Pellets and Poop

Hi All!

Percy has been eating only pellets as a staple for a couple of days now. He’s decided he wants the Zupreem Fruit Blend a size bigger than suggested. He ends up dunking them in water and fishing out the smaller pieces after he breaks them apart. Makes for more water changes butt least he’s off the seed!

I noticed he picks his favorite flavor (or color) first. The oranges are first to go, purple next, then red, then yellow, and the green end up on the floor. He’s definitely stopped eating as many fresh greens as he did with the seed and the nutriberries. I’m not sure if the pellets and extra water make him more full or what, but that’s the next battle.

I found the answer I was looking for on here but man was I a wreck for a couple of days. Percy is a completely healthy, active, climbing, molting little man. His poo turned brown after switching to pellets - expected. Then I noticed it was more orange tinted... started to get a little concerned. Then it was much darker, almost purple... now I’m freaking out and calling the Vet. Then, it was red and as I’m telling the story about his eating habits and picking favorites... I noticed his poop color matches his hierarchy of pellet eating lol.

I need to switch to natural pellets. This rainbow poop is for the birds (pun totally intended)

So very true! The sad part is that the only difference between those colors is the coloring itself.

Transitioning to natural color will settle the transitioning of the poo color game that, as you have seen, can drive one nuts!

I'm a Harrison's groupie!

Harrison's Bird Foods
I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. 30-ish years ago, Harrison's was still a small company. My vet was actually able to talk to Dr. Harrison about my bird's species and status, and they decided on the High Potency. My bird loves the pellets now, but to get him converted, my avian vet suggested putting pellets out all day, and putting seeds (his old diet) out for two 15-minute periods a day. That would sustain him but leave him hungry enough to try new stuff. I presume the same technique could be used to get him to eat other healthy stuff. My guy was eating pellets in a couple of days, and now I can feed a good variety of other stuff, knowing he has the pellets as a basic. Pellets are out all day... fresh treats a few times a day. I also like Harrison's via mail because I never have to worry about out-of-date products.

It’s crazy how they just have their favorite colors... maybe it’s some sort of instinct thing about what they would eat in the wild. I’ll deinitely have to try the natural colors, I’m glad we went with bulk to try before buying a large amount.

I’ve seen Harrison’s talked about before, I’ll definitely try and see if he likes it. We’re so lucky, the transition to pellets was incredibly easy for us even at the start of his first molt. He ate natural pellets from the seed mix we got from his breeder, so I think (hope) he’ll take to them well.

Thank you for the input!!

I am in the process of transitioning Fuji from fruit blend Zupreem to Harrison. Fuji was picking the orange colored Zupreem pelllets and his poops were orange/red in color. I took pictures and the actual poop sample to the vet who said it was the coloring in the Zupreem. It scared me at first I thought it was blood.

Unfortunately the only pellet my birds will eat are Zupreem Fruit Blend. Not the best available, but far better than seeds per my vet.

I too have noticed certain birds favor specific colors, but surprisingly the dyes don't change their droppings.

Scott I’m really hoping that Percy will accept natural pellets. You’re so lucky yours don’t give you the pleasure of trying to decode the rainbow they leave behind. it’s driving me crazy.

My JoJo gets four different kinds of pellets! His and my favorite is Tops! He will eat Zupreem fruity, but only in the morning on his morning play stand!

Jaime1215 said:

Scott I’m really hoping that Percy will accept natural pellets. You’re so lucky yours don’t give you the pleasure of trying to decode the rainbow they leave behind. it’s driving me crazy.

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Consider a Transition! Begin by reducing the number of the most favorite color first and replace with a like number of natural. The goal is to not 'cold turkey' but to transition! As one color transitions out, begin with the next.

Bumble currently gets a mix of Zupreem “fruity pebbles” and Harrison’s. She loves them both. When this bag of Zupreem is gone I plan to give her just the Harrison’s. Good luck to you!


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SailBoat said:

Consider a Transition! Begin by reducing the number of the most favorite color first and replace with a like number of natural. The goal is to not 'cold turkey' but to transition! As one color transitions out, begin with the next.

Click to expand...

That’s an awesome idea!! Thank you! I’m going to pick up some Zupreem natural today to get him used to the color being in his bowl with the fruity stuff while I wait for Harrison’s to come in.

Inger said:

Bumble currently gets a mix of Zupreem “fruity pebbles” and Harrison’s. She loves them both. When this bag of Zupreem is gone I plan to give her just the Harrison’s. Good luck to you!

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Thank you! Luckily they have the fruity stuff in bulk at one of the pet supplies stores here so I won’t have to get an entire bag of the fruity pebbles (ha, I love that). I’m happy to know the transition worked for you. Hopefully Percy takes it well.

what we can glean from this here is Zupreem fruit blend seems to be a good way to help convert to pellets!

