Do I give vitamins or not??

[rainbowfeathers77]

Hi
Just after your opinion and expertise advice about whether or not I should be giving my birds vitamins??
My GCC gets fed pellets, fruit & veg - I don't give him any vitamin supps.
My red-rumps eat only seed, plus get their fruit and veg - i put vitamins in their water.

[vankarhi]

I give my birds (now..........never used to) calcium supplements and vitimans. I was putting it in their water but don't like to do that so I bought some calcium powder and sprinkle it on their food. I do this only because my eclectus both have had toe tap. Skye gets it and I am pretty sure it is a calcium deficency as within 24 hours she is fine after getting cuttlefish bone and boiled eggs with the shell still on it and plenty of fresh food and veges. With Gunny I have noticed stress seems to bring toe tap out for him but he too is fine within about 24 hours. So now I am adding the calcium to their diet but not their water. I just think it is nice to drink fresh clean water not horrible tasting water.

I give Shrekie the same now as she will be getting a mate in about 2 weeks and I need her to be in healthy (not that she isn't now) condition for him (nest boxes have been built if you get my drift. lol )

Other wise unless I see a problem I don't give added vitimans. They should get what they need from the food they get. Mine get fresh food and veges, plenty of fruit and some seeds as well. I am now experiementing with the ekkies with just heaps of sprouted seeds mixed with fresh fruit and vegs and boiled rice etc. This lot of sprouts I am also sprouting chickpeas and lentils and will be buying mung beans also. So hopefully just the added calcium will be necessary.

[rainbowfeathers77]

Thanks for that insight!! Now I'm confused as to what I should be feeding my birds. I normally give them either seeds or pellets plus cut up fresh & raw fruit and veg....your birds sound like they get "le gourmet a la carte" meals .....wanna share some food ideas ??
Re the vits...I too feel uncomfortable about putting it in their water, can't be pleasant but I was worried that they might not eat their food if the vits were powdered on...but then again, I haven't tried it

[avinet]

If birds are getting pellets fruit and vegies then vitamin supplements are not needed. They will get all they need and it is possible to overdose on vits.

However if it is a seed diet (seed is missing many of the vitamins such as vit A) then it is more difficult to know if your bird is getting enough vitamins from whatever frit and vegies it may selectively eat. In that case it is worth giving vitamin supplements a couple of days a week as a safety net.

In addition breeding hens should always get a calcium supplement if they are on seed, however pellets will generally provide sufficient calcium to satisfy their needs.

cheers,

Mike

[rainbowfeathers77]

Thanks Mike.

[AussieBirds]

My birds, namely Red Rumps, Budgies, Princess Parrots and Cockatiels, every day it is mixed in with the water in a 4ltr container for each aviary and replaced every day, I personally believe if you are breeding birds and expect them to give you young then they should get the best of everything, and that includes vitamins.

Sure they get a lot of nutrients from their food, however a little extra boost to the system doesn't hurt them, in fact it has the opposite effect, birds are like people they need there vitamins and lets face it there are some that are not given or obtained from food alone.

Just a personal thing here, but i am sure i will get a fair amount of support from other members, I do not and indeed refuse to feed my birds pellets they are artificial and indeed in SOME cases can be toxic, you must remember they were artificially manufactured by humans and indeed were produced under great heat and pressure, stick to natural seed, the birds like it and there is no weaning period in order to get them going on it.

I hope this helps you out.

John

[rainbowfeathers77]

Thanks John!!!

[vankarhi]

I am one who does not give pellets for the only reason (well two reasons) .......... one I also think they are not a natural thing for the birds to eat (I also don't give my dogs processed foods either) and two........they can cause problems for ekkies due to possible overloading of vitamins and possible artificial products in them.

I am not a breeder, but am giving my birds calcium and some vitamins at the moment due to them possibly breeding soon for the first time and trying to test out the possible lack of calcium that I believe might be causing my ekkies to toe tap from time to time.

[gooka]

I give my budgies (breeders) a multi vitamin powder on their sprouted seeds everyday during their breeding time and every second day when they are not breeding.
My fids (Duncan the GCC, Cheepy the budgie and Sunny the 'tiel) all get a vitamin supliment in their food once a week.
This along with plenty of fresh fruit & vegies seems to keep them in pretty good shape.

*** For those of you wondering who Sunny is, take a look in squalk Talk..I have introduced him in there****

[nurse01]

ahh the old pellets verses seed debate...
I think everyone is going to have their own opinion, so I may as well put mine out there too!

As a vet nurse I see lots of birds that are in poor condition due to poor diet (which is mostly due to an all seed diet) but I am positive that you wil find most people on this forum feeding a large quantity of fruit and veg as well, which is fantastic and very important for the health of most birds!!

I think what has been said is pretty much all true- if your birds are getting seed only with the odd piece of fruit and veg, it may warrent vitamin supplements.
However, we just purchased 2 more Alexes (ahh, i know!!) who had been fed a seed diet along with fruit and veg. I did a blood test on each of them to check their health and both were showing signs of malnourishment.
So, I will be slowly changing to pellets.
SOOO over all, in my opinion,
pellets + fruit and veg= guarantee getting a balanced diet
seed + vitamins= not a guarantee feeding exact approriate amounts of nutrients

[avinet]

nurse01 said:

pellets + fruit and veg= guarantee getting a balanced diet
seed + vitamins= not a guarantee feeding exact approriate amounts of nutrients

My thoughts exactly!!!!

I used to be a seed and fresh food advocate, in fact there are probably still articles I wrote on the subject hiding in dark corners of the Internet. However I was shocked 4 or 5 years ago when I took what I thought were basically a very healthy pair of 10 year old cockatiels to Adrian Gallagher for a minor problem and he pointed out all these signs of malnutrition in feathers, sinuses, eyes and blood work. These were birds which had always been given and eaten plenty of daily vegies, and had a good quality seed mix.

Soon afterwards a very healthy looking ringneck was found dead in the aviary for no apparent reason and I took it in for Adrian to autopsy, and it turned out that this bird was in great feather, had good body weight and died of a fatty liver disease, caused by a seed based diet, at only 9 years old.

SO all my house birds are on pellet, fruit and vegie diets, my malnourished cockatiels are going strong and have good blood and feather structure, and look likely to live well into their 20's. And the results are visible in breeding results with my ringnecks, Sasha and Jello (their story is still to be posted) last spring had 7 fertile eggs in a clutch, where they used to only have around 4 in pre-pellet days.

I am a pellet convert

cheers,

Mike

[robert]

Thanks Nurse01 and Mike for your comments here. Nice to have a vet Nurse on this form.Are you an Avian Vet Nurse as well.They have two at www.bbevs.com.au. Also very good to have Mike on this forum.He is so knowledgeable. Thank for you both.. from Robert and Angel

[nurse01]

No problem! Thats why I love coming on here! ITs called FRIENDLY bird forum. You can hear everyones different opinions and everyone is keen to hear different ideas.
I worked at a Bird hospital in the States but I work at a small animal hospital here.
Cheers.

[vankarhi]

The trouble with our food nowadays is they are supposed to be fresh (and even if they are) they are quite oftne lacking in vitamins and minerals. I do try to grow some of my own..........but not always successfully.