Pellets

My vet recomended we switch our Zon to Harrisons high potency pellets. I bought a small bad to test them on him. He isn't interested in them no matter what I do with them. I have crushed them up because they are so much harder than the Pretty Bird pellets he is on now and put them over his cooked food, no go. I soaked them in water...no go. I put them in his birdie bread, again no go, he ate around the little pieces. I have to contact the vet to see if she has any other recomandations for pellets other than the harrisons. It can't help him be healthy if he won't eat it. I even ate one while offering him a piece...he took it..but dropped it on the floor almost the second he touched to his beak.
Any ideas on how to get him to eat them? I have put the Pretty bird pellets back into his cage because some pellets is better than none.
Rhonda

Persistence is the key here ... keep offering them to him ... I know my two love the Harrison's HP feed ... I mix it with some zupreme pellets and they are quite happy.

RSRosey - how long have you tried? My vet advised Harrison's too - and my BGM was NOT interested for the first week at all. Aruba was previously on an all seed diet, so per the vet I gave her 75% seed/25% Harrisons...then I cut it down to 50/50 the next week - had to bring it up to 60%seed/40% pellets a couple of days later, and stayed there for another 10 days...then back down to 50/50...it's been a month now and we're at 75% pellets/25% seeds.

I have heard of some birds taking up to a year to convert to Harrisons.

Some people will make a birdie cornbread with mashed up pellets, veggies, fruit ETC. in it and have had success getting their birds to eat pellets.

I wish you luck

I am in a similar situation as yourself Rosey.

I have to Amazons. They're both on Zupreem which I feel is very good for them, plus they get a sufficient amount of veggies, fruits, grains, legumes, etc.

I decided to mix the Harrison's in with their Zupreem just to see how they like it and hopefully get a nice 50/50 combo with the Zupreem and Harrison's.

Sisqo hasn't taken to it at all. I tried with him before, it wasn't successful then, it's not successful now.

GiGi on the other hand LOVES the Harrison's! I'm actually in the process of switching him 100% to the Harrison's. He won't even touch his Zupreem now.

In the end, if you think your 'Zon is getting the nutrition it needs, then I think you should be happy about that. Just make sure to give them plenty of fresh foods and stay away from those evil high fat sunflower seeds (plus others) and you should be satisfied with the job you're doing.

I guess I have been trying the Harrison's for about 2 weeks or more now. I have put it in his birdie bread and I am hoping he is getting some of it that way. He is currently on Pretty bird but at the store he was on what I would consider an all seed diet because he was given pellets mixed with seeds and a seed mix, even his cooked food had seeds in it and from watching him here I would bet all he ever ate were the seeds. First the sunflower then the safflower. He would go nuts for the seeds at first when I took them from him...anytime he was out spending time with me he would be given seeds until he got so excited by the seeds that he would growl at me if I tried to move my hand with the seeds in. Now he gets peanuts and almonds as treats when he is out. Mostly he seems to like to crack the nut shells from the peanuts. He doesn't always mess with the nut inside. Sometimes he will eat it but others he will just let it fall to the floor. He loves Pistachios though and you will rarely see even a crumb of one of those hit the floor.

I think I need to try the small pellets. I bought the course instead of the fine, thinking he was a large bird he needed the large pellets. I think they are just too big and hard. I couldn't even get my mini chopper to chop them up. I ended up using the blender and adding some water to soften them up before putting them in his birdie bread and to add them to his food I put them in a baggie and beat the heck out of them with the rolling pin.

I will keep trying. I figure if its what the vet recomended I should give it my all.
Rhonda

RS I bought some of the HP mash and sprinkled it on everything -seeds, fruit veggies - so my BGM could at least get used to the taste. Sounds like you're doing the right thing by grinding it up and adding it to birdie bread. Also, I put the seeds into the bowl first, then the Harrison's on top, so she has to dig through the Harrison's to get to the seeds. Once the seeds are gone, well, there's just the Harrison's....

However, like I previously wrote, at one point Aruba was getting quite unhappy about the lack of seeds so I had to increase the seeds a little.

An easy way to tell if your bird is eating more Harrison's than seed - the poop will be brown, not green. This is normal.

And you vet's advice is correct - Aruba's feathers are coming in much more quickly and fully with no stress bars.

with no stress bars.

What are stress bars? I haven't ever heard of that before.
Rhonda

RSRosey said:

with no stress bars.

What are stress bars? I haven't ever heard of that before.
Rhonda

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Stres bars are dark or discolored horzintal lines on feathers that have newly come in. They indicate a period of illness, stress, antibiotics or malnutrition. Aruba has some on her back and wing feathers. The vet noticed them too - another reason he put her on Harrison's.

Minority opinion:

Harrison's is an EXCELLENT food, and that should not be doubted. However many veterinarians often recommend switching to a product not because it is better for your pet, but because its the company they do business with. Many veterinarians are biased. They do not do this intentionally, a veterinarian focuses on medicine and often they do not have time to keep up with all the changing trends in the food markets. So they find one high quality food that they can confidently recommend. Generally these are the foods that advertise specifically to veterinarians in order to get their recommendation.

Many canine vets around here recommend only Royal Canin dog food. It is an excellent food, but it is not superior to several cheaper brands that do not market to the veterinary field. Other veterinarians are still recommending owners only feed Science Diet; and while this USED TO BE a premium food its quality has dropped considerably in the past decade. Vets still recommend it though it is definitely not the best for the pets.

