Which Pellets

My Sammie, 34 yr. old BFA has been eating Zupreem Fruit Blend for about 20 years. When I first tried to switch him to pellets, that was the only one he didn't fling all around the room.

Now, I have introduced Harrison's Adult Lifetime, and he loves them. But wow are they expensive. Is there really a difference? I know they are organic, but Zupreem has one of those as well.

What does everyone feed for pellets? Sam eats quite a few veggies and fruit, with protein such as eggs, chicken and nuts. Treats are spaghetti with tomato sauce and pizza.

Fresh food is the main part of my flock's diet but they do eat Zupreem natural pellets on a daily basis.

I feed my flock a mix of Harrison’s, TOPs, and Roudybush, along with lots of grains and fresh foods. The Harrison’s are a lot healthier than Zupreem Fruit Blend, and there has recently been an incident involving their Fruit Blend pellets, where many birds died.
Read this post:
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/72782-please-read-many-birds-dead-rehab-food-blame.html

Anita1250 said:

My Sammie, 34 yr. old BFA has been eating Zupreem Fruit Blend for about 20 years. When I first tried to switch him to pellets, that was the only one he didn't fling all around the room.

Now, I have introduced Harrison's Adult Lifetime, and he loves them. But wow are they expensive. Is there really a difference? I know they are organic, but Zupreem has one of those as well.

What does everyone feed for pellets? Sam eats quite a few veggies and fruit, with protein such as eggs, chicken and nuts. Treats are spaghetti with tomato sauce and pizza.

Click to expand...

There is a great segment as part of the Sticky in the Amazon Forum, Titled: I Love Amazons - ... Within that Huge Thread, you will find the Segment that speaks to Diet.

We have long used Harrison's and incorporated into a Wide and Healthy Diet of Natural Fresh Foods, including with a wide and healthy cross-section of dry foods.

Is Harrison's worth the additional cost, that is a topic that each Parrot Owner must address themselves.

Based on the health of the Amazons that have owned our home over the years, my answer is yes.

Take the time to visit each Manufacturers' Website and read what is included with each product. Choose based on your findings!

Basic Tools:
- No Colour Added
- Low to no salt or other preservatives
- Low to no sugar
- Processed in a FDA (USA manufacturers') Human Grade Approved Facility

Hope this helps!

With hope, other members will be providing their favorite Pellets

For pellets we feed Zupreem (Fruit Blend & Natural) and Tropican pellets.

My issue with Harrison’s, first three ingredients, corn, barley, soybeans!

I switched from Zupreem to Harrison's mainly because of the artificial colors. When I called Harrisons they recommended High Potency Coarse for my Hawkhead.

Looking at the ingredients, I prefer Harrison's

Harrisons High Potency Coarse
*Corn, *Hull-less Barley, *Toasted Soybeans, *Peas, *Lentils, *Peanut Kernels, *Sunflower Kernels, *Toasted Oat Groats, *Brown Rice, *Alfalfa, *Psyllium, Calcium Carbonate, Bentonite, Mixed Tocopherals (a source of Vitamin E), *Sea Kelp, Salt, *Algae Meal, Vitamin/Mineral Supplement (Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate and *Sunflower Oil

*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT

Guaranteed Analysis: Crude protein (min.) 15%, crude fat (min.) 5.5%, crude fiber (max.) 6.5%, moisture (max.) 10%.
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Zupreem Fruit Blend

Ground corn, Soybean meal, Ground wheat, Wheat germ meal, Sugar, Vegetable oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Oranges, Apples, Calcium carbonate, Dicalcium phosphate, Grapes, Bananas, Iodized salt, Natural flavors, DL-Methionine, Choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, Vitamins (Vitamin E supplement, Niacin supplement, Biotin, d-Calcium pantothenate, Riboflavin supplement, Pyridoxine hydrochloride, Thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin A acetate, Vitamin D3 supplement, Menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Vitamin B12 supplement, Folic acid), Citric acid (preservative), Mixed tocopherols (preservative), Yellow 5, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, Red 40, Yellow 6, Minerals (Manganous oxide, Zinc oxide, Copper sulfate, Sodium selenite, Calcium iodate), Color added, Blue 1, Red 3

When he doesn’t get his chop, my boy is getting Goldenfeasts Goldn’obles I pellets or TOPs. I’m a big fan of both formulations.

I guess I understand that "processed " sugar is not healthy, in the wild these birds would and do eat nectar.

I guess that's what gives them a "sweet tooth ".

What's that old saying, a little bit of sugar help the medicine go down.
If adding a bit of sugar helps them eat something that is overall more healthy (than seeds) I can't see the harm.

I have read that the artificial color used in Kaytee brand pellets can be harmful and that's why I stay away from that brand.

I have not read any bad reports on Zupreem coloring. I am not saying it's healthy but if it's bad I haven't got the news yet.

I'm a Harrison's groupie and have been for years... about 30, approximately. I order them straight from the facility... yeah, it's expensive, but I never worry about expiration, or freshness, or product safety/handling. High Potency was also recommended for my bird, and my avian vets over the years have supported that.
Good luck with your decision! And good for you, for reaching out and researching!

texsize said:

I have not read any bad reports on Zupreem coloring. I am not saying it's healthy but if it's bad I haven't got the news yet.

