Cando's mineral mix

Learn what to feed your birds.
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cindy
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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by cindy » Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:03 am

Candace, the eggshells from your eggs do you completely powder it or do you allow for small pieces very much like Hatched? Have you ever used the brown eggshells? If so do your birds like it the same as white shells?

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by CandoAviary » Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:28 am

I have only crushed the white eggshells and I ground them a little smaller than hatch with much becoming a powder. The hatch brand many times has brown shells in it. Birds like both white and brown shells. (in the above pictures that last additive in the mix was hatch that was mostly made with brown shells)
Every since I had that male gouldian get a blockage and saw what looked like a hen trying to pass an egg :shock: Turned out to be a rather large piece of egg shell that impacted his stool. Link to that post:
http://finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4 ... art#p85912

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by cindy » Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:36 am

I was ordering Hatched until the summer when we could get eggs from the sentinal chickens at my husbands work. Free eggs. I would make egg food and grind the shells along with it. The finches pull th pieces of shell out and nibble away.

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by debbie276 » Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:48 am

I have always given them the whole eggshell and have never broken it into little pieces, well as big as you can get after cracking an egg. They like to play with it and break pieces off, gives them something to do for hours. Never had a problem with it being too big. Something else I'll have to watch out for.
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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by 6finchfriends » Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:09 pm

This is probably a silly question but I thought birds weren't supposed to have salt. Is that for a certain species or are all finches supposed to eat this grit mix? I give mine oyster shell/egg shell mix but that's all. Sounds like I have a lot to learn about finches!
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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by MikeRoger » Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:52 am

My birds actually did not mind the teast of this.They love it and will eat it dry.I did see a noticable difference in their skin and coat after a month.I have 4 birds ,so I use this up really fast,but its worth for the money.

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by CandoAviary » Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:08 am

MikeRofer,
I am so glad your birds love it, mine go through a pound a week (around 500 birds :shock: )
Not only does it make their skin and feathers healthier but bones, organs and muscles too.... not to mention great egg shells when they are breeding. :D

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by farmgirl » Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:35 pm

Thank you so much for posting this.

I would like to start giving my birds something like this, can you tell me where you got some of the materials, such as the ABBA mineral grit, charcoal and morning bird?

Also, you said you put in sea salt and minerals, what minerals did you use?
Amber

so many gouldians, 2 owls
also, 6 horses, 1 dog, 5 cats, 4 ducks, Several chickens, 1 beta

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by bugaboo5 » Sun Jun 12, 2011 12:36 am

farmgirl wrote:can you tell me where you got some the ABBA mineral grit
For the ABBA mineral grit (I use this as well), you can buy it from any local dealers that carry ABBA products. If no dealers are around, you can order directly from ABBA.

Mineral Grit Info: http://abbaseed.com/Seed_Products/Mineral/mineral.html

And "Find a Dealer Near You" -- right far -- alphabetical order by states.

http://abbaseed.com/__DEALERS/dealers.html
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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by CandoAviary » Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:14 pm

farmgirl wrote:Thank you so much for posting this.

I would like to start giving my birds something like this, can you tell me where you got some of the materials, such as the ABBA mineral grit, charcoal and morning bird?

Also, you said you put in sea salt and minerals, what minerals did you use?

You can but these from here, always in stock and ships quickly
charcoal
http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/product_charcoal.mgi

Mineral dust (contains over 66 trace elements)
http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/product_tminerals.mgi

Powdered kelp
http://www.ladygouldianfinch.com/product_liquidkelp.mgi

From here ( this place has great fresh seed) you can get the ABBA mineral grit
http://www.foryourbird.com/mm5/merchant ... de=abbamin

I buy sea salt from my local health food store.
The cuttle bones can usually be found locally at your pet store or at either of the above recommendations. Glad you found this post helpful, your birds will love you for it :D

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by bugaboo5 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:19 am

I'm going to try this too. For those who are looking for charcoal and other bird products, I would also recommend http://www.petsolutions.com/. I just ordered 6 bags of charcoal (http://www.petsolutions.com/storefront/ ... rcoal.html) and 6 bags of oyster shell (http://www.petsolutions.com/storefront/ ... hells.html) for my birds. The shipping costs there are very reasonable -- and if you order over $99, you get free ground shipping. I took advantage of that offer and ordered a whole bunch of other miscellaneous products and qualified for free shipping. I think ladygouldianfinch.com is wonderful for the wealth of information on the site, but the shipping costs are on the higher end for those of us on the opposite coast and the product list is a headache for people like me because they are all listed on one page.

I think I'm going to try this "mineral mix", Candoaviary. :) Many aspects of your life and your work with birds is inspiring. I just ordered a ultimate chopper so as soon as I have everything organized, chopping away I will go. Thank you for always sharing your knowledge with us.
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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by farmgirl » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:10 am

Thank you so much! Looking forward to giving it a try!
Amber

so many gouldians, 2 owls
also, 6 horses, 1 dog, 5 cats, 4 ducks, Several chickens, 1 beta

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by CandoAviary » Mon Jun 13, 2011 2:17 pm

bugaboo5 wrote: I think ladygouldianfinch.com is wonderful for the wealth of information on the site, but the shipping costs are on the higher end for those of us on the opposite coast and the product list is a headache for people like me because they are all listed on one page.

.
That's why I posted ladygouldianfinch so that farmgirl could read about the products... but I would hope that you would support our fellow forum members (and contributors to this forum) who sell morning bird products.... I am not sure if they all are still selling but I do know Tiffany at www.gouldiansgalore.net does and I bet she will give you the best shipping price that she can :wink:
(do I get a free bag of hatch for the plug :lol: )

I just realized that Hatch eggshells are from twinbeaks aviary, but Tiffany carries that too. :wink: :wink:
Or you can recycle you own eggshells. Make sure you wash and heat treat (bake, microwave, boil) to kill any germs on the shells.

I started making these mixes just to save time and then found the birds love them to boot :D

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by Chichireeo » Fri Sep 09, 2011 8:47 am

Hi, I have all the ingredients in your mix, (except Hatched, I use shells from hardboiled eggs), which I offer my bird free choice all the time in separate little cups. After reading your post, I have several question, please.
Is the advantage of grinding and mixing so that the birds cannot pick and choose, to force them to take different minerals in a prescribed proportion? Do birds like it because it is convenient, all in one? My bird already goes for each of the ingredients separately, casually nibbling a little here and there throughout the day. I am curious to see if he will prefer it mixed.
I almost bought Hatched, but wasn't sure. Is it from fertilized eggs that actually hatched chicks, with possibly different nutritional content from the unfertilized eggs we eat? This wasn't clear in the product descriptions I've seen.
Cate

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Re: Cando's mineral mix

Post by CandoAviary » Fri Sep 09, 2011 11:48 am

Hi there, I also feed the shells from my boiled eggs and for that matter, I even save all the egg shells I use for other things and bake them also...I just have so many birds that I never have enough eggshells so I buy the hatch. They are of equal nutrition, just convienant.
I grind the oyster shells into smaller pieces after having some experience with crop impaction due to large pieces being injested. For my larger birds (grasskeets, budgies, etc) I leave them larger.
I mix the ingredients into one cup because it is easier to service the 100 plus cages and aviaries. Too many cups are a hassle for me. :D
The birds can still pick out the eggshell, charcoal, molusk shells, cuttlebone chips, etc. The only thing that is a fine powder is the trace mineral dust and it comes in that condition.

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