I order from Dr Foster & Smith a lot - remember with $49 you get free shipping - I have 7 birds including a parrot who loves Nutriberies and the parrot ones are 10% protein and 2 older rehomed healthy budgies (6 and 9) who have been on Nutriberries their entire lives so it is easy to have that much for me but their seed is very fresh and does store for a few months. The canary grass has not been colored and I get that and the white millet in 5 lb bags. They also have a lot of cool toys and perches and my guys love some of those shredding pinata toys and cholla wood perches - even though they look large for budgies they really like them and also can shred them

The canary grass seed has 5%, the sunflower seeds are 13% and safflower seeds are 16%...and the hulled oats are like 11%.

From what I keep reading, lovebirds protein levels shouldn't exceed 13% so I would just not add as many sunflower or safflower seeds. I am unsure of this though. I've looked everywhere and I just can't find a reliable source.

Thanks Cetan.

just google levels of protein in safflower or sunflower...sunflower is high in fat too...

I know that you should only give only three or four of the striped sunflower seeds a day. But luckily, Yoshi doesn't have a weight issue...as a matter of fact she's on the low spectrum because she's a little active bugger. I know the levels, I just don't know what's acceptable for a lovebird. I know that most mixes for them run about 13% but that's all I have to go on.

well its this way then...start lower and see what happens for say three weeks if it looks like yoshi can handle a tad more then do a tad more...start at say 9 or 10 % then if thats seems of try 10 or 11...giggle thats all i can suggest..especially if you dont have a way to weigh that would tell ya real quick like maybe a week giggle

Yea, I do have kitchen scales...that's how I get her weight. I do it once a month or so. I'm gonna just eyeball it and compare it to the alta loma and like you said, wait a little, and then weigh her and also monitor the seeds she is and isn't eating.

yah that about all you can do really...so your doing the smart way with all this...takes time to adjust everything just right.

So I got all the ingredients. I am still missing fruits and nuts but I am giving it my best.

I have been mixing small amounts using trial and error trying to mimic the way alta loma's looks the best I could.

This is the mix that I made up...I'm not sure what exactly the amount of each because I use the container I'm mixing it in and also I eyeball a lot of it. It does seem that 1/4 of it is canary grass, 1/4 is red and white millet, 1/4 is the hulled oats, barley, buckwheat, flax and the last 1/4 is safflower and sunflower. Then I just put two handfuls of the dried veggies in there. I would have put more, but Yoshi gets fresh veggies almost daily. This is just an estimate though. Don't quote me. LOL
Yoshi seems to like it...I am noticing more hulls and less seed in her dish. The only thing I will have to reorder on the next batch will be the red and white millet.

Without further ado, here's the picture of the finished mix:



Now doesn't that look better than any commercial mix out there?

looks very good from here ...i wonder does she really eat much safflower???? and where is the sterile hemp??? none of that??? id probably add a tad more of the veggies as i cant seeee much in there waaaaaaaaaah ...

alta loma is still now selling some seed and their canary mix i personally like better than any other ive seen...this what they call canary song blend...

http://altalomaseed.com/Canary.aspx

and if you look up top you have select by seed tab or by bird tab...

if you look at their ***plain canary seed you will see that doesnt really have much for protein in it kimmie...

where as the canary song blend is a mix of things you might be able to cut out of your original order...and they also have already a basic parrotlet mix...giggle ..so maybe again you wont have to order so much individually and they sell peanuts too

http://altalomaseed.com/Parrotlet.aspx

not the amitola as i see food coloring in that one

but instead the basic one...along with the canary song blend and there is most of your seed blend for less money

Thanks for the heads up. I might do that, I just am so afraid of the issues with them. That's what started this whole process. Hopefully, it's taken care of still when I get all this other stuff gone.