What's in your bird's water?

[JavaLover]

Hi guys,
With my recent loss of my little Java (you can read about it in health) the local avian specialist (supposed to be the best in the area, used to work for the local wildlife sanctuary and is considered a bit of a guru) told me that the most essential thing to add to the water for birds that eat a mainly seed diet is a multi vitamin. He gave me Soluvet from Vetafarm that is 13 vitamins and iodine. You can also add it to the food if you want but either way it does say it's only needed twice a week unless the bird is sick or stressed then it can be used daily. All of the birds in his hospital had a little container of it.
Calcium should be added if they don't eat cuttle fish or egg shells but my finches go nuts for the egg shells and shell grit.
As long as they get the seed, vitamins and calcuium, he seems to think this is all they need for health reasons but natural browse, flowers, grass seeds all picked fresh are great for enrichment and interest along with fruit and vegies. (please check that the local flora is non toxic, they probably won't eat it if it is but why take the chance! also don't pick anything right next to the road in case of exhaust sediment) I am interested in the comfrey thing though. I am for anything that works so keep adding anything that comes up! I am interested to hear what other people do.

[Laura]

It seems like many bird-owners here are putting some good deal o' stuff in their birds' water! When we had birds, we never did such a thing. The budgies just had plain, fresh drinking water everyday.

I've never done this before, but is tap water okay for birds to drink? Or should I just use bottled water when I get my finches?

[Sally]

If your tap water is good enough for you to drink, it is fine for the birds. Lots of the things we do for our birds are fairly new ideas. I think we've all gone thru just giving the basics, but now there is more study into what is best for the birds, and it seems variety truly is the spice of life! You don't have to do all that you read about on here--some things are done because people have breeding birds, and for them you need to do extra things, but a basic seed diet does not have enough vitamins, so that is one thing you would want to supplement for sure. At the Finch Information Center, there is a whole section on nutrition, so before you get your birds, that would be a good area to study.

[Laura]

I will definitely supply my birds with fresh veggies and fruits, as well as their seed diet. I have done quite a bit of research online, but almost every website is either inaccurate or just say the basic stuff. I will check out the Finch Information Center soon, thanks.

[jamezyboo21]

Im still new at this so i just use premium 8 in 1 Multi-drops. i to worried to try and use other stuff like the apple cider vinegar and all that other stuff.