What you are not told:

Birdkeepers are swamped with information on birds, bird care and products for their birds. What you need is a “garbage filter” – a way of sorting the wheat from the chaff.

The first step in sorting out the rubbish is to listen to those with a long track record and those you can trust. Then you need to understand a little about the issue being discussed and finally you should make up your own mind.

Here are a few home truths about some products on the market.

Wormers:
All birds, except those single birds in a cage, need worming – there are a range of worms that infect birds (roundworm, gizzard worm and tapeworm being the most common).
Some species are more susceptible to worms than others, for example Ringnecks are rarely seen with severe worm infections but all Princess have worms unless treated regularly. The number of worms in an aviary tends to be a reflection of the species kept and the level of cleaning that occurs.

Worm medications are based on a small number of actives (actives are the chemicals that are used- not the name of the product). There is a problem here – toxicity! Levamisole as a chemical is effective but highly toxic to birds at even a small overdose. You only have to ask the poor chap from Queensland who lost 200 finches overnight after he put a product containing levamisole out for his birds on a hot day. They drank more than normal and they died!
The other common ingredient is Fenbendazole – commonly used as a sheepdrench. Neohemas are particularly susceptible to this chemical and many cases of poisoning have occurred.
Probably the safest chemicals are Praziquantel, Ivermectin and Oxfendazole. Overdose is possible with any medication but with these the safety factor is usually over 10 times the therapeutic dose (that means you must give 10 times more than recommended before adverse effects occur ).
Ivermectin has some advantages but is not particularly good on roundworms (by far the most common worm in birds) and does not like water -it breaks down rapidly when added to water.

How you give a wormer, the age of the bird, its body condition other disease factors and stress all contribute to the safety of the product – always choose one with a good safety margin. For example Wormout Gel for in water treatment and Wormout Tablets for pigeons and poultry (Vetafarm) are based on Oxfendazole and Praziquantel and have an excellent safety margin and good efficiency.

Insecticides:
Commonly used around aviaries, insecticides are an important part of aviary management. Insect control is necessary both on the bird and in its environment. It is generally accepted that Permethrin is a safe, effective insecticide. But having said that none of us like using insecticides more often than necessary. The answer here is to use a product with a long as possible residual activity.
To boost the effectiveness of Permethrin the use of Methoprene is recommended. Methoprene is actually an insect growth hormone which stops insects maturing and insect eggs hatching. The combination of Permethrin to kill the live insect and the Methoprene to prevent eggs and juveniles developing is the smart solution. Together they allow a very long period between treatments.
There is only one bird product currently on the Australian market incorporating Permethrin and Methoprene for long residual activity – Avian Insect Liquidator (Vetafarm). This product is well proven and has withstood the test of being used around the world in every conceivable situation.

Probiotics:
Maintaining a healthy gut in the bird is now accepted as good management. Providing live bacteria which help gut function has become part of providing for birds. The trick here is to find a probiotic that actually works. We all have heard the old one about yogurt – good for your digestive system. True, but only if you are a milk drinking animal! Last time I looked hen birds did not have mammary glands.
The use probiotics based totally on Lactobacillus acidophilus is probably a waste of time. You need to find a broad spectrum probiotic with as many different bacteria and yeast in it as possible. For ease of adminstration get a freeze dried powder (the bacteria come alive when added to water or eaten off the food). Probiotics are valuable for hand rearing, sick birds and during periods of stress. Vetafarm’s Probotic contains 9 different organisms in a freeze dried powder. The powder can be added to water or food to reactivate the organisms.

First Aid Supplements:
Good first aid supplements save birds. They are used when a bird has stopped eating and lost weight, or when the bird is really ill. Provided as a supplement – via a crop needle is best- they can save lives simply by keeping the bird alive long enough to give a treatment - or for the bird’s own system to begin to recover. Products in this category need to supply energy and protein in easily and rapidly absorbed forms so they can work quickly.
The original, and your favourite in this category, has now been revamped by the addition of multistrain probiotics to become the essential for the first aid cupboard – Poly Aid Plus is the well trusted Poly Aid with a hefty dose of Probotic added.

Mineral Sources:
You know minerals are important for bird health, you also know that there are many different mineral supplements available – but did you know that you can waste as much money on mineral products as you can do on a poker machine!
The key to minerals in your birds is absorption. All the minerals in the world are useless if they are not absorbed.
Birds get the majority of their minerals from the organic minerals in plants. The plant absorbs the mineral from the soil and binds it to a protein in the plant cell. It is this bound form that the bird absorbs when it eats. When humans come along we look for cheap and easy ways to do things – in this case using mineral crystals (rock!) as mineral supplements. Unfortunately they are poorly utilised so you waste money and your birds remain deficient in essential minerals.
Organic minerals in the bird industry are few and far between. Vetafarm developed a liquid mineral supplement – Tracemin Soluble which utilises a nifty chemical process to bind minerals to amino acids and so create organic minerals.
Now you have access to a balanced trace mineral supplement based entirely on organic minerals.

Fatty Acids:
Did you know that birds have essential requirements for Fatty Acids. We are not just talking about fat but specific elements within fats and oils called fatty acids. The two that should be named are Linoleic and Linolenic. Birds are not able to create either of these and so they must be supplied in the diet. The importance of these fatty acids lies in their ability to improve egg production. Birds laying large clutches or multiple clutches need large amounts of these fatty acids if their eggs are to be viable. One of the causes of poor reproduction is a low level of essential fatty acids. Fish oils, particularly cod liver oil, cannot supply enough Linoleic or Linolenic acid without creating toxicity from the high level of Vitamin D.
A simple solution to the issue is to use Breeding Aid from Vetafarm. It contains high levels of these essential fatty acids as well as Vitamins A and E to boost egg production and egg viability.

There are many topics we could cover in the same vein, but at the end of the day you need to be confident that the products you use for your birds are backed by professionals – people with the knowledge and experience in the health and welfare of animals and the ability to tell you the real story.