what kind of zupreem pellets should I feed

[TREETREE]

Hi I am getting a grey soon and what kind of zupreem pellets whould I get fruit flavor or veggie flavor. I do know I need to feed him fresh fruit and veggies too but also pellets. I am so excited to findally get a grey , I am getting one from a sanctuary, people who have dropped their bird cuz they can no longer take care of them. not abused ones which is nice. The sanctuary has masaws and amazons.

 

[IcyWolf]

It's really up to the preference of you and your fid. We use the fruit blend kind and also feed a wide variety of fruits/veg and cooked foods with the occasional seed mix thrown in. They actually make fruit, veggie, nut and natural flavors of zupreem, you can find what your bird likes best or mix and match.

Oh, one warning though, many birds get picky about the colors with the multi colored pellets, for instance, our alex has decided that she now only wants the orange and purple pellets with the occasional red, our conure will eat them all except the orange and the purple ones, and the amazons eat all of the red ones first and then move on to the other colors, so depending on your bird, it can be a bit wasteful when you use colored pellets. The best way to combat this is to just start out with a natural(undyed) pellet like zupreem naturals, roudybush, or harrisons.

 

[Joeyx]

i got Klaus into zupreem natural (veggie flavor) and he loves it. i recently purchased the
fruitblend and he took to it instantly. my suggestion; go with both! ;D

 

[Remy]

Puck loves Harrison's!

 

[mcw009]

I don't like the fruit blend because of all the dye. I don't think it's harmful, but I do think it's unnecessary. I don't like giving my pets artificial junk they don't need. Plus, it makes their poop turn rainbow, which can then stain anything it hits.
And I think fruit blend smells terrible.
So that's just my opinion there.

 

[Joeyx]

i don't like dyes too but zupreem fruitblend doesn't contain any artificial coloring, right?
at least, that's what i've heard from a lot of people.. which made me get it for klaus.

 

[roxynoodle]

My conure loves the Fruitblend. I think it does have artificial colors but it was the only thing I could get the other conure to try. However, I had the pickiness problem with the other one. She would not eat the orange or purple ones. It worked out ok for me as those are Rowdy's 2 favorites. So everyday I picked through them and put all the orange and purple ones in Rowdy's dish. Sometimes Rowdy has days though where she doesn't want to eat a certain color. Come evening I might find a bunch of yellow ones left, another night a bunch of green ones.

I would recommend if it is available to you to put the Grey on Harrison's High Potency. It has extra calcium and things that are beneficial to Greys. You might not want to feed that to your other birds though as it may lead to an increase in hormonal behavior. As soon as Pete has been on that for 6 months I plan to put him on the regular Harrison's Lifetime Course. Feeding 3 foods will be kind of a pain but I try to do what's best for the birds.

When you bring your bird home though, first feed it whatever the breeder was feeding it. Sometimes they get confused with a new food and don't eat. Most adult birds have enough experience with new foods to at least eat something rather than starve, but sometimes babies don't. Feed the accepted food for about a month before trying to switch the diet.

 

[mcw009]

i don't like dyes too but zupreem fruitblend doesn't contain any artificial coloring, right?
at least, that's what i've heard from a lot of people.. which made me get it for klaus.

So I actually took a look at the bag (XS fruit blend), and it specifically lists both artificial coloring and flavor.

 

[IcyWolf]

i don't like dyes too but zupreem fruitblend doesn't contain any artificial coloring, right?
at least, that's what i've heard from a lot of people.. which made me get it for klaus.

So I actually took a look at the bag (XS fruit blend), and it specifically lists both artificial coloring and flavor.

Yes, zupreem isn't the healthiest pellet on the market but they are readily available and most birds seem to switch over to them pretty easily. I think pellets are like anything else, they aren't to be relied upon for complete nutrition. Fresh whole foods should make up a good part of your birds diet. If you are unable to do that than I would highly suggest getting a higher quality pellet such as harrisons. Even then I think fresh veggies are vital for a healthy bird.

 

[MikeyTN]

As long as your bird is eating pellets, it's still better then seeds alone! I've been feeding Zupreem fruit blend for 15 YEARS. And my breeder friend feed them as well for a lot longer then I have since they've been breeding for over 40 years and they really like Zupreem.

To the original poster, my breeder friend always suggest going a size smaller then listed on the bag. I would suggest going with the middle size, the size for conures. Less waste actually. That's what I feed my toos and macaw. And the rest of the birds nipple at the smaller crumbs even my canaries.

 

[mcw009]

Well, even Zupreem offers a variety with no artificial colors/flavors (Naturals), so imo, unless your bird refuses to eat anything else, why take the chance?

But hey, we've already heard from the world's foremost parrot expert, and his birds are happy with their glorified Froot Loops, so yours should be too!

 

[roxynoodle]

I've discussed the Zupreem with 2 different vets now. Neither has a problem with it. And any pellet is better than an all seed diet, no 2 ways around that one.

And yes, it's nice that I can just buy it at Petco and not have to pay $12 to have it shipped to me like the Harrison's.

And yes, they make it in a natural color as well so you don't have the pickiness issue and wasting of certain colors, or if the idea of coloring doesn't sit with you.

My conure has been eating Zupreem for 10 years though and is probably one of the healthiest looking birds you could ever see. And yes, her blood work supports that.

