Molting...or plucker in the making?

[Cindy215]

Originally Posted by Mike B

What are your views on Phosphorus combined w/ the Calcium.

Mike

I don't supplement phosphorus and especially wouldn't combo in Calcium.

I feel my diet is the right ratio. (links below). I pretty much only feed working foods, although in my heart I think it's pretty much a crapshoot. And genetic luck. But all my greens are at least 2:1 or 2.5:1 and luckily I eat that stuff to so it's not such a pain to have it in the fridge.

For artificial, I only use Calciboost as do my hard core rescue friends. Twice a week.

The active ingredients are:
Magnesium, Vitamin D3, Calcium as calcium borogluconate.

You dont use alot and the quality is such that the bioavailability is good. Chelated.

Mfr is "The Birdcare Company" he has ALOT of opinions and info on his site.
http://www.thebirdcarecompany.co.uk/...t/whybest.html

Only available online from independent distributers usually breeders. I get mine from a small Canary guy down south. He uses USPS and I prefer that because I have a locked box.

I like these article re: Phosphorus ,there are many:
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww22eii.htm
http://www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/nutrition.html

I like this website to lookup the nutrients when starting out:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20hh.html

I give Nekton S once a week. And a drop of Udo's 3-6-9- Oil Blend once every two weeks or so. Depends on the season.

I have one budgie hen on pellets - Harrison's HiPo Mash mostly with some veggies/greens she has lipomas and I attribute her being alive still from that, and flying, and CoQ10.

[FeathersNFur8]

Originally Posted by Mike B

What are your views on Phosphorus combined w/ the Calcium. Mike

Mike, funny you should ask this. I was just thinking about this the other day, after my hen had a calcium shot. Normally you would never supplement one without the other, with a calcium to phosphorous ratio of 2:1. But I have no clue if it's done with egg laying hens, so it's been put on my list of questions for my AV.

[Mike B]

Originally Posted by FeathersNFur8

Mike, funny you should ask this. I was just thinking about this the other day, after my hen had a calcium shot. Normally you would never supplement one without the other, with a calcium to phosphorous ratio of 2:1. But I have no clue if it's done with egg laying hens, so it's been put on my list of questions for my AV.

The way I understand it. The body needs the phosphorous to aid in the absortion of the calcium. This is where the FS lighting comes in.

Cindy, the articles you linked are good articles. Do you have any more recent though?

Mike

[Vega]

Is it ok to mix the Fluconazole with her food? Or does that impair it's effectiveness?

[The Outlaw]

No. Never mix meds with food or water with the possible exception of Doxicycline if you are treating for Chlamydia (Pssiticosis).

The problem with mixing in food is that birds rarely ingest the entire amount and sometimes won't even eat or drink at all.

I would suggest that you mix it with some grenadine or cherry juice from maraschino cherries. Just a little to camoflage the taste.

[FeathersNFur8]

I would suggest that you mix it with some grenadine or cherry juice from maraschino cherries. Just a little to camoflage the taste.

Is it common place that meds are given out without compounding them?

[Vega]

There is some flavoring to the meds...got a little taste of it myself...

Any tricks to this? I tried giving it to her on a spoon after she growled at the syrige. She doesn't do well being toweled and I don't want to make this any more difficult for her.

Another 20 or so feathers have been added to the pile.

I have a feeling I'm going to be drinking my fluids with a syringe to make her more willing to take her own! lol

[The Outlaw]

You can let her chew on a wooden spoon handle and manipulate the syringe back in her throat. Its a two-handed deal, however. I actually made up a restraint to I use to administer meds to wiggly birds. It works great. First I towel them, then I velcro the restraint around the bird. They struggle at first but eventually just relax. Usually, after medicating this way, you only need the restraint once or twice.

Usually they do add flavoring to fluconazol, but I'm not sure how yours was compounded. I just know that mine will take the cherry juice, so I just mix it in.So far, so good.

If you don't get the stuff in them, doesn't really make any difference how good the drug is.

[The Outlaw]

Yes. Some vets will in fact "give out" meds that haven't been compounded for other species. Baytril is often prescribed in pill form and crushed and mixed with juice. Baytril is NOT an avian approved drug, but rather a drug approved for dogs. It is USED for birds, but not manufactured for avian usage.

Fluconazol is often prescribed for women with yeast infections. Its a human grade drug. It can also be used for other species, birds included.

[Luann]

I've been reading this thread with interest. Very informative. I have no problems with my linnie, yet, but I do have a question about light and dark. When you say, dusk to dawn, do you mean dusk to dawn in the winter and dusk to dawn in the summer, which would be two different schedules. My linnie is a baby, so she's getting about 12/12. She stays up a little later than dusk but is up at dawn. What about Summer....dusk is about 7:30, dawn is about 4:30. Just curious, since it was raised here.