FINCHforum

Hey folks-

I have a question about whether or not I need to supplement vitamin D3 given the set up of my cages. Let me explain.

My cages lie on my balcony. The balcony has retractable glass windows. When its not raining, I leave these open and unfiltered light can stream into the balcony. However, given the position of the cages, no unfiltered, direct sunshine touches the cages directly. Thus, birds cannot "bask" in unfiltered direct light. However, the white walls and floor of the balcony reflect a lot of indirect light, and the cage is nicely illuminated.

Does this set up allow enough UV-b for my birds to synthesize vitamin D3 without supplementation? I am having a hard time finding a Vd3 supplement (like cod liver oil) for my birds here. Other vitamin supplements have vitamin D along with a myriad of other things that these birds already get from their well-balanced diet (they eat better than me!).

Matt

Hard boiled eggs will give them the vitamin D they need.
Here's the page from The Finch Information Center's "Nutrients & Their Sources"
http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/nutrients_and_sources.php

Hey Debbie-

Thanks for the response! I have been confused about some of that information on the website. It says the recommended amount of vitamin D3 in the diet is 1000IU per 1 kilogram of food. Eggs contain between 500-1000IU per kilogram. Eggs make up only a portion of their diet, likely 20%. Assuming theirs no vitamin D from other sources, this means that there is (at max) 200IU/kg of their diet, 5X less than the recommended allowance on the site.....

@debbie276 Are eggs the sole source of your birds vitamin D3 or do they get exposure to UV light as well? (Trying to figure out if that recommended allowance is accurate for finches....)

My birds are outside now so they would get some from the sun. When they were inside I just gave them hard boiled eggs with handfeeding formula mixed in (about a teaspoon per egg) to dry it out a bit. I use exact handfeeding formula which I'm sure has vitamin D along with many other vitamins and minerals. I never had a problem with a vitamin D deficiency.

Great info. Experience is so valuable, sometimes even more so than abstract values published in some old text book. Thanks Debbie!

debbie276 wrote: My birds are outside now so they would get some from the sun. When they were inside I just gave them hard boiled eggs with handfeeding formula mixed in (about a teaspoon per egg) to dry it out a bit. I use exact handfeeding formula which I'm sure has vitamin D along with many other vitamins and minerals. I never had a problem with a vitamin D deficiency.

Great! I have a whole container of formula. I bought it and only ended up using it for one night. It will not be wasted now; I will use it for egg food. Perfect timing too since I am almost out of the egg meal I have been using.