Hagen Mineral Block - For Bird

The Hagen Mineral Block is a compressed block of cuttle bone, lime and mineral salts that clips into the cage for a bird to peck at. It does the same job as a cuttlebone with a harder, denser texture, which some birds prefer and which lasts longer.

Key Features

• What Is In It: Cuttle bone, lime and mineral salts, compressed into a block
• Calcium And Minerals: Calcium is the one a seed diet is most short of, and this is the easiest way to offer it free choice
• Harder Than Cuttlebone: It lasts noticeably longer, and birds with a stronger beak often go for it in preference
• Cage Birds Generally: Budgies, canaries, finches and parrots all use one
• Nothing To Prepare: Clip it on and leave it

Calcium, And The Part Most Guides Leave Out

Cuttlebone and mineral blocks are nearly pure calcium carbonate, and a seed-based diet is genuinely short of calcium. What is less often said is that a bird needs vitamin D3 to absorb calcium at all, and it makes its own D3 from UVB light. Window glass blocks UVB, so a bird kept permanently indoors behind glass can have a cuttlebone in the cage and still run short. A full pellet diet, or a bird lamp that emits UVB, is what closes that gap. A hen laying eggs needs noticeably more calcium than a bird that is not.

Who Makes It

Living World is the small animal and bird brand of Rolf C. Hagen, the Montreal company founded in 1955. The range covers cages, hay feeders, houses, dishes and supplements for rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and cage birds.

Out Of Stock Right Now

This one is out of stock at the moment. The page is here for reference while we wait on the next delivery -- ask us and we will tell you where it is.

Good To Know

• This is a supplement, not a food. It does nothing about a seed-only diet being short of vitamin A, amino acids and much else -- a formulated pellet and fresh vegetables are what fix that.
• A bird that eats a mineral block obsessively may be short of something or simply bored. Worth mentioning to an avian vet if it is sudden.
• Site it away from the perch the bird sleeps on, so droppings do not land on it.