FINCHforum

Heya.

Ever since i have been on the forum i have learnt the importance of Eggs. My first pair of Societies have a clutch of 3 at the moment. They are due to fledge in about a week.

Right from the very start they will not take to eggs in any way shape or form. I have tried and tried and tried, mixed it with their seed, their favourite food carrot and all other ways. If the egg is in the food at all, they wont touch it.

I am worried about the babies missing out on it. As i have read (but don't really understand yet about molting) they are going to need the goodness out of the egg to help. If the parents wont touch it are the babies likely too?

I have tried E&B mix, that kind of works because i mix the carrot through it and they have to get a bit of it to get to the carrot, but with real egg, no way.

What should i do? I am worried about the babies missing out when they are going to need it the most.

Thanks

Mands Hey Mands..

My babies are going through molt right now they look kind of (this is used gently) beat up and shabby.. it just looks like they rolled out of bed with flicks of feathers.. I didn't really notice it until I really looked at them to see new feathers coming through and i see choc feathers on teh floor! I didn't give them egg food (just shells) for about two weeks now.. and I gave them today and they are eating it.

I can't really help you out with the lack of egg eating However birds in the wild don't have access to egg food.. I think that definitely it will help with the molting etc though but obviously you can't force them to eat it unless lke you said they pick it up via the food they eat and its stuck on it.
Would they pick on egg shells? no egg, just the shell? my babies will chew on those too.. you could try that if you havent? would they chew on cuttlebone? mine dont... but its still hanging.. like unused furniture.

Egg is important for babies and juvies because it is one of the best sources of protein, and they need protein for growth and to produce feathers during the molt. In the wild, birds get their protein from insects, but not all species are highly dependent on protein. You could always try adding a different source of protein--freeze-dried bloodworms or mealworms or even sprinkling a tiny bit of soy protein isolate on their grated carrots (since they eat the carrots). Once the babies are weaned, I would keep offering them eggfood, they may try it out of curiosity. My birds don't like my homemade eggfood to be very wet, so I dry it out quite a bit. I add things like nestling food, handfeeding formula, commercial dry eggfood, or even yellow cornmeal to dry it out.

If you can't get them to eat eggs, then you might want to look at adding something like Vetafarm's Moulting Aid to their diet:

http://www.vetafarm.com.au/products/MOULTING-AID.html

Today i gave mum and dad some meal worms, they loved them, although i am not sure of how much they actually ate as they seemed to drop them through the grate, next time i will put them onto a lid so they have more area to drop them on.

I have been trying the egg since i got them, i cant see it happening for them as they refuse to eat it at all. I will offer it to the babies when they eat on their own, hopefully they will take to it.

I am going to have to stick to mixing the carrot with the dry E&B mix so they at least get a little bit.

I put egg in the other cages today, the Cordons and the Owls loved it. Just the societies that are fussy.

My Chocolate Societies wont eat anything at all except seed, i mean nothing. They are due to hatch in 5 days, i wish they would eat something else.

They are just as fussy as my kids

Try giving them straight hard-boiled eggs.
Nothing added, just the cut/broken eggs, shells on.

Sunbay

I have seen a picture of that, the half egg in a cage on the floor with the shell on. But, i was told not to give egg shell unless it is cooked or baked in the oven first? If this is not right then i will for sure try it out.

Thanks.

I think when people say don't give eggshell unless it is cooked first, they are talking about the shells you may have left after you fix yourself fried or scrambled eggs for breakfast, or use raw eggs in a recipe. Those shells haven't been exposed to heat at all, so they need to be heated. Many people just heat them in the microwave for a couple of minutes (not sure of how long) to kill any bacteria that may be on the shell. When you hardboil the egg, you are heating the shell enough so that if you wanted to, you could peel it and use it like that. I haven't seen half a hardboiled egg served this way, I'll be interested to hear how it works out.

Sally

Thanks for clearing that up, it makes sense now. I seen a picture on a Facebook group for societies that had just the half egg on the bottom in one piece. It's worth a try. I will have a go at it tomorrow when this batch is due to throw out.

I will put it in all cages to see if any of them in particular like it that way.

Thanks.

Mands wrote: Sunbay

I have seen a picture of that, the half egg in a cage on the floor with the shell on. But, i was told not to give egg shell unless it is cooked or baked in the oven first? If this is not right then i will for sure try it out.

Thanks.

The 'hard-boiling' cooks/sterilizes the shells.
Mine take to the whole egg, cut up, better than blenderized whole egg, with additives. Which I vary, between TurboBoost, Harrisons Super food, miracle meal, etc.

If the fledglings start to eat it, they will probably continue to take it when older, and when the parents see them doing the birdy equivalent of smacking their lips and saying "yummmmm" may eventually try it and take to it too. Birdy see, birdy do.

If they all resolutely continue to refuse it, you could try something like Miracle Meal as a supplement. My societies won't eat egg either, but like that.

Problem solved.

I boiled the eggs and then cut them in half long ways. Just stuck it in the cage and they loved it, shell as well. All of them are eating it, even the Societies are feeding it to the babies. Who would think that just changing the way it is served would please ALL of the birds? I have been trying for over 6 months to feed eggs and now success.

Here are a couple of pics.

I give my zebra pair hard boil egg, smashed up with shell. the hen is so happy to eat it! but the male rarely touch it. and they flick away the veggies i mix with the egg. solution?

That's great news!

@ Mands
I might have to try doing it your way with boil eggs. My gouldians never eat it when I mash it up with other things. So I ended just giving them prepared egg food(not even sure if they eat that either-but it's mixed into their seeds).

danaday

I have tried every way i can and they wont touch it. But, i seen a pic of it done whole and i tried it - it worked !!! All of my birds are eating it now. Before when i mashed it with a fork they wouldn't even look at it.

It is worth a try and they get to pick at the shell as well.

Good luck with it. And it may not work straight away so you might need to give it a few attempts.