My thoughts on pellets

I have been meaning to write something about this for a while so here goes. I did put this in another thread about diet but I really feel it needs repeating. I would also like to hear others options on the subject.

I may be setting myself up for a lashing but here goes...

I won't put the name brand but this is the ingredient list for a well known pellet diet.

Ingredients: *Ground Hulled White Millet (Proso), *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Hulless Barley, *Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Rice, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, Chia Seed, *Ground Alfalfa, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Spirulina, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Sea Salt, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, d-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate and Sodium Selenite.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT

Let's start from the top, Millet is a seed, not a great one, sunflower yep another seed, barley is a grain seed (seeing a pattern here?) Yellow corn, not great and frankly even if they say it's organic and not GMO in this country that is going to be rare the cross contamination has become very wide spread. Soybeans same as corn and even less nutritious and more health related issues imo.

Peanuts are not a nut they are a bean and often harbor fungus, Ground rice (not even brown rice) just filler, peas are good, chia seeds are great, sea kelp...well that depends a whole lot on where it is harvested from. The rest is mostly just artificial supplemented vitamins and minerals that cannot be made in the same pure digestible form that they come from in real living foods.

My point you might wonder? Why is it better to take most things that are found in a bag of seed and heat them to extreme temps, and then extrude them into compact neat shapes? Some companies even dye them with fake colors thinking that improves them somehow. Mostly it is for the convenience of people...who wants beets and carrots and blueberries staining their walls or carpets or mold or bugs if they aren't fastidious cleaners? Better for the health of your bird...I don't think so.

I feed VERY small amounts of the highest quality seed, no peanuts ever and if the seed won't sprout it is not fresh good seed. Along with that they get nuts, dried veggies and fruits (without sulfur, that is important) as the dry portion of their diet, as well as sprouted living seed too.

MOSTLY they get fresh, real foods. I cringe at the threads that tote pellets as the bulk of a parrots diet which in my opinion is no better than the bulk seed diets of days gone past.

If you spend some time reading labels you will see what I mean. The standard pellet you can pick up at Petsmart...even worse, first three ingredients are corn, wheat and soy all garbage fillers imo mostly gmo and more pesticides than you can imagine.

I'm with you. I was gung-ho to get my guy on pellets until I read the label. Stayed with chop with veggies and fruit as a snack. He gets a seedless macaw mix to snack on during the day.

Unless someone can point something out that I'm missing, I'm not a pellet fan.

THANK YOU Laura for posting this! I think pellets are slightly better than sunflower seed and peanut mixes, but they (IMO) shouldn't be a dietary staple. Especially those brightly (artificially) colored and flavored ones! One thing you didn't mention was the fact parrots are designed to get most of their MOISTURE from food, not a water dish. I think a lot of primary pellet eaters are chronically dehydrated because they just don't drink enough water since it's not really natural nor do they get any significant amount in their diet. I know I have used this comparison before, but feeding a parrot pellets is like a human subsisting on dry vitamin fortified cereal. And yes, the Cheerios may be better than the Fruity Pebbles, but an occasional apple doesn't make up for eating cereal all day, every day and it simply cannot be a long term diet. Nor should pellets.

Fresh is ALWAYS best!

pellets, like human cereal (I'm thinking the healthier fortified ones, and not coco pebbles) are mostly for human convenience. However, I think fortified foods have their place in both our animals and our own diets. It is probably one of the reasons birds live longer in captivity. Just like humans live longer in modern societies. We don't go through periods of eating extremely limited diets due to droughts, and other issues where food diversity because a problem.

There are tons of micro nutrients in "real" foods that we are still learning about the importance of. We don't know what a perfect diet is in humans, so I'm doubtful we know in our animals. Not to mention differences in individual needs because of genetics, lifestyles ect.

It seems common sense to feed them a variety of fresh, whole foods. However keeping a fortified food available around to munch on should be fine as well as long as their getting the majority of their food from fresh foods. Moisture, that kiwi brought up seems like something high on our list of reasons to keep a lot of fresh foods around.

Foofany has a lot of options available and it seems by choice the majority of her diet is fresh fruits/veggies. A little starchy foods-beans, grains, pasta, breads. Her sprays of millet, and then she'll eat a pellet or two. lastly on her list is higher protein foods-egg, yogurt ect. She sometimes likes to take a pellet and bring it to her fresh foods and munch on it slowly with her other foods.

the only food I find I have to limit is nuts, because she would eat those exclusively if left completely to her own devises. However nuts are a great source of healthy fats, minerals and vitamins, so I would think should still play a part in their diet.

Another plus for fresh veggies and fruit is it hopefully encourages the humans in the household to eat healthy as well.

