There are three ways to supplement inectiverous bird diets:

For birds also eating a commercial insectiverous food, universal food or plenty of fruits add Daily E ssentials3 and Calcivet (CalciBoost) to the soft food as if it was an eggfood.  Follow the instructions on this linked page.

For birds living almost exclusively on livefoods we cannot use Calcivet (CalciBoost) as they tend to drown in it. So for these circumstances we use Insect Essentials. This product combines all the ingredients of Daily Essentials3 with a calcium source that is safe to give daily.

There are two ways to feed Insect Essentials. Firstly the livefood can be dusted in the powder - usually by placing the livefood and the supplement together in a bag and shaking them. Alternatively the livefood can be fed on food containing the supplement just prior to feeding to the birds.  This is known as "gut loading".

It is a good practice to give your birds a regular probiotic. Once or twice a week for non-breeding birds. More for breeders. BioPlus can be used in the soft food and is added at the rate of 5 grams (one level teaspoon) to 500 grams (1 lb) of soft food. For breeders Potent Brew is even more effective and is added to the softfood at the rate of 5 mls (one level teaspoon) for 120 canaries, 80 budgerigars, 50 cockatiels, 24 greys/amazons, 16 large macaws. Note that Potent Brew has a 3-4 month shelf life so should be purchased in small quantities.

For the maximum protection against infection you may wish to give your birds our herbal supplement Flourish.

We would strongly recommend you add the water sanitiser Aviclens (Saniclens) to your birds' drinking water to prevent the build up of harmful germs. Many diseases are spread from bird to bird through the water.

For information about breeding diets for you birds click this link .

A better understanding of the function of different nutrients and their role in maintaining health and stimulating breeding, growth and feathering can be found by reading our Nutrition Articles.

For information about the many unique and innovative ingredients we use in our product and why we believe they are sthe best supplements in the world read our Innovations page.