Teaching me and Pepper a healthy diet

Sgt. Pepper is an 8 week old Jenday Conure. She is currently being weaned from Exact baby food. She takes it twice a day currently.

They sent me home with a mixture that they were offering her. She is eating pieces of everything but does go for those sunflower seeds the most. I have offered her fruits and veggies with little success yet - unless running away from it is success? Haha So far I've offered her peach, plum, star fruit, apple and sweet red and orange peppers. I also gave her a piece of romaine lettuce and she tried that. Seemed puzzled by it but interested.

So my question is when I go out to buy her food what type should I get? Is the mixture she has currently healthy? Are the colorful pieces pellets?

Generally bright colours in pellets means added colourings, those can be bad when eaten too much (either kidney or liver problems, maybe both?).
The best pellet recommended by almost everyone is Harrisons, no colours, soft, organic, and expensive but you get what you pay for.
Best avoid the exact brand as the company has a bad reputation for supporting bird mills (like puppy mills), cheap product but its much lower quality.
If money is an issue then look into other brands (most are cheaper than harrisons) but you may find you can't find alot of brands in most shops, so always check online for those.
Either way I recommend considering supplementing 30-50% of his diet with real fruit and veg (and the occasional mix of seed). Some seed is good, mentally it's enjoyable for birds, but it's very fatty especially sunflower seeds. Nuts are good too but don't go overboard.
There are many great diet and nutrition threads on here, some more technical than others but there's a few very very good threads that explain the pros and cons of most pellet brands. They're not all perfect (though harrisons is pretty close). I big harrisons up but I personally use Hagen Tropican Granules along with a chop (cook lentils, wheat's, veg and fruit mix). But everyone to there own.

Goodluck

Thank you!!! I totally agree with you about getting what you pay for. I eat healthy and my animals will eat at least as healthy as I do.

I did not know that about exact! Yuck! I'm starting to run lower than I like so I will make sure to find another source. That was what the store was using so I just purchased the same stuff. Will it bother her if I switch?

I will look at Harrison's. I'm guessing it shouldn't be hard to find around here.

I might venture into this chop at some point.

Hello and welcome to the forum!
When changing her food, you may want to do it gradually until you're sure she is eating the new food. For pellets some of my birds get Zupreem, some get Roudybush and some get Tropican...I just left them on what they were eating already since I like all 3 kinds. My CAG gets Harrisons, but no one else in my flock seems to like it, unfortunately
My flock all gets a small amount of seeds as well each day, but the majority of their diet is fresh fruits and veggies.

I so dreaded doing my first chop! But once it was done, it was so worth it! The birds love it, and it is so nice to freeze the extra to use later. I know some of the chop recipes look intimidating because of how many ingredients are in them, but you can always start smaller and add some each time

Here's a few links that may help:

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/24213-bird-safe-fresh-foods-toxic-food-lists-sprouts.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/49831-chop-day-recipe.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/51258-abc-chop-beginners.html

Love Sgt. Pepper's name!

After searching a few stores today I settled on two brands and am mixing them together. I am ordering Harrison's later in the week and will see if she likes that as well.

Vitakraft VitaSmart Complete Nutrition conure food and roudybush pellets. I mixed them together and she is eating like crazy! No kidding this is really the first time I've seen her excited at her dish. I'm so happy to hear those happy chirps.

My next mission is to make her a nice batch of chop. That should be fun.

I hear roudybush pellets are good and well recieved state-side, I'm from the UK so I can't get them (not for a mildly reasonable price at least).
Vitakraft vitasmart complete nutrition conure food, I am very unfamiliar with and although I can't see anything bad about it, I haven't seen anyone talk about it either? I hope someone jumps in on that. I've heard of Vitakraft, been given some of their seed sticks as a gift (bunch of seeds stuck to a hanging stick, never opened the box myself).
But the product seems nice and varied, protein content seems a little high (but so does fat and fibre) but I'm no expert so I wouldn't want to scare you off what otherwise seems like a good idea. Just seems high compared to some other brands.

Chop is a great idea, my gcc loves his chop even if it's not his fruity version. Chop is a great way to add variety and and balance out pellets (which are not a perfect diet alone but great with a chop).

That's awesome that Sgt. Pepper is loving her new pellets!
I can't wait to hear what she thinks about her chop

I would disagree with some of the advice so far. I'd buy more exact formula and some exact natural pellets. Don't change brands when attempting to wean your baby. As for getting her to try new foods,,, spoon feed her formula. Also try mixing fruit/veggies in the formula. Baby foods from the store work well for this.Grinding the pellets and making your own formula will also help. Spoon feeding will give you the chance to mix in different foods and still feed her something she's used to. You can always try different brands of pellets once she learns to feed herself. When weaning babies or changing their diet be sure to keep a daily log of their weight. Just my .02 worth.

Awesome advice, Captain!!!