Soluvite D3 Breeder ( In the UK )

[MiaCarter]

dutch - Indeed, I've been using it daily for quite a while. Maybe 6-8 weeks? (Give/take. I'm awful with remembering time!) The Soluvite D Breeder is part of my multivitamin cocktail. I was giving it when Squeepers was in-egg and then after as I planned to breed Molly Sue and Ivy (Molly Sue is super old, so I wanted to give them all the support possible.)

I've had it for about a year now (I looked it up and it was April 2013 when I bought that big order of supplements to help try to combat all the chick losses, thinking it was possibly nutritional.) It's one of the supplements I use whenever I have the nests in-cage and possible breeding. So I'd say I've used it for about 9 out of the past 12 months?

Yes, everyone is indoors.

The only real health problem lately has been Priscilla (though I had a sudden death in her sister, Maggie a while back. More than a couple months ago, now.) Maggie and Priscilla were both rescues and they've been rather sickly in the few years I've had them. (Maggie much more so than Priscilla.)

It's rather hard to remember, as I take in a fair number of fosters who are sick, neglected and generally too unwell to go to a home. So it's hard to keep track from memory! But before that, I think the last serious illness/death was a year or more before that? Prior to Maggie, the last 2 deaths in my flock were an old Spice finch (I don't recall off the top of my head, but age was around a decade, as he was among my first finches) and Sandy, Molly Sue's old mate, and she was around 9, if memory serves.

The dying chicks have been due to tossing and failure to feed - behavioral. (And now seeing how sick Priscilla is, it's no wonder she tossed/failed to feed! The babies arrived when she was just starting to show symptoms.)
Overall, I've never had problems with fertility. I see very few clear eggs - maybe around 5%?

As I said, I've never seen any noticeable benefit, but it's one of those things where it's hard to quantify. I have it, so I give it. I probably won't buy it again, as it's just so much more than someone like me needs and it will go bad long before I finish the canister. To be honest, when I bought it, I had no idea how big the canister was. Though I may buy the Soluvite D, as it's available in smaller quantities.

[dutch]

MiaCarter.....do use any lights

Besides soluvite do use any other vitamin supplements

[MiaCarter]

dutch -- Yup, I use lights.

I use a bunch of different supplements that comprise my multivitamin concoction.
There's an actual multivitamin, an iodine supplement, calcium plus (I usually do the powder over food, but I also have drops), and probiotics.

There's a multivitamin breeder's supplement called Breeder's Blend that I sprinkle on fresh foods:
http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/produc ... sblend.php

That's about it. I have a few others, but I don't use them regularly as it would be too much of certain nutrients.

I just got some NV powder too, but I never used that before just a couple days ago.

I also sprinkle Missing Link (http://www.missinglinkproducts.com/inde ... an-formula) and handfeeding formula over my homemade egg food to give it a more crumbly texture (and to use up some of the formula which will go off long before I use it up. I got a huge 18 oz/510g container which is probably enough to raise a few dozen clutches of tiny finches! LOL)

[dutch]

MiaCarter....that's alot of supplements. ..

Why so many?......did you try them and they didn't do anything?.....or do your birds need all those different supplements

[Sally]

I just heard from Vetafarm, and as suspected, Soluvite D and Soluvite D Breeder are one and the same. The Breeder is simply made up to be a less expensive option for large breeders, but the solution is the same. So for those who would like to try this product and have just a few birds, the Soluvite D would be fine to use. Here is the email I received today:

"The soluvite D and soluvite D breeder are exactly the same product except the breeder version is made at 10 x the strength - specifically for bird keepers who have many birds.

The D breeder version is much better value for money as its not 10 times more expensive.

Both products - when made up according to the directions - are the same strength."

[dutch]

Sally....good to know that I can use both if I can't get hold of the breeder...thanks sally

[MiaCarter]

Sally -- Ah, good to know!
I thought maybe the Breeder would have more of certain ingredients, but it's good to know they're the same.

