Am I using good food?

AnnieTheConure · Apr 26, 2020

Hi, I'm looking for some bird food guidance.

If you saw my post in the introduction thread you'll know about Annie the GCC, but if not you can see a (sideways) picture of her attached.

So she's about 5 months old. I can't remember exactly when they said she was born, but we got her a couple of months ago. The pet store folks told us that she can eat parrot food, but she seemed to prefer smaller food. They poured a bunch of her food from the huge bag into a container for us to take with. It was small colourful pellets.

Problem is I can't find anything similar anywhere. And now that COVID has everything closed, I'm pretty limited in where I can buy food. I've been feeding her the Bonanza parakeet mix from Hartz, which she seems to like most of (she won't eat one of the pellet things that are in the mix but she eats the rest). Is this good for her? Walmart has the same brand of parrot food but the pieces are all much bigger and I'm not sure if it'll be good for her.

Suggestions? I think some of the pet stores in town are doing curbside pickup but I can't go in to look at their wares so I need to know what I want.

Pic is attached 🙂

Malewicka · Apr 26, 2020

Pellets are better than a seed diet for conures. Fresh vegetables and pellets, occasionally fruit, etc, are the recommended diet. It's great she was already eating pellets when you got her. Can you show us what she was eating so we can help you locate more? Where are you located?

Seeds should be a treat.

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wrench13 · Apr 26, 2020

The best thing for your cockatiel is fresh veggies and a bit of fruit or the right type. Blueberrie, blackberries, mango, little bit of apple, pear, strawberries. If fresh veggies are aproblem, you can freeze small portions and thaw them we make up like a 90 day supply. Also include hot peppers, the hotter the better. No citrus fruits, they cant handle the acids.
Most of stay away from any fortified or vitamin enriched bird foods, most of the time they cant assimilate the vitamins used. The problem with the mix, is that the parrot picks out what they like and ignore the rest, so it really isn't a balanced diet. A small amount of seeds is OK, but control that amount. We have a very extensive nutrition sub forum here, it pays to spend some time reading there. With proper nutrition your cockatiel can live 25+ years!

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/

SassiBird · Jun 1, 2020

Hari Tropican is a good pellet available in Canada. The one with the cockatiel on the bag is a good size for a green cheek.

As one of the other posters mentioned, if you can post a picture of the pellets she likes we might be able to figure out what it is.

AlexaWilliams · Jun 17, 2020

Hi there! I found this post when I was looking for advice because I have the same question you had. I'm looking for a bird food supplier where I could get food for my Sun conure because Amazon is too expensive and it doesn't have much variety. I read the comments and I found useful information but my main issue is that Rocky likes seeds, very much, and as much as I understood I shouldn't give him that much. Also, he doesn't like fruits, well only some of them and a few veggies and it's strange because I know that usually, they like such food. He eats the pellets with no problems, but I don't know what brand or kind would be better.

birbsRcool · Jun 17, 2020

AnnieTheConure said:
Hi, I'm looking for some bird food guidance.

If you saw my post in the introduction thread you'll know about Annie the GCC, but if not you can see a (sideways) picture of her attached.

So she's about 5 months old. I can't remember exactly when they said she was born, but we got her a couple of months ago. The pet store folks told us that she can eat parrot food, but she seemed to prefer smaller food. They poured a bunch of her food from the huge bag into a container for us to take with. It was small colourful pellets.

Problem is I can't find anything similar anywhere. And now that COVID has everything closed, I'm pretty limited in where I can buy food. I've been feeding her the Bonanza parakeet mix from Hartz, which she seems to like most of (she won't eat one of the pellet things that are in the mix but she eats the rest). Is this good for her? Walmart has the same brand of parrot food but the pieces are all much bigger and I'm not sure if it'll be good for her.

Suggestions? I think some of the pet stores in town are doing curbside pickup but I can't go in to look at their wares so I need to know what I want.

Pic is attached 🙂

The colourful pellets i use are ZuPreem fruitblend, if you see that in stores? The yellow ones are banana-shaped.

noodles123 · Jun 17, 2020

You can buy a ton of stuff on Amazon...same prices (if not cheaper) than stores..

birbsRcool · Jun 17, 2020

SassiBird said:
Hari Tropican is a good pellet available in Canada. The one with the cockatiel on the bag is a good size for a green cheek.

As one of the other posters mentioned, if you can post a picture of the pellets she likes we might be able to figure out what it is.

Yes! I use that pellet and zupreem fruitblend mix. Bird might like it

chris-md · Jun 17, 2020

Ew, Zupreme pellets...The added sugar alone should disqualify them from any birds diet.

Is online ordering an option for you - many of us do that. Some of the best pellets in the business are TOPs pellets and Goldenfeast Gold’nobles.

noodles123 · Jun 17, 2020

Now now...they are better than nothing if a bird has a seed addiction. FOR REAL...They are certainly not they best, and absolutely not for eckies, but better than nothing if you are talking about seed and fruit only diets...They are respectable, even if they are not great (yes, added sugars and color!) ..Again, that having been said, there are far worse things out there...so...
TRY putting a stubborn bird onto a pelleted diet without a buffer and you will often end up with a starving bird. Zupreem can be that gateway to better food. If a bird isn't a fan of veg already, cutting them off the pellets they eat is dangerous and it should be done gradually- plus Zupreem is a heck of a lot less damaging than an all-seed diet.

chris-md · Jun 17, 2020

noodles123 said:
Now now...they are better than nothing if a bird has a seed addiction. FOR REAL...They are certainly not they best, and absolutely not for eckies, but better than nothing if you are talking about seed and fruit only diets...They are respectable, even if they are not great (yes, added sugars and color!) ..Again, that having been said, there are far worse things out there...so...

Nobody said they were the only option here, or that they were even being considered.

noodles123 · Jun 17, 2020

chris-md said:
noodles123 said:

Now now...they are better than nothing if a bird has a seed addiction. FOR REAL...They are certainly not they best, and absolutely not for eckies, but better than nothing if you are talking about seed and fruit only diets...They are respectable, even if they are not great (yes, added sugars and color!) ..Again, that having been said, there are far worse things out there...so...

Click to expand...

Nobody said they were the only option here, or that they were even being considered.

Maybe I misread your reply then because it seemed to pack a punch. BirbsRCool is currently using them, so they would be what his/her bird is used to eating.

chris-md · Jun 17, 2020

Yes, you definitely misread.

noodles123 · Jun 17, 2020

chris-md said:
Yes, you definitely misread.

Glad to hear it.

Am I using good food?

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