Higgins Mayan Harvest Yucatan

[Agapornis]

Does anyone feed their birds Higgins Mayan Harvest Yucatan? My GCC loves it, and prefers it over his Zupreem Fruity pellets. My question: Is the Higgins nutritionally enough for him (along with fruits & veggies and whatever else he steals off our plates ) or does he need to have pellets too? Here is the ingredience of the Higgins:

Yucatan Blend features safflower seed, California sunflower, hulled oats, roasted soybean, flaked carrot, shelled sunflower chips, flaked corn, buckwheat, cantaloupe seed, grey millet, spring wheat, white millet, milo, orange lentils, pumpkin seed, hemp seed, pine nuts, canary seed, cashew pieces, bananas, black beans, mung beans, kafir, cherries, cranberries, juniper berries, pinto beans, sweet potatoes, date pieces, apples, pepitas, sweet peppers, whole star anise, bee pollen, chives, fennel seed, and more!

 

[aliray]

I have not seen that one but it sure has a variety of foods I will have to look for it just to see if mine would like it

 

[Agapornis]

You can get it from Dr. Foster & Smith, and MSBT.

Higgins Mayan Harvest Yucatan for Small Hookbills

I will still leave pellets out for Fiji, but he ignores them when he has the Higgins Mayan Harvest Yucatan. :32:

 

[Echo]

I feed all my birds this blend and they all love it from the Conures to the Grey. I used to get the CELESTIAL but some pieces of fruits/veggies were too big for the little guys so there was more waste. However I still feed pellets as well.

With GCCs, I found that if they don't readily accept pellets, they tend to like them a bit soaked. If you soak them make sure to only offer a bit at a time as it will spoil fast. If you offer soaked pellets in the am, they will need to be replaced by evening. You can also put the pellets in a food processor and grind them, then sprinkle on the fresh food or in their seed blend.

 

[Agapornis]

Echo, that is a great idea about the pellets! Do you soak them in water or juice?

 

[Echo]

I soak in warm water. I do that for weaning babies and used to do that for fussy pellet eaters when I used to bird sit.

 

[Agapornis]

Thanks, I will try that!

 

[Kiwibird]

That sounds like a well rounded, varied seed mix to me, and as you already know, it shouldn't be your birds only/primary source of nutrition. I actually disagree with feeding pellets as a dietary staple, since they are so processed and not something a bird would ever remotely find a comparable food to in nature (even if they are "organic"). Its comparable to you eating primarily vitamin-forified bread with some fruits and veggies thrown in. The problem with seed arises when it's the ONLY food the parrot eats (which would be the same with pellets too). So long as the bird is eating plenty of fresh produce and healthy table food, mixed seeds are a good, natural source of nutrition as part of a varied diet. Personally, we feed Kiwi Vita-prima seed mix alternated with a cooked grains mix, along with plenty of fresh produce and a good amount of healthy table food (as we let him eat with us). He had actually been fed nothing but pellets the first 10 years of his life (and was in terrible health), so we immediately switched him to seed/cooked grains and integrated fresh produce/table food into his diet slowly (he wasn't accepting at first). 5 years on, the vet has told us he is one of the healthiest birds he sees, so were doing something right with his diet

 

[Echo]

That is right, a varied diet is the most important. However, a parrot will usually pick and choose what he likes best, which is ok in the wild because they have such a varied food supply that they can be picky and still get the nutrition they need. However in captivity, it is sometimes not the case. Especially when we don't have that species food fresh and readily available all year long. What is good nutrition wise might not be what your parrot likes. Or he might not eat ENOUGH OF IT to get the nutritional value from it. The pellets kind of round up the diet needs.

The same way I disagree with a primary pellet diet, I disagree with a primarily seed diet as well.....

 

[Annageckos]

My GCC loves that seed mix, I also mix in a few other seed mixes too for variety. But she also has free choice TOP Organic Crumpets which she loves now. She was slow to eat them at first. I started out mixing them with a little water and a tiny bit of seed. Then I left a bowl of the pellets dry and after some time, maybe a week I saw she had finished them off. Now she runs for the bowl every time I put them in. She also gets fruit/veggie/grain mix everyday. I make up a large amount of the mix and freeze it in ice cube trays. That way I can defrost what I need without waste. Variety is really the key. And don't give up, sometimes it just takes a little time for the birds to try something and see that they like it.