@dutch -- Just covering my bases, really, as most are not good balanced eaters. (In fact, my two best eaters aren't breeding.)
To be honest, 80-90% of the fresh foods I put in there don't get eaten by more than 1 bird. So one bird may eat eggs, peas, cucumber, seeds and millet, another may only eat bugs, seeds, millet, carrots and apples and so on.
In fact, I could probably feed only seed and millet and most would be happy as clams. (My conscience, of course, won't let me do that. They live in a cage, with only a 2-3 hours out each day, when in nature, they would be flying around in the beautiful outdoors. So good food is the least I can do! LOL)

So without the supplements, I feel like they would be deficient.
But with lots of the supplements, I only put them on certain foods so they can opt to eat them or not, as I know they tend to gravitate toward the things they need.

[thenootz]

JFYI,
There is an alternative to Soluvite D which I've used for the first time, starting 2 month's ago, with noticeable results. It's called Ferti-vit and its made by Oropharma (Versele Laga) from Belgium, meaning can be faster acquired by European guys, at least.

Bellow you can find the analysis per/kg:

Vitamin A 3.000.000 IU/kg
Vitamin D3 220.000 IU/kg
Vitamin E 45.000 mg/kg
Vitamin C 13.000 mg/kg
Vitamin K3 650 mg/kg
D-pantothenate calcium 2.400 mg/kg
Vitamin B1 900 mg/kg
Vitamin B2 3.500 mg/kg
Vitamin B6 1.300 mg/kg
Vitamin B12 6 mg/kg
Niacin 17.500 mg/kg
Biotin 33 mg/kg
Folic acid 330 mg/kg
L-lysine 20.000 mg/kg
DL-methionine 30.000 mg/kg
E1 - Iron (iron sulphate monohydrate) 2.500 mg/kg
E2 - Iodine (calcium iodate, anhydrous) 100 mg/kg
E4 - Copper (copper (II) sulphate pentahydrate) 500 mg/kg
E5 - Manganese (manganese sulphate monohydrate) 5.000 mg/kg
E6 - Zinc (zinc sulphate monohydrate) 4.500 mg/kg

For Soluvite D I've found the following composition:

Guaranteed Analysis (per kg):
Vitamins A 1,000,000 IU
D3 - 250.000 IU
E - 2,500 IU
K - 2000 mg
Niacin - 5,000 mg
Pantothenic Acid - 1,242 mg
Riboflavin - 1,200 mg
Thiamine - 470 mg
Pyridoxine - 400mg
Cyanocobalamin(B12) - 5 mg
Folic Acid - 225 mg
Choline Bitartrate - 40 mg
Biotin - 10 mg
Iodine - 200 mg

Web sources:
-Ferti-vit (http://www.oropharma.com/NUTRI/Nutritio ... &pro=18929)
-Soluvite D (https://www.birdsupplynh.com/catalog/pr ... ts_id=2113)




Daniel

[Sally]

thenootz@Max Thanks for that analysis, Daniel. I've been looking for a listing of the amount of each vitamin/mineral in Soluvite D and had not found one--this really helps others to be able to compare it with other supplements. I would think Versele Laga would be readily available in the UK and in Europe.

[debbie276]

just a note...more may not always be better

[Nerien]

just a note...more may not always be better

Yup. You can overdose with vitamins. Especially the fat-soluble ones, which do not simply flush through the body as readily as the water-soluble ones. But even those can cause harm if too much is given, a body can only process so much so fast...

[Sally]

I agree with debbie276 and Nerien. Any time you are adding supplements to your program, you need to be aware of what ingredients are in that supplement and in what amount. If you add yet another supplement, you need to realize that you then may be overdosing one or more vitamins.

[dutch]

Sally....emailed a few breeders about the soluvite.....it turns out people were under dosing the soluvite d....instead of following the packaging details they were dosing according to d breeder directions..

so that means they were under dosing by 10x

that would explain why they thought the soluvite d wasn't as good as the d breeder

I see it on here all the time...people asking others about dosage....always follow the instructions

[Max]

Thank you so much thenootz, will be sure to add this to the wishlist for next payday!

What a brilliant discussion and read from all.

Many thanks,

[thenootz]

debbie276 , Nerien , Sally
Couldn't agree more! (about overdosing)

@Max
You're very welcome