Aussie Finch Forum

In many posts people keep saying that they give their birds charcoal along with shell grit and other calcium supplements. What does charcoal do for birds and where can it be purchased? You couldn't use charcoal from an old fireplace can you?

My charcol comes from my wood burning heater. Which admittedly does not get much use. Some finches put it in their nests to sweeten them.
LML

I dont know why but I do know Emblemas and Scarlet Chesteds love putting it in their nests . I used to buy it online now I just have a bonfire every now and then and collect the lumps of charcoal to crush .

If you google it you will find some ...not cheap for what it is either .

Was told about charcoal for my painteds to use for nest building along with bark and dirt but they never seemed interested in any of them. So using old charcoal from a pot belly heater is fine then. Do they consume any as a source of food?

Two of my Quarrions do , they will pick the charcoal out of the grit mix first . The others dont bother with it , it seems all birds have different likes .
Yep out of the pot belly is fine , whack it with a hammer inside a couple of plastic bags and away you go .

Oh I dont make mine into a powder just small pieces , they will pick out what size they prefer.
The store bought one has pieces of about matchhead size up to about 4 match heads ...vague I know but a rough idea .

Thanks deb and finchbreeder, I'll give it another shot with the bark and charcoal as having them in a new aviery might spark new habits.

Masked Finches find charcoal highly stimulating & will add pieces to the nest chamber. When I had Green Strawberry Finches they would take tiny pieces to their nests too. Painteds & Pictorellas also like it but Maskeds are the main charcoal beneficiaries.

Just went home after reading this thread and took some charcoal from my finch aviary and put a scoop full in with Scarlets - within 2 minutes the hen took a piece back up to her log - Thankyou - it even looked like she had a smile on her beak as she was doing it.

i use it out of the inlaws fireplace and my birds love it the gouldians seem to enjoy it also. The painteds take it to nest and also take termite mound into the nest with them.

Make sure you DONT use Treated Pine.