Wheat germ oil/Cod liver oil

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I mix cod liver oil and Vitamin E oil into my javas' egg food. I've also given it to canaries in the past. Vitamin E has always been considered a fertility "drug" for birds. Bob

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I always throw in a handful of a basic, plain finch seed into my egg food recipes. They will always pick at it right from the begining, if for no other reason - the seeds. In no time, they will gobble it all up. Bob

[debbie276]

I used to mix spirulina into the egg food years ago. I din't really see any difference so stopped. When it gets wet everything turns green around it.
Not sure which birds are getting the extra protein but be careful you don't up the protein too much. More is not always better and too much protein can cause problems.

[Diamond Sparrow]

I use it all through winter,puts a little fat on ,increases fertility for the breeding season

[cindy]

Also make sure you do not increase the vitamin and mineral intake to much since you use a dried eggfood already, plus the boiled eggfood then adding oils and spirulina...sometimes to much of one vitamin can cancel out the good of another.

I would use the ratios on the chart here as a guideline http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/nutrition ... ements.php

Spirulina has an ash content I know with cats ash and proteins can cause issues kidney wise, not sure if the same is true with birds...with the high content of the protein in spirulina, your dried eggfood and boiled egg I would be very cautious as Debbie stated. As my avian vets have both stated, "we tend to overdo for our pet birds" by adding to many ingredients to their diet which can lead to issues for them health wise down the road.

Spirulina http://www.finchniche.com/product_spirulina.php

[Sally]

I used to use both, 1 Tbs. wheat germ oil and 1 Tbs. codliver oil added to each 12 eggs I mixed up with other dry ingredients. I have gotten lazy this year, not doing so much extra for my birds, and it shows. I have just gone back to making my homemade eggfood on a large scale again, using both these ingredients. The wheat germ oil provides lots of vitamin E, which is what is found in most breeding supplements. The codliver oil provides vitamins A and D, though I don't know that it is the D3 that is needed for calcium absorption.

Roy Beckham uses wheat germ oil in his eggfood recipe:
http://www.efinch.com/eggfood.htm

[Ginene]

Very interesting thread...especially for a newbie like me.

[Mick M.]

Have used cod liver oil .

Used it @ 1 tspoon to the pound of seed as a pre breeding conditioner for my zebras ,
it was recommended on the zebra finch society website
I tried it and found that the bird's kept strong through the season , only let them rear 2 clutche's , will be doing it again next spring
Have recently made up an eggfood recipe with CLO and Safflour oil , found it on a java sparrow site , the bird's not too keen on it , probably timing is wrong as they're used to my normal eggfood mix
Use spirulina in my own eggfood mix ( very sparingly , bought a 1lb tub 2 year's ago , have more than half left yet ) must say the bird's feathering is better since starting to add this to their diet

Hope this helps , regards , Mick M