When we bought our Eclectus parrot several years ago, we extensively read up on how to care for this special bird. One author highly recommended feeding egg shells to pet parrots for the calcium they need. So one morning we gave our parrot a mixture of eggs and egg shells. Shortly after he ate, he was projectile vomiting. He was so ill we rushed him to the closest vet. The doctor had never heard of feeding egg shells to pet birds and told us not to do it again.
I'm curious if anyone else has had experiences with egg shells and pet birds?
I've never given any to my pet bird, but I volunteer at a wildlife rehab. We have an old crow there who's a permanent resident (she's 24 years old, mostly blind, and is way too comfortable with people to be released). We give her whole boiled eggs, shell and all. She's never had any issues with them.
I have read quite a few books that recommend giving egg shells to your pet birds, but something about giving them to my cockatiel just doesn't "sit right" with me, so I don't give them to him. He does love his scrambled eggs, though!
I have never had a bird eating egg shells, but I had a bird who would eat cooked egg yolk.
On the other hand I think I have heard of crushed egg shells might be needed for newly hatched chicks for the purpose of getting more calcium.
If your bird was vomiting after eating the egg shells, you should stop feeding it.
You should feed egg shells to your pet birds as both young and adult birds need calcium in their diet. Calcium deficiency can cause developmental problems in growing birds. Oyster and egg shells have the added benefit of being a good source of calcium. You can feed egg shell to your parrots if it suites to him. You can watch it having egg shells.
We always used to recommend cuttlefish (Skeleton) for all aviary birds. It used to comes in various sizes, mixed bags of. If you've not seen one it is basically a thin shell one side with a soft calcium area on the otherside. Running a nail along it will reduce it to a white powder.
All birds will nibble on it and it is ideal for helping in shell production for egg laying and providing the required calcium intake.
If your able to collect these from a beach they will require a few days soaking in fresh water to remove the sea salt residue, then drying and bleaching in the sun.
(06-07-2012, 04:58 AM)laurasav Wrote: When we bought our Eclectus parrot several years ago, we extensively read up on how to care for this special bird. One author highly recommended feeding egg shells to pet parrots for the calcium they need. So one morning we gave our parrot a mixture of eggs and egg shells. Shortly after he ate, he was projectile vomiting. He was so ill we rushed him to the closest vet. The doctor had never heard of feeding egg shells to pet birds and told us not to do it again.
I'm curious if anyone else has had experiences with egg shells and pet birds?
Did you crushed the eggshells before feeding them to your parrot?
The eggs need to be sterilized in advance so they don't have any bacteria, maybe that's what caused the vomiting. You should mix the crushed eggshells with the usual food you are giving them. Eggshells are a great source of calcium.
Egg shells are a good source of calcium, but they need to be sterilized. Crunch them up and put them in the microwave for a minute -- that's long enough to get rid of any germs. You can also cook them in a frying pan, if you are scrambling an egg for your birds. Just toss in a few small pieces of shell and cook it with the egg. It's especially important that female birds get enough calcium, because they can start laying eggs at any age. I had a Nanday conure who I believed was a male, until she started laying eggs. The same thing happened with a white-capped Pionus that I had.
We also have chickens, and we crush up eggs and microwave them to give to the chickens. They seem to enjoy them.
You can watch it having egg shells.