I have some questions on how and when to add Flax Seed to the diet. Sometimes I see that people add Flax seed oil to their birds' food, and some people grind up the Flax seed. I've seen bags of flax seed at the fresh food market and it looks like a regular small seed to me - can it just be added to food as is? Is it more beneficial to add as an oil vs. whole or ground up? And how much is too much?

Sure, you can add plain flax seed. The big question is whether your birds will actually eat it or not, which is why some people resort to using the oil or grinding it up and adding it to mashes. I've heard that the golden flax seed is better than the brown kind, and of course organic is better than nonorganic.

You probably won't run into a 'too much' problem with whole seed unless a bird starts really pigging out on it. With oil, a very unscientific bird nutrition group that I belong to recommends one drop a day for birds under 500 grams and two drops for birds over 500 grams. I suspect that this is very over-conservative but it makes sense to keep the quantities very small for small birds. I don't know if it's possible to overdose on these nutrients but there are lots of calories in the oil. I put four drops on sprouts that will be shared by four cockatiels. The four of them combined don't weigh 500 grams, but they aren't going to eat more than about half the sprouts either so it works out to about half a drop per bird if I've mixed it evenly. The tiels have good feather color and no one is overweight, so it seems to be working out pretty well.

Thanks for your input, tielfan!

Sarah, I asked the same thing to Dr. O a couple of months ago during the winter when the heat was higher in our house. She told me she preferred the seed over the oil due to the oil going rancid much quicker.

I sprinkle the flax seed on daily. Do they eat it? Not sure, but that stuff sticks to everything in the bowl.

don't try to sprout it though. lol Its a tad too oily and tends to gum up the works when you try to rinse it!!

I have read that milled (ground) flax seed is recommended over whole seed, because milling makes the beneficial properties more available to the digestive system I believe.

Can someone tell me the benefits of adding milled flax seed to a birds diet? How often and how much? Does the amount vary between bird species? Sorry lots of questions lol

I add it to my birdie bread and to my version of the kitchen sink recipe.

Do you buy it already ground?