Kelp granuals for balding Gouldian

[finchandlovebird]

My female Gould is still balding; my birds get egg food, greens, Snack Attack Mineral Grit w/oyster shell & Kaytee Hi-Cal Grit, millet sprays & of course seed. This morning I read all the stuff on Gouldian balding/molt & stopped at the health food store & bought Kelp Granuals. 47 cents worth; it's $10 a #, but I just bought a little to put in a treat cup to see if they will eat it. Not 5 minutes after I put it in the cage, the male & one of the juvies were eating it. So I have high hopes that my female will also partake & improve. I have the MOST CURIOUS Goulds; they will try anything new I put in their cage. Cross your fingers that this works for her.

[ranchnanny]

I am having the same problem with my male Green Singer. I have him on an iodine regime and added the kelp to the food. Still no progress maybe will have to wait until he goes thru a molt.

[L in Ontario]

I think most, if not all, Australian finches will benefit from having kelp/iodine available in their cage once in awhile.

[finchandlovebird]

What about Kelp for other birds? Would it be beneficial to have it in a treat cup for the Goulds all the time? .......and what about my flight w/canaries, RCCB & Orange cheek waxbills?

[DanteD716]

I never heard of kelp, good to know!

[nixity]

This article might be of interest to you. Bob Bills is an avian vet and I agree with many, if not all, of his observations/statements:

http://www.geocities.com/bjbills1/Balding.html

I think the largest contributing factor to balding is a hormonal imbalance or other environmental trigger.
For me, balding occurred when my birds did not undergo a natural molt as a result of being housed with opposite sexes.
The males continually drive the females into breeding mode which means they do not undergo a normal molting process and instead begin to bald or do a "half" molt where they don't finish completely and bald in the process.

This happened with not only my females but also my males.
It took an entire year for the birds to come back into a normal molt and feather out properly. So, it could be that if they're housed separately prior to introduction to your home (and you do not separate sexes) the stress is too great until they become accustomed.

I can speak from personal experience that in a panic, increasing available iodine in the form of powdered kelp made NO difference in the progression or improvement of the balding situation, so I gave up and just let time handle the situation.
When this winter rolled around and the ambient temperature increased in their room due to radiant heating they all began to molt and the balding went away.

Thankfully I'm in a position to separate my birds by sex again so I'm looking forward to not to having to battle this issue this year.
I never had a problem with balding when I kept my birds separated by sex.

If your female is currently housed with males, this would be my bet as to what the problem is.

[finchandlovebird]

Interesting Tiffany; yes she is with her "husband" & the 4 juvies they raised. He does not have any interest in her however; never does courtship or anything. They all seem to get along peacefully. I could separate her, but don't know who to put her with .... the juvies? I could put the cage divider in the flight & keep the male on one side by himself. But I liked that the juvies had the whole 60" flight to fly around in, building up their little muscles. I am not sure what to do.

[Diamond Sparrow]

Try a bit of wheatgerm and cod liver oil in their seed ,they could be lacking

[kenny66]

Try a bit of wheatgerm and cod liver oil in their seed ,they could be lacking

I totally agree. I rehoused a number of Goulds from a friend who passed away. All were bald. They were fed seed only for a couple of years by the previous owner. I gave them wheat germ-cod liver oil mixed in a treat dish with seed and iodine/calcium combined grit seperately. After first moult all have returned to full feather. Make sure that cod liver oil and wheatgerm oil is not in the aviary for more than 4 hrs otherwise it will sour. There is a lot of info that Goulds get iodine (other finches as well) in the wild naturally.I dont think there is enough information to dismiss iodine supplementation out of hand and there is very much support for it. If any supplement is provided in a solid form (crushed) as opposed to water supplementation where finches have to drink it, I doubt they will consume it if they dont need it. In short there are arguments for and against andI have met many finchos who swear by iodine/kelp for their birds

[Martie]

Thank you for sharing that article, Tiffany. Lots of great information there. Based on my own experience, I actually fall in the middle. I have seen that stress, nutrition, etc. are often responsible, and also that sometimes Iodine supplementation will help.

I like the idea of offering kelp free choice. I've always used Liqui-Kelp in the water - but am thinking I should change this and let them do the deciding for themselves.

Lots of thought-provoking stuff on this forum - Thank you all!

P.S. - Kenny, I've always gotten a kick out of the term "Fincho". Thanks for the smile!

[kenny66]

Thank you for sharing that article, Tiffany. Lots of great information there. Based on my own experience, I actually fall in the middle. I have seen that stress, nutrition, etc. are often responsible, and also that sometimes Iodine supplementation will help.

I like the idea of offering kelp free choice. I've always used Liqui-Kelp in the water - but am thinking I should change this and let them do the deciding for themselves.

Lots of thought-provoking stuff on this forum - Thank you all!

P.S. - Kenny, I've always gotten a kick out of the term "Fincho". Thanks for the smile!

I think "falling in the middle" is the way to go with most of these issues. One thing I have learnt is that there are usually no absolutely right or wrong answers and what works for one will not work for another. My view is that we should be absolutely open minded about supplementation and other issues as well and give due consideration to everyones view, who afterall are providing it on this forum to try and support us all.

[Chichireeo]

I agree. I don't see how a finch can molt and breed at the same time. My green singer has started his annual spring complete molt and every feather has to be changed. No way he can deal with a female right now. Guess he must be a fall breeder. The molting foods I give include kelp, eggs, wheat germ, sesame seeds. These are foods high in methionine.

[finchandlovebird]

Good answers on this topic. I have been adding wheat germ to the egg food & this week put cod liver oil in their "bath/drinking dishes"; so I think I have all bases covered & will just give it time.