I think pellets are only good as a supplement. Those vitamins and minerals often aren't found in seed, or even fresh fruit and vegetables. But on the other hand - we still understand so little of what wild parrots eat/do to get all the vitamins and minerals they need, and of course it depends on the species and location of the parrot as well!

I still would prefer people feeding pellets over ONLY seed for those species that wouldn't get much seed in the wild, and I see parrots doing better on good quality pellets than seed. Of course birds like budgies and cockatiels would eat mainly seeding grasses in the wild, so seed isn't a problem for them, but the seed you buy in a bag is still nutritionally different from seed out in the wild.

I suppose at the end of the day, we still don't know enough about parrot nutrition to give them the 'perfect' diet!

Im with you on this . I always thought it was a marketing thing [them pushing so hard for pellets]. There is a huge war on Facebook . They want everyone to go seedless. Not use Harrisons [but Zupreem and Roudybush]. I think that's very bold of them to be converting people to certain brands.

Pinkbirdy said:

Im with you on this . I always thought it was a marketing thing [them pushing so hard for pellets]. There is a huge war on Facebook . They want everyone to go seedless. Not use Harrisons [but Zupreem and Roudybush]. I think that's very bold of them to be converting people to certain brands.

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I'm just curious, but who do you mean by "them"?

Oh thank goodness someone said it coherently! I usually just go blue in the face with frustration trying to figure out why it's so commonly believed that processed food is totally fine as the main or only food...

But here is what gets me.. the NERVE of companies who claim to serve a complete diet based on SIZE. As if the dietary needs of a cockatiel are even similar to a conure??? No way! Ooohh, and how do Zupreem and RoudyBush get away with putting pics of ECLECTUS on their pellets?????? Birds who SUFFER from having too many pellets in their diets!! Well, I just realized that both this and my last post have way too many exclamation points and not enough structure, meaning I probably shouldnt be on the internet today I will see you good folks after a bit more sleep, maybe a decent mean, and a full on "Bill 51 detox."

Kyoto said:

Pinkbirdy said:

Im with you on this . I always thought it was a marketing thing [them pushing so hard for pellets]. There is a huge war on Facebook . They want everyone to go seedless. Not use Harrisons [but Zupreem and Roudybush]. I think that's very bold of them to be converting people to certain brands.

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I'm just curious, but who do you mean by "them"?

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"Them" would be any info you look up on your birds on the Internet. Really push pellets [and my Bird store].

At our privately owned bird supply store, a very experienced worker is dead set against pellets. He says he has seen several cases of parrots with dust buildup in their nostrils that really impacted the bird's health. They do carry a good selection of bulk pellets, Roudybush, Harrison, Zupreem, but his push is veggies, cooked grains, and seed.

In rereading, I meant, 'At our local, privately owned'. I don't quite own my own store yet!

My ekkie is 10 months old and I never give her pellets. I have often wondered if I should, but I just can't see the benefit in doing so. I offer her fresh chop daily, along with brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, beans, lentils, etc. She gets nuts as a treat and for foraging. We are really "clean" eaters overall in our house and I just don't see how she would benefit from pellets over what I am feeding her...

Just like humans birds should have a varied diet and everything in moderations. A little of this and that. People some times look at me like I have 3 heads when I tell them what I feed my birds. I think they think it's going to be short like dried or canned dog food for dogs. LOL! But I feed them a varied diet that includes a good chop, corn muffins, nuts in moderation, nutriberries, fresh fruits and veggies and a pellet dry mix I make using 3 types of pellets and dried fruit in small quantities.

I think the point that is being missed is pellets (even though the basic components are corn,soy,peanut,sunflower) contain the needed trace vitamin/minerals that just seeds and nut don't supply. Why feed pellets made from the same stuff we say is a poor diet? it's because of the added vit/minerals! IMO variety is best and too much of anything is bad. Sprouts, fresh veggies, fruit, seeds,nuts are all important parts of a good diet. Pellets help fill the gaps in a fresh/live food diet. Just my .02 worth on the subject.

henpecked said:

I think the point that is being missed is pellets (even though the basic components are corn,soy,peanut,sunflower) contain the needed trace vitamin/minerals that just seeds and nut don't supply. Why feed pellets made from the same stuff we say is a poor diet? it's because of the added vit/minerals! IMO variety is best and too much of anything is bad. Sprouts, fresh veggies, fruit, seeds,nuts are all important parts of a good diet. Pellets help fill the gaps in a fresh/live food diet. Just my .02 worth on the subject.

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I don't believe I ever said that seeds and nuts contained everything either. In fact I referred to the old school all seed diets as bad as all pellet diets.

