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Zebraman

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Posts posted by Zebraman

  4. Posted

    Hi Jon,

     

    I've seen this before more in older birds than young, have you tried bathing the joint in Witch-Hazel (Asda, Morrisons, Superdrug) I've used it to good effect in the past.

     

    Make sure there's no open wounds before you apply it to the joint.

     

    hope this helps,

     

    Gary.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Hi Wayne,

     

    Firstly sorry for the late reply from me.

     

    The bird that you've been looking at is a grey cheek hen, if your bird has fawn cheeks then it should be a fawn cheek.

     

    Both of these types are dominant and your best pairing would be a normal cock bird to a grey cheek or a fawn cock bird to a fawn cheek.

     

    The colour of the cock birds can vary in both types, but they retain the flank makings and the cheek patches are more orange than grey or fawn.

     

    Try not to pair these types together as they can produce youngsters that are blind.

     

    Hope this helps,

     

    Gary.

  13. Posted

    Red millet is higher in nutritional value than plain millet.

     

    Here's a bit of bedtime reading on this type of seed.

     

    Red millet is high in several essential vitamins and minerals, containing between 10 and 20 percent of the recommended daily value of thiamine, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper and manganese. Thiamine and niacin are B vitamins that help turn food into energy. Magnesium and phosphorus are both essential for forming DNA, while zinc helps with immune function.

     

    Thiamine:

     

    All living organisms use thiamine, but it is synthesized only in bacteria, fungi, and plants. Animals must obtain it from their diet, and thus, for them, it is an essential nutrient. Insufficient intake in birds produces a characteristic polyneuritis. In mammals, deficiency results in Korsakoff's syndrome, optic neuropathy, and a disease called beriberi that affects the peripheral nervous system (polyneuritis) and/or the cardiovascular system. Thiamine deficiency has a potentially fatal outcome if it remains untreated.  In less severe cases, nonspecific signs include malaise, weight loss.

     

    hope this helps,

     

    Gary.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    You should never get charged VAT on straight seed because it is classed a unprepared.

     

    Bellow is the HM Revenues definition on prepared Cage Bird Feed.

     

    Cage birds

    Cage birds, for example budgerigars, finches and parrots, are pets and therefore their food will be standard-rated if it has been:

    • prepared, for example special mixes and seeds compressed into blocks; or
    • packaged – see Section 7. This includes packaged canary seed, millet sprays or seed and sunflower seed.
    What do ‘canned’ and ‘packaged’ mean?

    Canned or packaged means pre-packed for retail sale in any can, sealed bag, carton or other container of 12.5 kilograms or less.

    If you simply put loose produce in a plain paper or polythene bag at the point of sale, it is not ‘packaged’. This applies whether the bag is filled after your customer has bought it, or ahead of time in anticipation of sale.

     

    As Straight seed is NOT prepared and comes in bags greater than 12.5kg then you should never get charged VAT, if you have been then the supplier is breaking the law.

     

    Hope this helps,

     

    Gary

  17. Posted

    Panicum millet is a staple part of the Zebra Finches diet and should form a large part of what you feed them.

     

    I mix my own seed and always add more panicum than other seeds.

     

    Being one of the most expensive seeds, seed supplies sometimes bulk-out their mixes with the less expensive products, this usually happens in the cheaper foreign finch mixes, and is one of the main reasons why it's not always cost affective to by the cheapest seed.

     

    Millet sprays are one of the best additions you can add to your birds diet as it's a natural product and encourages young birds to wean from their parents.

     

    I'll be doing a fact sheet soon on mixing your own seed, as a guide for those members that want to try mixing their own. One of the main advantages being that there is no vat on straight seed, so you save 20% on every mix you make.

     

    Hope this helps,

     

    Gary.