# Peni is eating a wall



## Makonja (Oct 22, 2013)

Hi! I'm newbie here and tried to find similar thread but with no success. So, I would ask...
My sweet Peni is eating a wall. For a long period, every day, even though she knows that's forbbiden. Is it possible that something is missing in her diet? She (all 5 tiels actually) eats seeds, dark green vegetables, fruits, cooked things, Omni-vit, Muta-vit... But she and her "boyfriend", eat a wall. Especially her.
Peni seems healthy, but I'm afraid for their little-over-3-weeks-old babies. Could that be harmfull for them?


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## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

Hi, how old is your building? If it's not one of those really old buildings made back in the days when they would use abestos (and other harmful substances) then it should be fine. I think buildings nowadays are all made with non-toxic substances. Sunny also used to eat the wall in our livingroom---it was the size of a pin head when we first moved in. Every night she worked on it religiously until it became the size of a pea.  Finally my then BF patched it up with cement (with Sunny glaring at him from afar the entire time, watching her hard work go down the drain ) and she never chewed the wall again. She is still alive and well (my building was built about 10 years ago). So I don't believe that it necessarily means your birds are not getting something in their diet because Sunny is on a good organic diet. I think she did it just for fun. Let's see if other people have something to say on this?


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

When a tiel does this they are looking for additional sources for either calcium, grit or minerals that may be found in the plaster of the walls. 

If you look on the floor and see the powder from where they have chewed from it could also be from boredom or just chewing for fun as Annie suggested.

So look to see if the stuff is actually eaten or not. If there is babies in the nest and she does feed them this and gives too much it can impact in the intestines.


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## Makonja (Oct 22, 2013)

Huh, thanks, both of You!
She eats fish bone, gets extra Calci-lux in water-dish every day, but Leo, her boyfriend, eats also one toy with some white, porous stone, and she doesn't. Maybe she eats wall 'couse she needs some grit?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I looked up the ingredients for Calci-lux at http://www.oropharma.com/NUTRI/Nutr...kt=15660&fam=15670&ani=-1&ran=16138&pro=18911 It says it contains calcium lactate and dextrose (a sugar) but it doesn't say anything about vitamin D3 which is essential for calcium absorption. So even though it sounds like she has plenty of calcium in her diet, she may not be absorbing it properly. The best source of vitamin D3 is unfiltered sunlight (meaning that the sun's rays are not passing through window glass or a screen). So if you can take her outside for some sunlight it could help improve her calcium absorption. Omni-vit and Muta-vit do contain vitamin D, but it's difficult to control dosage when vitamins are added to the water so if she's getting these supplements in her water bowl she might not be getting enough. The best dietary sources of D3 are nutritionally complete pellets and cooked egg yolk. Cooked egg is a good nutritious food for breeding birds so if you want to provide a small amount every day that's fine. When birds are NOT breeding egg should be limited to once or twice a week. There's more information on providing vitamin D at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=27549

It's also possible that she's simply craving grit. It's a natural part of a cockatiel's diet and apparently they do feed it to their babies. At three weeks old, the babies are almost adult size so there is less risk of impacting their crops than there would be with a tiny baby. But since your hen is already calcium deficient and/or grit-deprived, you would need to be very careful to provide only small amounts of grit. If you provide a lot she might overeat it which could be deadly for both her and the babies. If you can get this kind of grit, it's a good-quality brand with several types of minerals in it, and it seems like it's all soluble grit which means that it will dissolve eventually. 

If you can get red chard (silverbeet), this would be a good vegetable to add to their diet. It contains a lot of sodium which breeding birds crave, and has lots of other excellent nutrients.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You probably know that grit is a controversial subject and many people will tell you to never, ever give it to a psittacine. But there are also respected experts who disagree with this and think that grit is beneficial in sensible amounts. If you're interested, we had a big discussion on the subject about a month ago: http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=60537

Here's something that isn't in that thread because I just found it yesterday, in a book not online. In "Hand Rearing Parrots and Other Birds" (originally published 1987, but this was the 1993 reprint), Rosemary Low says "A question is often asked whether it's necessary to give grit to seedeating parrots while they are being hand-reared. Species which normally consume much grit, such as Cockatiels, can be given a little fine grit with the food twice weekly, after they are about three weeks old, as some birds do feed grit to their chicks. I have never given grit to the larger, omnivorous parrots".

Rosemary Low has respectable credentials (ornithologist, aviculturalist, parrot conservationist, author of many books) and she is still pro-grit.


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## Makonja (Oct 22, 2013)

Very usefull advices! It's probably lack of D3 vitamin because nowadays there's not a plenty of sun. But, I think this afternoon they could go outside for a 15 minutes...
Also, they have sand with shells on the bottom of the cage so they can eat peaces of shells, as they do.
I would give them cooked eggs and silverbet and then we'll see...


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## karendh (Mar 25, 2013)

If I have the back of my chair too close to the edge of the archway, Birdie will nibble at the plaster although knows she shouldn't and stops as soon as I notice her and say 'no'. She will retreat and then go back if I let her because she thinks it's a game. She doesn't attack any other walls. She's just having fun!!


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