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Re: Newbie feeding suggestions

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 7:59 pm
by Icearstorm
wildbird

Huh. My Javas liked to toss their seed, but never did anything to the minerals. My male did like to chew on the cuttlebone when all of my other birds ignored it, so I wonder if there was something in there that he needed that wasn't in the other stuff.

Re: Newbie feeding suggestions

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:05 pm
by Icearstorm
Dave H

If it's calcium, the risk of them overeating shouldn't be as high since it would take more calcium to be harmful than other nutrients. I've never heard of a finch overdosing on calcium, although some other birds like budgies have been known to eat so much mineral grit they got impaction. If you're really worried, I'd either keep an eye on how much of it they eat for the first couple of days, or start with just a sprinkle of the mix each day and up the amount in their cage after a few days. But I doubt they'd have an issue.

I used the gravity feeders in cages with vertical bars. They had a weird plastic circular holder you could pop between the bars of the cage.

Re: Newbie feeding suggestions

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:09 pm
by Icearstorm
CathyCraftz

Finches don't need insoluble "true grit" like pebbles, but they can benefit from the soluble "grit" sold in most pet stores, which is mainly calcium. Ground oyster shell, eggshell, and ground limestone should all be decent calcium sources.

Re: Newbie feeding suggestions

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:11 am
by Dave
And as a reminder for new bird keepers--calcium sources don't help the birds, it can't be absorbed, unless there is also vitamin D3 in their diet.

D3 is available in eggs, which is one of the reasons people feed boiled eggs to their birds.

It is also available as part of some calcium supplements, and it is available in most bird vitamin mixes.