Birds and B12

There was a suggestion to give vitamin B12 to a bird that was under the weather so I feel an explanation is necessary. Birds never need vitamin B12. Humans might but birds don't. The reason for this is that B12 is produced by herbivores and, as we are omnivores (meaning we eat both meat and plants), we do not produce it ourselves and are supposed to acquire it from the meat of herbivores (carnivores don't produce it either). Vegans develop a lack of vit B12 because they don't eat any animal products and they need to take supplements for it but not all vegetarians do because, if they eat enough eggs, they are OK, as eggs, been a product of an herbivore animal, contain it. I am a vegetarian but, apparently, I don't eat enough eggs and have to take not only the sublingual supplement but also go to the doctor every three months to get Vit B12 shots.

Now, you would say: "If they don't need it why is it that it's added to some pellets?" and, although I don't know the answer, an educated guess would be that manufacturers add it because Vit B12 is nature' own appetite stimulant and they add it to increase the bird's appetite (and consumption) so it will eat more -which, if you think about it, kills two birds with one stone, on one hand, it looks good to people ("Oh, look, the pellets have all these vitamins in them... they must be real nutritious!") and, on the other, the bird eats more which means more product to sell and more satisfied customers (because we all feel great when we see our birds eating well).

Avian nutrition and mammal nutrition are completely different and you cannot use what one needs and infer that the other needs it, too. It's dangerous.

actually we do produce very small amounts in our intestines and I get my B12 from algae meal supplements and seaweed because I am a vegan. I never hear that birds dont need it though interesting

Yes, you are correct. The bacteria in our intestines can produce B12 but we don't produce enough and most of what we ingest nowadays is not B12 friendly (chlorine, antacids, etc) so ingesting animal products (which carry protein-bound B12) is the best source.

Be careful with only taking algae B12 supplements. I might be wrong (I don't really research human dietary needs in depth) but I think I remember reading somewhere that not all sources are reliable (spirulina been one of them?) and that the studies are not conclusive as to its bioavailability (which is the problem with eggs, they have 'good' B12 but the availability is way lower than the one in meat) as most of it is the pseudoB12.