A good diet for pet birds includes seeds and pellets, but there’s a naturally occurring delicacy that most birds are ravenous for: sprouted seeds.
Seeds that have just started to sprout are one of the most nutritious items you can feed birds. Sprouting releases vitamins and minerals in dormant seeds.
If you want to feed your bird sprouted seeds as a nutritious addition to their diet, seed sprouting kits are available, but it’s also possible to do it yourself with supplies you likely already have at home. Here’s how:
Line a shallow cookie sheet or pie pan with wet newspaper.
Sprinkle a seed mix that’s appropriate for your species of bird on the damp paper. Be sure that the seed mix contains just seeds and not pellets, which will rot in this process.
Lay plastic wrap over the pan and let sit for two days.
The next day, the seeds will be plump. By Day 2, roots and green sprouts will be popping out of the seeds.
Peel off the plastic wrap and rinse the seeds before offering them to your bird.