Need to Change Scarlet's Food

Good Morning Everyone!

I am pretty certain that I should start changing up Scarlet's base diet. While I do feed her quite a bit of fruits and veggies, her base food is still a seed/corn/basic parrot food mix. This is what she has been on for the last 9 years. She is in great health and has very good plumage. I just hear so many people talk about how bad seed based diets are.

Since she is getting near the ten year old mark should I consider looking into diets formulated for senior birds.

I have had several local parrot owners recommend the Roudybush line of products. How are these and which one would be best for my little girl?

Thanks for any help.

~Michael

I really don't recommend Roudybush, because from what I can tell, their ingredients list is mostly just synthetic vitamins. Our parrots are capable of extracting vitamins and minerals from fresh fruit and veggies, and these vitamins and minerals are actually able to be assimilated by them. I just gave a home to a 12yr male ekkie and he has been on a seed-based diet for 10yrs, and I have had no trouble switching him. For the first two-three days I mixed in some sunflower seeds and other seeds with fresh foods, and now I hardly put any seeds at all, and he gobbles down the fresh foods. Because ekkies are canopy dwellers in the wild, they really don't eat seeds like other parrots do.

I like to give my birds TOPS pellets, because I like that their pellets are completely organic and GMO-free, and because the ingredients list lis something I feel good about giving my birds.

1 tablespoon of a good quality seed a day is fine & they do benefit from the oil in their diet. I don't feed a lot of pellets. Usually it's thrown out anyway. My eclectus are fed a fresh fruit & raw veg diet along with soak/sprouted seed mix, The point is what ever diet you give it must be a balanced diet.

Harrisons organic high potency pellets are by far the best. My ekkie gets breakfast and dinner of fresh veggies fruits, hard boiled eggs, brown rice and sprouted seeds, its always a diff mix but always includes the sprouted seeds. Google how to make your own sprouter it's incredibly easy and so healthy for your parrot and even you can eat them to! I've always been dabbling in making my own pellets, you can do this with a dehydrator, google that to. Do some research on pellets, a lot of them have a base of soybeans and a lot of those companies soybeans are genetically modified....eww. Harrisons seems to be the best, I can't find it at any pet store I get it through the vet. If you go to there website they list locations where there food is sold, or you can buy online. Good luck!

Ten years isn't really senior for a medium/large sized parrot.... 20-30 years on a poor diet/poor health, 30-50 years on a great diet/great health.

Doesn't hurt to look into different diet options and/or adding more variety, though!