However, from my research, the Harrison's HP is the best diet specifically for Greys.

 

[MikeyTN]

Well, even Zupreem offers a variety with no artificial colors/flavors (Naturals), so imo, unless your bird refuses to eat anything else, why take the chance?

But hey, we've already heard from the world's foremost parrot expert, and his birds are happy with their glorified Froot Loops, so yours should be too!

And a liar that just keeps going on and on....grow up and drop it already. Stop being a so arrogant and a smart...you know what!

 

[Molcan2]

Okay, I don't have a Grey (they do require more calcium in their diets compared to other parrots) but I do feed Zupreem. Rome's base diet is the fruit zupreem and I mix some of the veggie and some of the naturals into it. She seems to like the variety. In her previous home they were feeding her the size smaller than recommended, I have since switched her to the Too/Macaw size and she eats it just fine.

Now when I first got Rome the previous home had been mixing the zupreem with a seed diet (which completely defeats the purpose of even putting them on pellets) and some junk. I take her to a board certified avian spec-ali-st who is regarded in the vet community to be the top of his field in central florida. When we had blood work done when we first got her we found that her liver values were extremely elevated. He felt that this was more than likely due to poor diet. He wanted her to get on a good pelleted food and recheck the values before giving liver medications. I asked him about zupreem and he said that it was a good choice to go with. Well we had her blood work re-checked a few months later and her liver enzymes came back down to normal. Her plumage looks really good, all her blood work looks good and shes up to a good healthy weight.

I recently read an article that stated that artificial dyes aren't harmful to birds. Just thought I'd put that in there, cant remember where I read that.

 

[amysaviary]

I am a breeder and I feed the fruit blend Zupreem. Don't want to get into all the drama with colored or not, what is best or not.

The # 1 thing is to feed whatever he/she was eating in the old home till he/she can settle in then work on a "proper" diet if it is not great. If they r feeding Zupreem fruit then feed Zupreem fruit, if they r feeding Harrisons then feed that, make the bird feel as safe as u can with the same things. After the bird is settled and seen a vet go from there. Talk to the vet and decide what is best for ur bird and u!

 

[IcyWolf]

Amy, do you know the differences in the zupreem breeder fruit blend and the regular zupreem fruit blend pellets? I purchased some pellets off of another breeder and they were the breeder pellets. When I got home I realized even though they were labeled the same size, they were slightly smaller and way darker colored. The birds all ate them but they didn't seem to like them as much. I still have some of the breeder pellets, I can get a comparative picture if need be but I just thought maybe you would know.

 

[MikeyTN]

Amy, do you know the differences in the zupreem breeder fruit blend and the regular zupreem fruit blend pellets? I purchased some pellets off of another breeder and they were the breeder pellets. When I got home I realized even though they were labeled the same size, they were slightly smaller and way darker colored. The birds all ate them but they didn't seem to like them as much. I still have some of the breeder pellets, I can get a comparative picture if need be but I just thought maybe you would know.

Higher nutrients to keep them top shape to breed and to feed their chicks with.

 

[amysaviary]

Amy, do you know the differences in the zupreem breeder fruit blend and the regular zupreem fruit blend pellets? I purchased some pellets off of another breeder and they were the breeder pellets. When I got home I realized even though they were labeled the same size, they were slightly smaller and way darker colored. The birds all ate them but they didn't seem to like them as much. I still have some of the breeder pellets, I can get a comparative picture if need be but I just thought maybe you would know.
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Yes the size is different from the normal to the breeder and the color is darker so u can tell the difference. It has higher nutrients(Calcium is # 1 I think) so they have more to give to the babies and the parents don't get run down themselves. I don't feed it all year round just before breeding season and during breeding season. My birds seem to love the size of the breeder and eat it better then the normal but maybe they just know what it means when they get that food! lol!

 

[luvmytooo]

I actually let my birds pick what they liked and alot of times they passed up other foods and took the Zupreem. Now they are on the fruit flavored and the naturals.
I do give them everything else as in fresh foods , etc.. and they get Nutriberries.
I have Harrisons , Rowdybush , and the Zupreem and they both seem to really like the Zupreem over the others. Once i run out of the other two foods , I will not be replacing them. I'm sticking with Zupreem. They eat it and enjoy it , they are healthy beautiful birds , so why mess with it .

 

[roxynoodle]

I actually let my birds pick what they liked and alot of times they passed up other foods and took the Zupreem. Now they are on the fruit flavored and the naturals.
I do give them everything else as in fresh foods , etc.. and they get Nutriberries.
I have Harrisons , Rowdybush , and the Zupreem and they both seem to really like the Zupreem over the others. Once i run out of the other two foods , I will not be replacing them. I'm sticking with Zupreem. They eat it and enjoy it , they are healthy beautiful birds , so why mess with it .

That's what I've done, too. I just want them to eat pellets. I don't care what pellets, lol! Bri would only eat Zupreem Fruitblend, and Rowdy liked it, too, so they got Zupreem. Rowdy has been on it about 10 years now and no longer wants to eat any Harrison's. Pete chose to try Harrison's, so he got converted to that. Merlin was already on Harrison's, so that's what she eats. I have to buy different foods for different birds, but I don't mind. Probably in the next few months I will need to move Pete to the Harrison's Lifetime Course rather than the HP, so then I will have 3 different pellets here. So be it.