonio, I have tried it with the Plants I grew providing a very low amount of Seed per Plant, this may explain why the Seed is priced so highly?

Paul.;-)

[laurab]

You will have to buy the seed first Matthew :lol: :lol:

[PAUL HEARN]

A very good point Laura,

Go on dig deep Matthew.:lol:

Paul.:D