However the synthetic lab created minerals and vitamins in pellets in my opinion will never come close to supplying all that is needed or in a better form than from a VERY varied fresh diet. I have done a lot of research about diet and supplements for humans as well as our pets and I just don't believe that supplements are effective nor even soluble in most cases.

My other point is that the major ingredients in most brands of pellets are gmo and pesticide laden. Now I understand that there are people who just don't believe that it is a problem and to each their own opinion, I do think it is a problem, just my thoughts... which is why I worded the title the way I did.

Keep in mind that not all minerals are found 'in' the food a wild parrot eats - a lot come come from the dirt on their food plus the clays and salts they seek out.

It's kind of like sheep - sheep eat grass, but if you only fed them a big pile of cut grass every day, they'd get sick. The minerals in the dirt they eat along with the grass is important too.

So fresh fruit and veg are important, but don't carry the same minerals that you'd get from 'wild' fruit and veg.

Which is why I include herbs, flowers, pollen etc..

I think it's also worth mentioning that we still know relatively little about parrot nutrition, and right now all of us are tryin to make sense out of a relatively new feild of study. I also have a hard time believing the artificial minerals are doing any good, but my birds also have lava rock and mineral blocks to chew. I do feed pellets at weaning and periodically after, since I know that not every home will always have the time to feed fresh, and studies show fatty liver being much higher in seed fed birds than pellet fed birds, but for me feeding pellets to my babies is to prevent them ever being on "the worst possible" diet. Being better than the worst does. Not make something the best.

Mekaisto said:

Keep in mind that not all minerals are found 'in' the food a wild parrot eats - a lot come come from the dirt on their food plus the clays and salts they seek out.

It's kind of like sheep - sheep eat grass, but if you only fed them a big pile of cut grass every day, they'd get sick. The minerals in the dirt they eat along with the grass is important too.

So fresh fruit and veg are important, but don't carry the same minerals that you'd get from 'wild' fruit and veg.

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I agree with you. Fresh fruits and veggies are important in their diet since they provide a lot of macro/micro nutrients and antioxidants that is just not found in a fortified diet. At the same time I would never put my parrots exclusively on a "fresh" diet (maybe except for eclectus). Despite our best efforts, I just don't think we can give them a complete diet via fresh food....

Think about it, for example, do our South American parrots eat blueberry, apples ,strawberry, legumes etc on a regular basis in the wild? I highly doubt it..... I doubt they've even seen an apple tree. Their body was never built to eat some of the healthy food we give them. In addition to their regular diet, Amazonian parrots/parrots in general visits clay licks for additional nutrients, which again we cannot provide in captivity.

Of course I still give all these goodies to my birds but since I cannot provide their natural diet, I do feel very strongly about supplementing a fresh food based diet with pellets. There's no question in my mind. Pellets are definitely not perfect but they at least fill in some of the gaps in terms of nutrition.

Just went and looked up the ingredients in my Vetafarm "maintenance diet parrot pellets". Pixie's breeder, who's also an avian health professional, recommends these (in addition to fresh foods).

At the back of the pellet pack, in addition to some stuff about how the pellets are high quality, cooked well, yada yada, the ingredients are:
Whole grains - maize, soybean, wheat and oats.
Vitamins: A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12, C, D3, E, H &K
Minerals : calcium, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, selenium, sodium, sulphur & zinc
Vegetable oils and natural organic acids.

The pack also contains information about the percentages of protein (17%), fibre, etc.

Having read the list of ingredients, I feel quite happy to continue to give Pixie a fair bit of these pellets (supplemented with fresh foods). I also agree with Mekaisto that I don't think I can give Pixie all the nutrients she needs via fresh foods alone.

My birds always have pellets in the bowl inside the cage. Outside will have some seed mix, nutraberries, or some dried snacks. Other than that, they eat what I eat (within reason of course.) If I'm cooking breakfast, or cooking dinner, I'll always be cooking something for them too. Sometimes it includes most of what I'm eating, but some is prepared just for them.

If I'm making eggs, they get an egg with crushed shell and some veggies thrown in. Taco night? Tortilla with shredded/chopped veggies or some peanut/almond butter and some seeds. I try my best to feed them what they need, as well as a dash of what they want.

My Amazon is a great eater, he'll pretty much go for anything you give him. My Grey is coming around to it since he sees Sydney eat. For him, he'll do better if he's with me and see's me eating. Sometimes I have to put a little section on my plate for him.

I'm always looking for things to make them and try not to rely on pellets or seed alone. I adjust to the seasons, winter getting a bit more seeds and nuts, summer more fruits and veggies, especially when they're in season. I keep the pellets in the cage so that they can eat and I don't have to worry.