The Coollapet Calcium Mineral Bell is a bell-shaped calcium block that hangs in the cage for small birds to chip at between meals.

Key Features

• Calcium in a form small birds will actually use - they work at it themselves rather than needing it dusted over food.
• Bell shape with a wire hanger that clips between the cage bars, keeping it clear of the droppings tray.
• Coollapet lists it as a daily essential for finches, canaries and budgerigars - the three species shown on the box.
• Gives a caged bird something hard to work at, which is part of what keeps a beak in shape.
• Supplied as a counter box of 12, the pack a breeder or a multi-cage household gets through.

Available in: Coollapet makes the same bell with charcoal blended in.

Good To Know

• A mineral block is a supplement, not a diet. Birds already eating a formulated pellet get calcium in the pellet and can be over-supplemented, so ask your vet before adding one.
• Breeding hens are the birds that genuinely need extra calcium. A hen straining on the cage floor, or weak in the legs, may be egg-bound or calcium-deficient - that is an emergency, and not something a mineral block will fix.
• Calcium is of little use without vitamin D3, and birds kept indoors behind glass make none from sunlight. Most need it from a formulated diet or a supplement rather than from a block.
• Hang it away from - and never directly above - a food or water bowl, and replace it once it is soiled or chewed down to the hanger.
• A bird that stops playing, sits fluffed on the cage floor or goes quiet is showing the first signs of illness - birds hide sickness until they can no longer manage it. That is an urgent avian vet visit, not a wait-and-see.