What plant does BIRDSEED come from?

Question

I'm talking about the beige, hard, roundish, very tiny seeds that dominate a typical birdseed mix. What plant do they come from? Back when we used to have a bird feeder, some of the birdseed that fell to the ground began to sprout, but my mom got rid of the seedlings long before I could tell what type of plants they'd develop into.

Also, would the sprouts be edible for small animals like rats or hamsters? Certain rodent food mixes include birdseed, and I've seen them eat it, so I'm assuming they could eat the sprouts too?

Answer 1

What you are probably meaning is white proso millet. There is also red proso millet and a few other types of millet, but the most common is white proso. Red proso millet is most common in the western U.S. and not really very common in the east or midwest. There is a good picture of white proso millet at http://www.whitemillet.com/ where it is the page background.

Birdseed also often contains safflower seeds, which are oblong seeds that look kind of like sunflower seeds (without the shell), black nyjer seeds ("thistle" seeds), sunflower seeds, and a number of other seeds.

Rodents eat the seeds in the wild and rodents certainly eat greens as well. I do not see any problem with them eating the sprouts. The plants are not poisonous or anything like that. I would be hesitant to feed pets anything that has been under a birdfeeder though, for sanitation reasons. There are some nasty fungi and bacteria that birds can carry that you do not want getting passed on to rodents or people.

Answer 2

I don't know if the plants are edible for rodents, but the small, round, beige "common" bird seed you describe is called Millet.

Answer 3

I think the plant you are seeking for is the one called millet or broomcorn but its scientific name is: Panicum miliaceum from Gramineae family, you can search by the pics and more on the web by these names

i'm studying Agricultur

Answer 4

It is called millet. I let mine grow in the grass but it didn't do much of anything but make the lawn look bad. As for the greens, as long as they have vitamins they should be okay for a hamster. Seeing that they are a big part of their diet, it must be good for them. Thanks for the idea. I'll have to try it this summer.

Answer 5

I had the same thing happen with dropped birdseed and I let it grow out of curiosity. It got a great big thick stalk on it. I saw them selling it at the nursury but didn't catch the name.