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 Post subject: Re: Healthy treat
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 9:26 am 
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Name: Dee
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They're cannabis sativa seeds. That may sound bad if you're not open to the thought of cannabis but usually the ones that are eaten have been sterilised and won't grow if you accidentally drop some. Perfectly legal and everything haha. Birds go absolutely nuts for them. They're an oily seed and high in protein. Think of them as a healthier alternative to feeding sunflower seeds. I always use them with my birds as an additional snack and they favour them over anything else. Feed in moderation as they're still fatty of course but definitely a big win with small and large birds!


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 Post subject: Re: Healthy treat
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 10:51 am 
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The chart at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/i ... seeds1.jpg shows the nutrient content of some common grains, seeds, nuts (including hemp and sunflower), with a couple of vegetables thrown in for contrast. It's part of our article at http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/i ... seeds.html

Hemp and sunflower have almost the same calorie count, but hemp has significantly more protein with somewhat less fat and significantly less carbs. The fats in hemp include a decent amount of Omega 3 (which is essential but hard to get from the diet), while sunflower has almost none. Sunflower beats hemp in some ways (particularly vitamin E and the B vitamins), and you have to be careful not to overdo it with both sunflower and hemp because they're both high in calories.

But both are good to have in the diet in moderation. The human community calls sunflower a superfood, but there's a smear campaign against sunflower going on in the bird community. Sunflower is only bad if you feed too much of it, but some people have an "all or nothing" mentality and think that if too much of something is bad then a little bit of it must be bad too. Some of these same people will tell you to feed safflower or tree nuts instead but that doesn't make sense. Safflower is significantly lower in calories, but it's also lower in protein and the quality of the protein is a lot worse. Personally I'd rather have the sunflower because it delivers more in some important respects. Many of the tree nuts are higher in calories than sunflower without being better in any way that makes up for the extra calories.

BTW I don't believe in superfoods, and when you see that label it's a signal to beware of hype.



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 Post subject: Re: Healthy treat
PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:08 am 
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Name: Carolyn
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This is what hemp seed looks like:

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They're a fairly small seed, about twice the size of a millet seed. Some seed mixes have hemp in them. A lot of the hemp that's sold on the internet is meant from human consumption so it already has the shells removed, and they frequently don't tell you whether the shells are on or off. So if you want hemp seed with the shell still on, you have to check carefully to make sure that's what you're getting.

Hemp seed without the shell is quite tiny, and I think it looks sort of like shredded coconut.
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 Post subject: Re: Healthy treat
PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 9:20 am 
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Name: Melissa
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Im not against sunflower seeds he gets em in seed sticks. Ww got 2 free samples of food 2 cook 4 zorro. So far he just took a bean out of first one.



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