electrolyte mix

[amalan11]

I am having losses in the cold and so want to try and get my birds as good as possible.I'm giving them a vitamin powder(ornithon) in their water twice a week and am going to try blue butterflies electrolyte mix.should I only use that when a bird gets sick or can i give it say weekly ? or more often?

[finchbreeder]

Can you make your avairy more windproof? Or rig up a "nightlite"? Or have you already done these things and this is in addition to those?
LML

[Brett]

I am having losses in the cold and so want to try and get my birds as good as possible.I'm giving them a vitamin powder(ornithon) in their water twice a week and am going to try blue butterflies electrolyte mix.should I only use that when a bird gets sick or can i give it say weekly ? or more often?

I know what you mean amalan11 its the gold winds that do the damage,icey up here in newcastle.
Give them blue b electrolytes and someone said to give some canary mix to faten them up for winter


Brett

[amalan11]

hi alredy the cages are inside and have plastic around them for windproofing and after asking here people seemed to think a heat lamp would just make them soft ,its not terrible losses 3 birds but im just trying to do as much as I can to avoid problems,I have a heat lamp on my remaining gould and the zebs have a light for 2 hours at night so if they get wet they can dry..if anything actualy im wondering if the heat lamp is a very bad thing as the 3 goulds are down to one and out of 4 longtails and 2 chestnuts iv lost 2 longtails and a chestnut,im expecting to loose the last poor gould as I cannt keep them alive and then I will never get goulds again!!!!(the goulds and longtails and chestnuts shared a space..chestnuts are now in big avery away from perminent heat)
problem is the longtails are all piled up in front of heatlamp so they do enjoy it,and there is nowhere else they can go as they are a pest to other birds they get in everyones nest so its just them and the poor doomed gould now(he is in great health but im not expecting it to last..im very pessimistic about the poor boy)

[amalan11]

yes sydney is freezzing I cannot belive how cold it is..I will try cannary mix as well I have some so I will give thet a go..

[gomer]

Sorry to hear about your losses.No doubt there is abit of that going around at the moment.You could add some codliver oil and or breeding aid to the seed aswell as having some of the oily seeds in the mix.

[amalan11]

hmm cod live ?? that may be worth a try it just sounds awful though,I have heard it stops egg binding so I should get some anyway for spring.
I guess I am lucky realy I nearly brought Diamond Firetails today and looking at the net articles on them they often die when moved so i think in this weather I may have had another two for my death list,glad I avoided that

[jusdeb]

If the birds are already inside then perhaps there is another reason for them not surviving .

[amalan11]

yes I wondered that ,thats why im going to try the other options like the mixs ect.I was chatting to people today who thought it was the cold but I dont want to just put it down to that in case the vitimins ect will help . Im actualy a bit suss that perhaps it was too humid in the cage with the light as it was odd to loose 3 birds in there??? so now iv changed it so the gould can get in the warmth in one corner but the rest is just normal temp.
my house is not windy as such but its a big old brick house that is lovely and cool in summer and freezing in winter..at the moment it is 9 deg in my hall.thats with all doors and windows closed and as I have open hall /lounge it would be the same here in the loungeroom.The other morning it was 6 deg !!! I was told also its because its so sudden usualy its not so darn cold in may it comes gradualy

[gouldianpaul]

Hi amalan11,
i use dr marshall's electrolites (Quick Gel) once a week...however with Melbourne's cold weather this week I used it for 3 days straight then back to fresh water for a couple of days...cheers, Paul