FINCHforum

Hi Friends

I was reading the forum and I found out that you use kelp to help with the iodine problem. I was looking this week in every pet shop I know here in Miami and I found no kelp at all. So I wonder if I can buy dried seaweed from an oriental food store (the same that you use to make sushi and this things) and crush it to make my own kelp powder. My other option is to go to the beach and collect the kelp by myself; I guess any kind of kelp will be the same thing. Would this be ok for finches? How do you serve the powder? Do you add it to the water or do you mix it with the food? How much they need each week? Sorry for all the silly questions.

I buy my powdered kelp online (www.fairestfinches.com or www.ladygouldian.com) and sometimes mix it in their seed and sometimes offer it separately... another supplement.

It is really cheap at ether one of the links posted,I use what they call A finger tray leave in the cage free choice and they do eat it but it last A long time. A lot of people use the liquid iodine,then you know they are getting it in there water I just started trying the liquid this week.

I also use the powdered kelp and put in in a finger tray nest to a perch and they DO eat it. It is in there all the time and they have free access to it. It will last a long time. I also buy mine on-line from one of the links above.....it is very inexpensive.

Terry

I mainly use the liquid iodine in their water, but I still sometimes offer the granulated kelp from a health food store (in the bulk section) once in awhile. They tend to eat it more if you keep the kelp in a finger cup right next to the water feeder. I can imagine something dry and gritty might go down easier with water.

I bought some flaked kelp (looks like fish food), in the reptile section of my petstore. It has spirulina added to it, which I also see being sold as a supplement for finches. I mix the flakes in with the herbs (Herb Salad from Fairest Finches), and then mixed that in with their regular seed. Means fewer feeders needed, and they do seem to like it. I would think it would be easier to pick up and eat than the powder.

A seaweed extract is by far the best way to administer iodine to the birds.Powdered or flaked is fine...but, you can't guarantee that ALL will eat it. At least in a liquid form added to drinking water you can guarantee that each and every bird will have to take it.

Liquid iodine is also available through either of the two link posted above. I schedule this supplement once a week for my finches - and of course it gets diluted first.