Zupreem or Roudybush??

[4dugnlee]

What would you suggest for my blue front amazon and my sun conure for their daily diet. I have Zupreem fruit now but I'm looking at natural pellets. Any favorites, or other brands that would be good/better. And also, would I need 2 different sizes? Thanks.

 

[Dinosrawr]

I'm not really sure what you would use for your BFA size wize, likely small or medium from my guess. Conure-wise I find that Avery will eat any size of pellet, but I prefer the mini.

Take a look at this thread for more exact information on pellets, their ingredients, and other member's preferences:

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/28242-ingredients-pellets.html

Personally, I prefer Roudybush and Harrison's. I use a combination of both, and while it is an expensive decision to do so, I find Avery prefers Roudy but will eat Harrison's if it's left over and personally I prefer that she ate Harrison's all together because it is organic. However, there are other organic food brands out there like TOPs, which is also a great choice but not as readily available for me to purchase.

Natural pellets are by far the best choice considering that the dyes and sugars in the Zupreme Fruit Blend aren't great for long term health. Either way, pellets shouldn't consist of the main diet but should instead be a supplement for necessary vitamins and minerals in your fids lives. Can you imagine eating only vitamin chews for breakfast, lunch, and supper? Yuck! Fresh fruits and veggies are more fun, more colourful, and much much tastier

 

[4dugnlee]

Wow...thanks so much for posting that thread!! That is awesome! All the information I could need. I've only had my BFA for about a month and her previous owner fed her parrot seed mix, and then mixed in peanuts, rice, pasta (raw) and fruit loops (yes, fruit loops..lol). I'm switching her to pellets with seed/nuts as snacks. She likes the fruit Zupreem but I want to switch to natural pellets. She does get fresh fruit and veggies also. Although it's been hard to find what she likes because she's not used to them. My sun is a much easier, friendlier bird, and eats/tries just about anything I give him. I just got him a week ago and he is awesome! Thanks again for your post!!

 

[Kiwibird]

I agree with dinosrawr that is a bird likes them, pellets are an acceptable ADDITION to an otherwise varied diet. Just one more point of good nutrition for your birds (when di you get the sun btw?). I do not, however, agree with the more common mindset in the avian community that pellets should be the primary or sole source of nutrition. Parrots have not evolved to eat one food like koala, they evolved eating a widely varied diet or seasonally changing options. I do not know much about zupreem, though those brightly colored pellets look like something most unnatural due to the dyes (probably best to get the birds off those). I have 'poked around' on the roudybush website before, as they also offer a line of cooked food which I recently bought a bag of as a addition to Kiwi's diet. This page in particular did NOT set well with me:
Roudybush Direct

They seem to elude to the thought process that while 'you can offer fruit and veg as treats' your bird should eat nothing but their bland, dry pellets day in and day out. The whole bit about why a birds food shouldn't provide mental stimulation really offended me. No, food should not be the ONLY source of mental stimulation, but theres never a bad thing with your bird enjoying what it's eating and discovering a new taste or texture in it's dish/foraging toy. Kiwi ate pellets in his old home, but once he discovered a (still healthy) variety of foods in his dish, he stopped eating them and I stopped buying them. He obviously doesn't like them, but he HAD to eat them when they were ALL he was given because he had no other choice. So long as he continues eating ample fresh produce, cooked grains, fortified seed and a little bit of everything else (he gets small amounts of healthy table food as well) and the vet continues deeming him in good health, I will not put him back on the pellets. I tasted one once, it was DISGUSTING. I will say, preparing a nutritionally sounds diet that does not include pellets or only has them as a supplement IS more difficult than pouring pellets in a dish. It requires research into parrots dietary needs, enough produce in a week to provide different option almost every feeding, daily prep, cooking for the bird and significantly more mess that comes from moist, fresh foods. It's a big hassle, I won't lie. I have to spend about 20/30 minutes combined a day to cook and prep Kiwi's breakfast and dinner. He makes an enormous mess too. The payoff is a healthy bird who enjoys eating for the right reasons

Diet is one of *the most* controversial subjects in the avian community, so I strongly suggest you do a lot of research into different brands and diets before deciding which is right for your birds and which you can honestly keep up with. Email companies with questions you may have, as they can answer better than anyone else about their product. I *personally* feed Kiwi Volkmans soak and simmer- http://volkmanseed.com/products/featherglow/vfg_fancysoaksimmerl.html along with fresh produce and usually offer some kind of seed mix between his morning and evening feedings so he doesn't eat too much of it, but still gets to enjoy it. I also occasionally add other cooked foods like goldenfest mixes Goldenfeast Direct or, most recently, one of the roudybush cooked foods since I had never seen it before the other day and gave it a try (he liked it BTW). The *way* I feed is a dish of fresh produce first, once he has eaten a good portion, I offer his cooked food and usually throw a couple treats on top. After he's full, I pull the fruit/veg since it could spoil, and put a small dish of seed, which he picks at through the day, but does not gorge on. I pull the seed a couple hours before dinner so he gets good and hungry for another round of healthy food. AND if we're eating something he can have (no junk food, toxic foods, excessively salty or sugary), which is most meals as we eat pretty healthy too, he comes and joins us at the table and gets to eat table food too. Best of luck. Diet is a tough one, and it will likely take you a good long time before you feel satisfied with what your babies are eating.

 

[MonicaMc]

Between the two, I'd recommend Roudybush.


Right now, 7 of the birds here have Harrison's in their diet. The eighth bird has Roudybush, but I'm feeding him a low-fat diet since he put on *a lot* of weight with Harrison's.

I have 1 bourke parakeet, 4 cockatiels, 2 conures (mitred and a red throat, mitred about twice the size of the red throat) and fostering an african ringneck. Size wise, I feed "cockatiel" sized food. Less waste that way and a lot easier to convert birds over to eating pellets! (I have yet to come across a bird that wont eat Harrison's Fine!)



Your birds however may enjoy a larger pellet, so you might try getting a couple different sizes and see which your birds enjoy the most.

 

[MacawGuy]

Pet Supplies | Dog & Cat Supplies, Pet Meds | DrsFosterSmith.com Pet Products
They have a really good mix. They not be as big as the other brands but do some research on there brand they do. A lot of people use them.