In my personal research of bird foods much of the same things happen. The two brands that market to veterinarians are Harrison's and Roudy Bush. Both of these are EXCELLENT foods, again this should not be doubted. But I worry that often veterinarians encourage owners to switch their pet off a different excellent food to one of these.

If it aint broke dont fix it.

That being said it there are medical reasons to switch to a different food by all means. But I always encourage owners to corner their vet and make them actually compare and contrast foods before they recommend switching as blithely as I have known many to do.

I have heard the same thing and my vet also sells Harrisons ... but at least I have now done the necessary research to understand why Harrisons is so good.

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate that. I will have to call and question my vet as to why we should stick with this, if I can't get him onto them. The thing is he was on an almost all seed diet at the pet store. He was offered other foods but the seeds were mixed in with it all and from watching him here I would bet money that all he ate were the seeds. He hasn't had seeds in a while, we give him nuts as treats though.
He will eat his Pretty bird pellets but I have only gotten him to eat the Harrisons by sneaking them into things.
Rhonda

Since were on the topic It seems like a great chance to share info and learn about food. Recommendations of experienced bird owners are valuable, but some raw data is helpful to.

I have a lot of experience with dog and cat food, and I've learned many useful lessons about the pet food industry. However I do not have much information on bird food.

TexDot33 said:

... but at least I have now done the necessary research to understand why Harrisons is so good.

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Do you have any data from that research you can share?

Other than recommendations what is it that makes Harrison's so good? To be clear these are honest questions; I don't doubt the quality; but I'd like to know why, or what makes it better.

Here are two links looking at Harrison's and Pretty Bird.

http://prettybird.com.ashopcart.com/catalogue.php?exp=5|11|&cat=25&shop=1

http://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/products/hpf.html

The corn, wheat, and oat groats in pretty bird are common first ingredients in many good pelleted foods. Harrison's lists millet and sunflower seeds as the first ingredients. Shouldn't these generally minimized in a bird's diet?

Please share any info.

DAMN YOU SCIENTISTS!! :18:

Nah, all of my research was from personal opinions, but from people I thought that I could trust, vets, breeders, intelligent bird people ... so I guess my research was "no good" ...

No matter what pellet base you use, remember that pellets shouldn't be the only thing that we feed our fids ...

leafy greens, veggies, fresh fruit, nuts, whole wheat breads and pasta and even plain boiled chicken are all great additions to all of our fids diets.

The Harrisons lifetime formula is "Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hulless Barley, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Rice, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, Calcium Carbonate, Psyllium, 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, Sodium Selenite."

I don't think my vet intends to keep him on the high potency forever. I think its a transition food. I didn't get a chance to talk it over with her completely because I almost forgot and I sent the lady back in to get her to write down the name of the food she wanted him on. From reading the bag and the site its a 6 month period. The lifetime formula says for birds after completing the 6 months of high potency.
Rhonda

I have two type of birdie bread for him. He gets a fruit bread in the am and his veggie bread with his veggie bean mix. Right now his veggie bean mix has the 15 bean soup mix beans in it, broccoli, peas, carrots, green beans, corn, spaghetti squash, and brown rice. Sometimes I put Barely in, sometimes pasta (which he has yet to eat), sometimes butternut squash and some cooked greens.

He also gets fresh greens at least once a day because I give him the stalk with some leaves on it after I tear some off for the BD. He gets pellets everyday all day...right now that is a mix of pretty bird (which I know he eats) and Harrisons high potency coarse (but I crush them up). He gets zuchinni and summer squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes when he is out on his tree. (just depends on what we have on hand) He also gets pieces of what ever veggie we are having.

Rhonda

I'm doing the same thing, RSRosey. Wheat bread, birdie bread, cucumber, carrot, kale, spinach, bell pepper (not a favorite), apple, pear, jalapeno, dandelion greens, blueberries, tomato, grapefruit...I could go on and on. Oh, and birdie mac & cheese! Cook whole wheat pasta and shred in some soy cheese till it melts, (real cheese is too much dairy), toss in pieces of any of the above, let cool & freeze small portions in baggies. It's pretty tasty to me, and Aruba loves it!

RSRosey said:

sometimes pasta (which he has yet to eat)

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WOW!
You mean your bird hasn't discovered the wonderful world of Pasta yet?

Gigi's favorite day of the week by far is Wednesday...it's spaghetti night. I swear he goes crazy for it. Calls for it, runs back and forth across his cage until we bring it to him. Spoiled spoiled birdie.

In fact, both Gigi and Sisqo love pasta so much that I yell at my family all the time when I'm gone because all they feed them is pasta, and too much of anything isn't good at all.

TexDot33 said:

... so I guess my research was "no good" ...

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that. Just as an animal person (and as a scientist) I like to be able to say why. And quoting what I heard from some people on a forum who heard from intelligent bird people who heard it from someone else.... That's not "no good," a good recommendation goes a long way. I'd just like to get to the bottom of what is actually different between several good brands.

Rosey, thanks for the correction. It seems I put a link to the high potency formula - it makes sense that that would have the seeds and fatty ingredients. I hadn't realized, I just looked up ingredients for it.

My search will continue.

He has discovered pasta...just not as a food. He loves to see how far he can throw it. LOL.
Rhonda