Zebra Finches MOLTING

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:04 pm

Okay I heard from a bird owner that molting is very stressful for finches or any birds and you have to buy a special feed for molting. my friend has finches and they do just fine but is it really necessary to buy this? Is there anything else they need to help them molt.

Post by **Sally** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:56 am

Birds that go thru a big, very visible molt all at once need extra nutrition, like a supplement for molts, but many species just do a gradual, hardly noticeable molt of just a few feathers at a time. I never gave my Zebras a molting supplement, but my Goulds are molting now, and it is very stressful on them. The juvies are going thru their first molt, and there are down feathers everywhere! The adults are also starting to molt, they look awful.

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:09 am

Well, i guess just to be safe and make it a little easier on them, i should get asupplement. is it okay to use parakeet suppement? thats the only thing i could find for molting at walmart. maybe they will have something at one of the petshops.

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:23 pm

I bought some molting food for them today just to help ease the process. they were tearing up the supplement and i also added some eggshells and they really seemed to like that as well.

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:36 pm

Fresh egg food would probably be good too. If you smash it shell and all they benefit from getting the extra calcium, protein, and other nutrients. My birds just tear into it; my societies will eat as much as I will give them, like little pigs. (They DO have 4 babies to feed too, but they really put it back.)

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:38 pm

so you just boil the egg and crush it all together?

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:10 am

Yes...you can either crush the shell separately or use a blender (if you have one) and just chop it up all together. What ever works easiest for you.

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:24 am

ok. yah i i'll just use the blender.

beccafigs · Post by **beccafigs** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:51 pm

I use my kitchen-aid mixer and it does the job just fine as well. It's nice to use that, less nooks and crannies to clean when I'm done. And now I have so many freaking birds I need to make bigger batches!

But yeah for me when I do it I boil 4 eggs, then I toss them in the mixing bowl and turn it on. While it goes I add 1/3 c. seed mix, 2/3 c. dried commercial egg food (to help dry it up), and whatever veggies I have on hand--chopped fine. That lasts me more or less a week. If I have any left over after 7 days it goes in the trash. I wouldn't eat anything older than that, so I wouldn't give it to my birdies.

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:11 am

i didnt have time to make the egg mix but i bought the magic bullet thing and i used it and it works good, i tried the mix that beccafigs does and it worked out pretty well.