Aussie Finch Forum

Given my frustration with my featherless Gould's I'm trying red cell yes its for horses. But ivomec is for sheep 1ml per litre as this is very high in iodine they love the taste of red cell. Keeping check on their stools if it goes very dark its over dosing no problems yet

paul1966 wrote:Given my frustration with my featherless Gould's I'm trying red cell yes its for horses. But ivomec is for sheep 1ml per litre as this is very high in iodine they love the taste of red cell. Keeping check on their stools if it goes very dark its over dosing no problems yet

iv found with my gouldians in the past that were patchy/bald on back of head that they would not grow back their feathers until the moult starts regardless of iodine supplements/good nutrition etc.... i used to feed dry powdered kelp which they took too, but like i said it wasn't in till november that the feather would grow back

misso

I'd b4e rather concerned that you are going to cause more problems than you fix with this product with an iron level of 9500 ppm - even heavily diluted that will still be a risk for toxicity (200ppm will cause reduced growth and low mortalities). There are far better vitamin supplements for birds and frankly, I doubt that it's your issue - as many have said, just wait for the moult to start.

A varied diet is better then vitamins IMO .

Lack of iodine is something that nearly always get a mention with gouldians, balding or otherwise.
Is there any research to back this up or is it something that was mentioned once in the context of "Australia has low natural levels of iodine in the soil" and because of the effect low levels of iodine can have on keratin now everyone assumes that this apparent lack of iodine is the source of any trouble.

Yes, Australia does have low levels of naturally occurring iodine, but surely the majority of plants, animals and birds would, over time, have adapted to this.

If lack of iodine in Australian soil is the problem, why dont other Australian finches suffer from the same symptoms?

If Gouldians need that bit extra iodine when compared to other finches, could they be slower to adapt to the lower levels found in the area they inhabit in the wild?
Could it be that low iodine in the wild is a factor in their decline in the wild?

Some symptoms of low iodine levels in humans are listed below and one would have to think that some similar symptoms would show in birds
A low IQ, which would be hard to determine in a finch.
Other symptoms include dry skin, fatigue and slowed reflexes. Gouldians could be called a "couch potato" when compared to other birds.
Swelling of the neck (goitres) which probably happens but I have not seen or heard of a lot of gouldians that had such a swelling.

The only thing that could be construed as similar is the hair loss in humans and when referring to birds this is turned into feather loss, but why in such a localized area on the bird, all feathers are made of keratin so I wouldn't have thought that just one area would be affected so dramatically and again, why do we not see some feather loss in other Australian finches?

Diane it could be because Goulds don't have down feathers where other finches do? just a thought..

Hi Diane,

I don't believe that there is any evidence that Gouldians need extra iodine and with the way most birds are fed these days they are very unlikely to be suffering an iodine deficiency.

Many birds respond to trace element supplementation particularly when undergoing stressful behaviours such as moulting and breeding.

In the early days when birds were fed a more basic diet they just responded to the extra minerals, trace elements and vitamins provided by some of these supplements such as the old iodised mineral salts, basically because they were deficient.

As I stated in an earlier post we will hopefully have some more information on the balding Gouldian phenomenon in the near future.

Cheers

Myzo

Myzomela wrote:I don't believe that there is any evidence that Gouldians need extra iodine and with the way most birds are fed these days they are very unlikely to be suffering an iodine deficiency.

I dont believe it either.

Thanks for info, I have removed red cell.bought some vetafarm moulting tonic to put in there water. And then still get bokchoy sprouted seed powdered kelp which they don't touch haha

I'm in the middle of cooking the family meal so I can't do the research but if this moult-aid and diet you're trying is to induce a moult and hopefully redress the balding problem, are you confident that the cold weather is over if your birds are housed outside? I have no idea where Secret Harbour is but I do know as hot as is is here in Brisbane I've heard we can have frosts right through to November (probably prior to global warming).