Attempt 1 at natural pellets... complete fail. He totally ignored them and picked out his fun colors.

Here’s hoping breakfast goes better.

Jaime1215 said:

Scott I’m really hoping that Percy will accept natural pellets. You’re so lucky yours don’t give you the pleasure of trying to decode the rainbow they leave behind. it’s driving me crazy.

Click to expand...

SailBoat said:

Jaime1215 said:

Scott I’m really hoping that Percy will accept natural pellets. You’re so lucky yours don’t give you the pleasure of trying to decode the rainbow they leave behind. it’s driving me crazy.

Click to expand...

Consider a Transition! Begin by reducing the number of the most favorite color first and replace with a like number of natural. The goal is to not 'cold turkey' but to transition! As one color transitions out, begin with the next.

Click to expand...

Jaime1215 said:

Attempt 1 at natural pellets... complete fail. He totally ignored them and picked out his fun colors.

Here’s hoping breakfast goes better.

Click to expand...

It is a process, and perhaps a long and fruitless (pun intended) one at that. I've tried mixing, but they will faithfully toss the undesired pellets immediately.

Scott said:

It is a process, and perhaps a long and fruitless (pun intended) one at that. I've tried mixing, but they will faithfully toss the undesired pellets immediately.

Click to expand...

Ha! Fruitless indeed... He just throws the natural pellets around or digs through them like there might be something better under them. I’m glad he’s at least eating pellets in the first place. Maybe he’d prefer the next size up on the natural... I got him the one intended for Quakers but he prefers a size up in the fruity ones...? Is pellet size preference a thing?

Regardless... we shall not give up! In the meantime, any pellet is better than all seed.

Jaime1215 said:

Scott said:

It is a process, and perhaps a long and fruitless (pun intended) one at that. I've tried mixing, but they will faithfully toss the undesired pellets immediately.

Click to expand...

Ha! Fruitless indeed... He just throws the natural pellets around or digs through them like there might be something better under them. I’m glad he’s at least eating pellets in the first place. Maybe he’d prefer the next size up on the natural... I got him the one intended for Quakers but he prefers a size up in the fruity ones...? Is pellet size preference a thing?

Regardless... we shall not give up! In the meantime, any pellet is better than all seed.

Click to expand...

Pellet size preference is definitely a thing! I've noticed that a lot of the birds I've come across that like to manipulate things with their feet tend to like bigger than recommended pellets, whereas birds that don't, actually prefer smaller than recommended. I personally never really go by the recommended sizes once I know a bird's preference.

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Jaime1215 said:

Scott said:

It is a process, and perhaps a long and fruitless (pun intended) one at that. I've tried mixing, but they will faithfully toss the undesired pellets immediately.

Click to expand...

Ha! Fruitless indeed... He just throws the natural pellets around or digs through them like there might be something better under them. I’m glad he’s at least eating pellets in the first place. Maybe he’d prefer the next size up on the natural... I got him the one intended for Quakers but he prefers a size up in the fruity ones...? Is pellet size preference a thing?

Regardless... we shall not give up! In the meantime, any pellet is better than all seed.

Click to expand...

Size seems irrelevant with my flock. My preference is for medium pellets although I've purchased the large macaw version due to inventory issues. The latter is wasteful as they typically grab a pellet, eat a bit, then drop and search for another.

OutlawedSpirit said:

Pellet size preference is definitely a thing! I've noticed that a lot of the birds I've come across that like to manipulate things with their feet tend to like bigger than recommended pellets, whereas birds that don't, actually prefer smaller than recommended. I personally never really go by the recommended sizes once I know a bird's preference.

Click to expand...

That’s what I would think, but Percy doesn’t really use his feet with any of his food. I don’t know why he prefers larger pellets; he’s a dunker.

Scott said:

The latter is wasteful as they typically grab a pellet, eat a bit, then drop and search for another.

Click to expand...

This is my concern. He doesn’t use his feet, he likes to dunk his pellets in water. So most of the time, the extra pieces end up floating around his water which is fine while we’re around, but it ends up turning his water into a rainbow mess, too. Plus it creates a lot of wasted food.

Maybe putting some water in a small amount of pellets to get him interested in the natural would be beneficial? I fear the larger ones would just cause even more of a mess/waste.

Gee , I seem to be the only one who uses Roudybush ? Salty ignores Harrisons and Zupreem offerings.

He does get about 1-1/2 teaspoon of Lefeber Avicake mixed in with his chop every night.

I’ve seen roudybush in a local pet shop. Next time I’m in there, I’ll pick some up. I’ll try anything to get off of these crazy colored pellets.