Fruit Salad and a "Don't Buy"

Quick little fruit plate I made for the chickens! The ingredients were a diced banana, grape halves, small bits of bread, and a bit of cottage cheese. The girls were a little uncertain at first but they cleaned the plate! Ace seemed to have some trouble with the grapes so I'd say chop the grapes into smaller pieces next time.

Now for the Don't Buy. Last time I was with my grandparents in Illinois, we went to a Meijer store. It's like a big Walmart, and they do have everything. However, they do sometimes sell live pet fish that are not taken care of very well, in my opinion.
I also want to warn you about the bird food there. The store parakeet blend seems to just be seeds, but the cockatiel food has sunflower seeds as well as being advertised with a cockatoo on the back. Lastly, their large parrot food has corn in it. I haven't seen that before.

I'm no expert, but I would not by this for my birds.

Stay healthy everybirdy!

Cockatielmom18 said:

Quick little fruit plate I made for the chickens! The ingredients were a diced banana, grape halves, small bits of bread, and a bit of cottage cheese. The girls were a little uncertain at first but they cleaned the plate! Ace seemed to have some trouble with the grapes so I'd say chop the grapes into smaller pieces next time.

Now for the Don't Buy. Last time I was with my grandparents in Illinois, we went to a Meijer store. It's like a big Walmart, and they do have everything. However, they do sometimes sell live pet fish that are not taken care of very well, in my opinion.
I also want to warn you about the bird food there. The store parakeet blend seems to just be seeds, but the cockatiel food has sunflower seeds as well as being advertised with a cockatoo on the back. Lastly, their large parrot food has corn in it. I haven't seen that before.

I'm no expert, but I would not by this for my birds.

Stay healthy everybirdy!

Click to expand...

Can chickens eat dairy without issue? Parrots are lactose-intolerant, but I honestly never thought about whether chickens were.

Walmart's parrot section is awful here as well. You'd be surprised at how many large bird seed mixes contain corn. Mine doesn't eat it dry, so that is a perk to having a picky bird (I guess?). Corn is definitely a filler, but interestingly enough, many reputable pellets also contain high levels of corn (mashed up). I guess the difference in that case, would be that the pellets have added nutritional components mixed in with the corn (as opposed to plain old corn that is pretty lacking in nutrients).

Cockatiels with a cockatoo on the back lol...People, people....sigh... You would think that if you are going to sell something, you would at least have some idea about the consumer....lol!
I saw a shirt on Amazon that had a sulfur crested cockatoo on it and said "merry Christmas" "umbrella cockatoo" (but that is not as bad as mistaking a too for a tiel or vice-versa ha)

Sadly, big-box marketers carry basic commodities for companion animals without regard for goodness or safety.

Quite a number of seed mixes contain dried corn kernels and all manner of fillers. Unfortunately, this forum and others have relatively feeble penetration into the minds of "pet owners."