Cuttlebone or mineral blocks? (UK)

[Eric&Rebecca]

Hi,

I've recently stopped using cuttlebones after reading several articles on the bacteria that can be harboured in them. At the moment both birds have the bee pollen mineral perches... However I've seen mineral blocks advertised....

Are these any good? I have two cockatiels who love to chew. I've also bought some stripping bark and agave root toys which they can chew and peel. Is this enough for them or should I consider mineral blocks?

[marie83]

I dont use cuttlebone anymore either, nor the mineral blocks since swapping to harrisons. I did for a time but after I swapped to pellets they stopped getting used.

I do offer a bit of crumbled up clay lick from northern parrots once a month or so, purely because Ollie likes it.

[janetafloat]

Clay lick??

[marie83]

Clay lick??

It appears they stopped selling it now but heres the link

http://reviews.24parrot.com/9521-en_gb/ ... ort=rating

[Eric&Rebecca]

Shame they stopped selling it...

I've heard about oyster shell being good to sprinkle on meals but I was worried if this would be the same as grit which I know isn't good as it causes crop impaction. Another reason why I stopped using cuttlebone and switched to the bee pollen mineral perches.

Perhaps they will do fine with just those.

[marie83]

Back when I first started keeping birds things were alot different, grit was something you were supposed to give and oyster shell stuff was supposed to be even better as it gave calcium as well as grit. I heard it was soluable so didn't pose a risk of impaction so I swapped the grit for the oyster stuff. I then heard the rate it was soluable was so slow it made no difference to the risk of impaction and around this time I started to learn that its only birds that eat the whole seed that need really grit so I stopped giving it some years back.

I do think the birds sense if they need something or not as like I say when i switched to pellets about 2 years ago they just stopped using the mineral blocks and the cuttlebones, before that all my birds used it frequently. I think Ollie just likes the clay block because its easy for him to pick to bits and throw around more than its needed, I'm not too bothered they stopped selling it, I'll keep giving it to Ollie til it runs out which may be a while, we only got through about a 1/4 of it so far as I give so little & infrequently.

If providing that sort of thing with the perches makes you feel better then by all means go for it, I don't think they bird will overdose on the minerals but if you notice excessive chewing on them you can always remove them if your concerned.

[Strawfrawg]

My vet gives his birds a little lactose-free cheese or cottage cheese for extra calcium. I never thought ANY dairy was safe, but he said it's only the lactose that's unhealthy.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Yeah I use lacto-free. I mix a tiny bit of lacto-free yoghurt in with some pellets and grated carrot. They have that maybe once or twice every couple of months.

The bee pollen perches are quite good because they a perch, foraging toy (there's little holes I hide pellets in and the tap them out at the end of the day), mineral block all in one go. They flavoured too I think. George has strawberry and Edmund has lime. The vet said they are fine and because they are made of natural substances its ok. He did a solubility test with a small bit i took and he said it dissolves pretty quickly so it's very unlikely to cause crop impaction if they not constantly chewing which neither do so I may stick with them

[marie83]

Thats interesting. I may look at getting one. Which ones do you have & what sort of texture/firmness are they?

[Eric&Rebecca]

http://www.northernparrots.com/pollys-t ... -prod4182/

I get the Polly's one. You can get all different falvours depending on size. We got a medium one for the big cage so they won't fight and in the quarantine cage we have a small pink one which George uses.

I'm not sure I believe all the bee pollen miracle thing but it's more that it natural and it has the holes for foraging.