A Pellet Request

[Ira7]

As my bank account gets smaller and smaller trying to find a pellet Archie will actually eat, I just ordered Lafeber’s, to arrive tomorrow.

I ask you to please wish me luck...cross your fingers...or pray to the deity of your choice that he’ll eat it.

I myself am not very optimistic.

 

[Scott]

A shame food producers don't offer samples or low-cost trials. Getting a bird to eat "X" pellet quite difficult unless you hit on the right combinations of appearance, texture, taste, etc.

Best advice I can give for coaxing Archie is Harrison's conversion protocol. I used it with a flock of 8, no holdouts. Methodology is sound and should work regardless of brand imo: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/using-our-foods/large-bird-conversion/

Good luck, I would almost suggest gnawing on a few pieces while offering. Not sure about Lafeber, but many are made with human-grade ingredients.

 

[Ira7]

A shame food producers don't offer samples or low-cost trials. Getting a bird to eat "X" pellet quite difficult unless you hit on the right combinations of appearance, texture, taste, etc.

Best advice I can give for coaxing Archie is Harrison's conversion protocol. I used it with a flock of 8, no holdouts. Methodology is sound and should work regardless of brand imo: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/using-our-foods/large-bird-conversion/

Good luck, I would almost suggest gnawing on a few pieces while offering. Not sure about Lafeber, but many are made with human-grade ingredients.

Archie isn’t food motivated. And he’s stubborn. As it is, he’s not a big eater, and he’s at the very low end of his species, 477 grams and steady, for over a year. (Weighed him yesterday.)

He’s getting too many nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachio, cashews, other)...and Nutriberries. Nutriberries are his only seed intake. Doesn’t eat any seed from seed mixes I’ve tried. He just picks out the dried hot pepper, and one or two undesirable elements.

But he’s a great fresh eater, so I’m considering upping his fruit content and cutting back on the nuts. The vegetables won’t put the weight on, while the fruit will. And putting wacky behavior episodes aside because of too much sugar (sounds like fun!), at least this will allow me to cut back on the fatty nuts.

In other words, at his light weight, which is more beneficial? A little weight gain here isn’t a bad thing. And cutting back on the fatty nuts is certainly good.

 

[Laurasea]

the problem with fruit, is that the sugar causes yeast overgrowth, yeast love sugar. The imbalance can cause them to loose weight, and or get diarrhea , a sever case can lead to death. Sometimes sugar leads to bacteria overgrowth instead with the same issues.

Soaked and cooked legume ( beans) , or lentils will help out on weight, as will starchy veggies like cooked sweet potatoes, cooked pumpkin, cooked squash, a little fresh corn on the cob, a little boiled egg, a little whole grain bread. Some fresh cooked whole grain rice with minced veggies mixed in.

We think fruits are great and tasty. But many parrots prefer tart, astringent, bitter stuff like that found in veggies.

Nutri berries actually have pellets in tgrm and are a balanced diet. They aren't bad to feed st all. With veggies, abd le a day greens and all the other great stuff. A millet spray here and there is good for weight gain, fun for foraging too

Fruits aren't the answer or a good idea.

http://lovinglifefromscratch.blogspot.com/2013/07/chop-all-things-good-for-birdie.html?m=1

This has great tips to temp them to veggies.
https://threebirdsandacloud.wordpre...parrot-to-eat-vegetables-or-unfamiliar-foods/

 

[SailBoat]

Scott's Harrison approach to increasing pellet intake works!

We have gone to crushing (not creating powder) the pellets and sprinkling the bits in with the dry food and the powder on the veggies (wet foods).

At two years old, having a hormonal blast is unlikely whether by increasing sugar or just cause. But an increase in sugar will not get you the weight increase you are looking for. And, although in their natural range there will be a month or two of heavy availability of fruit, not that common in other parts of the year.

At 500g our DYH Amazon is also at the light end of his species. Sometimes, DNA trumps wants! As an active flier /walk about /climber he's solid muscle, which requires me to remind our CAV when he visits!

 

[Ira7]

the problem with fruit, is that the sugar causes yeast overgrowth, yeast love sugar. The imbalance can cause them to loose weight, and or get diarrhea , a sever case can lead to death. Sometimes sugar leads to bacteria overgrowth instead with the same issues.

Soaked and cooked legume ( beans) , or lentils will help out on weight, as will starchy veggies like cooked sweet potatoes, cooked pumpkin, cooked squash, a little fresh corn on the cob, a little boiled egg, a little whole grain bread. Some fresh cooked whole grain rice with minced veggies mixed in.

We think fruits are great and tasty. But many parrots prefer tart, astringent, bitter stuff like that found in veggies.

Nutri berries actually have pellets in tgrm and are a balanced diet. They aren't bad to feed st all. With veggies, abd le a day greens and all the other great stuff. A millet spray here and there is good for weight gain, fun for foraging too

Fruits aren't the answer or a good idea.

Life From Scratch: Chop: all things good for birdie

This has great tips to temp them to veggies.
https://threebirdsandacloud.wordpre...parrot-to-eat-vegetables-or-unfamiliar-foods/

He eats everything good you mention, but still isn’t gaining weight.

And why do you think upping his fruit content and lowering his fatty nut content is a bad thing?

 

[Laurasea]

the problem with fruit, is that the sugar causes yeast overgrowth, yeast love sugar. The imbalance can cause them to loose weight, and or get diarrhea , a sever case can lead to death. Sometimes sugar leads to bacteria overgrowth instead with the same issues.

Soaked and cooked legume ( beans) , or lentils will help out on weight, as will starchy veggies like cooked sweet potatoes, cooked pumpkin, cooked squash, a little fresh corn on the cob, a little boiled egg, a little whole grain bread. Some fresh cooked whole grain rice with minced veggies mixed in.

We think fruits are great and tasty. But many parrots prefer tart, astringent, bitter stuff like that found in veggies.

Nutri berries actually have pellets in tgrm and are a balanced diet. They aren't bad to feed st all. With veggies, abd le a day greens and all the other great stuff. A millet spray here and there is good for weight gain, fun for foraging too

Fruits aren't the answer or a good idea.

Life From Scratch: Chop: all things good for birdie

This has great tips to temp them to veggies.
https://threebirdsandacloud.wordpre...parrot-to-eat-vegetables-or-unfamiliar-foods/

He eats everything good you mention, but still isn’t gaining weight.

And why do you think upping his fruit content and lowering his fatty nut content is a bad thing?

read the first paragraph again