Click to expand...

I just wanted natural colored poop

FlyBirdiesFly said:

....The Harrison’s are a lot healthier than Zupreem Fruit Blend, and there has recently been an incident involving their Fruit Blend pellets, where many birds died.
Read this post:
http://www.parrotforums.com/general...se-read-many-birds-dead-rehab-food-blame.html

Click to expand...

A thorough read of the link will reveal several brands of food are suspect with an ongoing lab analysis. A casual reader of your post might incorrectly assume Zupreem Fruit Blend has been proven at fault.

I was feeding exclusively Harrison's pellets to my 'Zon, and was having major problems with his hormonal mood swings (i.e., extreme aggression & violence). These were not the "normal" 'Zon mood swings - he was on "high alert" (eyes pinned, wings flared, hissing, going after the eyes of any person or animal within flight range), 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

I did some reading, and found what I suspect is an issue.

Harrison's, being largely comprised of soy, can be a problem. Soy is bought and sold as a commodity, and the origin of a particular lot of soy may not be able to be traced. Apparently, the chemical makeup of soy varies dramatically, from location to location, season to season, etc. Some of the soybeans on the market can trigger extreme hormonal changes in parrots, but it may not be possible to determine which commodity-sourced soybeans have gone into a particular batch of Harrison's.

I read an account of a parrot zoo (in Florida, maybe?) that was feeding Harrison's exclusively to all their birds, and recorded many, many parrot deaths. All the birds were found to have extremely high (even fatal) estrogen levels - even in birds far too young to even begin to be hormonal.

After an intensive investigation, soy content in the Harrison's pellet food was found to have been the cause.

Reading even further, I found numerous references to this problem with Harrison's in the scientific literature, particularly in the UK.

I changed from Harrison's to Zupreme and found that, within a couple of weeks, my 'Zon's aggression level dropped to a much more tolerable level, and mood swings became far less extreme.

I talked with my avian vet about this (bearing in mind that his practice is a Harrison's dealer), and he admitted that he has heard about this, and is having second thoughts about selling Harrison's as a result.

I know there are lots of Harrison's devotees here, but for those just starting to delve into pellet food for their parrots, I would urge you to do some research before deciding. Talk to an avian vet that you trust, and ask specifically about this issue. Even my vet agrees that pellet food with soybeans as a primary ingredient may be harmful to parrots.

Just a word of caution, is all...

mh434, do you have any reference links?

Right now Amy is eating ZuPreem "NutBlend Flavor with natural nut flavor" Holy Crude...I just read the ingredience! "ground corn..Soybean meal..Ground wheat..Wheat germ meal..SUGAR!Vegetable oil ( preserved with mixed tocopherols WTH is that??)Calicium carbonate..etc etc..all the REST sounds like...UGGHHH!
I can't believe I never checked this out before. I think it is time for a CHANGE! At least I know their muffin's are REAL and 100% made of real goodness!





Jim

Jim check out goldn’obles I for Amy. Might like what you see there

Yes, a bit of self-promotion here; Within the Amazon Forum, the I Love Amazons - ... Sticky has a segment on Amazon Diet. You will note that Diet does not recommend a heavy concentration of any single item, but a balanced Diet based around several food groups (sources).

Feeding only a single food group (source) will result in the Parrot's Chemistry moving to the end extremes, including some out and out missing.

For this reason, I long ago moved to this Balanced Diet approach.

Bill_e 's Post regarding colour is so very correct! With the amount of time, Parrot owner's need to spend observing the the status of their Parrot's Poo, why drive oneself crazy when the Parrot elects that last night should be a single colour meal! In addition, food colouring provides no benefit for the Parrot!

Scott said:

FlyBirdiesFly said:

....The Harrison’s are a lot healthier than Zupreem Fruit Blend, and there has recently been an incident involving their Fruit Blend pellets, where many birds died.
Read this post:
http://www.parrotforums.com/general...se-read-many-birds-dead-rehab-food-blame.html

Click to expand...

A thorough read of the link will reveal several brands of food are suspect with an ongoing lab analysis. A casual reader of your post might incorrectly assume Zupreem Fruit Blend has been proven at fault.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn’t want people to think that, but I would stay away from Zupreem Fruit Blend until the lab results come back in, just to be safe.

Well, this is very interesting. My Sam has been eating Zupreem for at least 25 years. He is very healthy and happy. He also eats a whole lot of other things, such as fruit, veggies and grains. I guess I may stay with the Zupreem until I find out further from our vet.

PS He had eggplant parmesan for dinner tonight. Real treat!

Anita1250 said:

Well, this is very interesting. My Sam has been eating Zupreem for at least 25 years. He is very healthy and happy. He also eats a whole lot of other things, such as fruit, veggies and grains. I guess I may stay with the Zupreem until I find out further from our vet.

PS He had eggplant parmesan for dinner tonight. Real treat!

Click to expand...

Anita, please forgive me for using your post to make a point. and not pointing fingers at any brand but there were a hundred posts on the Zupreem web page that said almost exactly the same thing.

We're obviously not talking about what happened in the past, the concern is about what happened this week, possible bad batch or handling or whatever. Hopefully it's none of the foods at fault and something else that has been initially overlooked is.