FINCHforum

What foods can I offer to my birds to increase their vitamin e for better breeding? A breeder told me it's possible my BCCB's laid tons of eggs without any hatching because they weren't fertile, and I should increase their vitamin e.

Thanks in advance!

This is from the Finch Information Center:

"Vitamin E
Deficiency - Unlikely if the diet contains oil seeds
Sources - Safflower oil, alfalfa meal, sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, cereal grains"

Also, wheat germ oil is supposed to be high in vitamin E. Many people add wheat germ oil to their egg food for the vitamin E.

http://www.gbhealthwatch.com/Nutrient-V ... pFoods.php

Sally

Thanks Sally! That's exactly what I needed! How much wheat germ oil would you recommend?

slwatson

Sunflower seeds, are fairly high in Vitamin E.

use what I use. soluvet d3 breeder and that will give them the required boost

slwatson I used to use Doug Taylor's Green Day diet, it is popular with quite a few breeders. Here is a link to the recipe I used, which was 1 Tbs. wheat germ oil to each 6 eggs (plus other ingredients).

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=17762

If you look at Roy Beckham's recipe for egg food, it includes wheat germ oil. www.efinch.com

I now use a different recipe, which is pretty close to Helen's, which uses wheat germ meal instead of wheat germ oil. I transferred the contents of the package into a plastic container, so I don't have the nutrition list from the package. Helen's recipe certainly seems to work for her, which is why I started using it.

Sally

I think I use the same egg food recipe you do after you posted it here, where you do a heaping tablespoon to every four eggs. Ahmed (I think that's how you spell his name) had suggested I add more vitamin e after I showed him all of those eggs laid by my BCCB pair. He said the female might have been able to sense that her eggs were infertile and that's why she kept laying, and he said if that was the case, then it was an issue of infertility with the male. I'm going to attempt to get them to breed again in a week or so, and see if the societies will foster.

slwatson You could always make up the egg food following Helen's recipe, and then add just a touch of wheat germ oil to the egg food. You can get wheat germ oil at health food stores, though some of them just have wheat germ oil capsules. I have a health food grocery store near me, so they carry a bigger selection of products than most smaller health food stores.

Sally

Thank you Sally. I have one health food store in my area, so hopefully they carry wheat germ oil.