Pellets vs. Seeds

[Tylerswildphotos]

What do you feed your parrots? I have an amazon that is on a seed diet but am thinking of switching to all pellets. He has pellets mixed in his seed and gets fresh fruits and veggies every day. He also has dried fruits mixed in his seed. Do you think I should switch him to all pellets?
Thanks

 

[Printer bird]

Seeds have very little nutritional value for parrots. In the wild, they would rarely eat any seeds (they love them like we love fries and chips). You should continue the veggies but switch over the seeds to pellets as they are more balanced and contain more nutrition to complement the veg than the seeds do. There are lots of sites on how to switch or you can talk to your vet, they can give you advice on how to do it.

 

[Spiritbird]

I am fostering a Quaker that was on an all seed diet. Because of that diet for 7 years now he is also on medication for elevated liver enzymes and low calcium. If this bird had been on pellets instead and the other fresh foods and nuts he would not have to take this medication. It is going to be a real uphill battle to get him to eat the pellets.

 

[SharonC]

I have all mine on a homemade mash, loaded with grains, veggies, fruit, pellets, etc. I feed the mash and pellets daily, and seed two to three times per week. I think a little of everything is good.

 

[Tylerswildphotos]

My amazon is still only 8 months old so should be easy to switch to pellets. He seems to eat them when I hand him a pellet. I will start mixing more and more pellets into his seed until he is totally switched to pellets.
Thanks for all the help

 

[Tylerswildphotos]

What kind of pellet do you guys use? Is the exact pellets good?
thanks

 

[Mrspy]

I think that maybe those treat sticks that have seed on them are ok to give once in a while. But I agree, don't feed seeds as a main source of food. I give my birds millet but with my Green Cheeked conure I put the millet inside a little case and he has to kind of work to get it.

 

[Mrspy]

What kind of pellet do you guys use? Is the exact pellets good?
thanks

I use a roundybush daily maintenance diet that I buy off of DrsFoster&Smith.

 

[Tylerswildphotos]

Which one of these two pellets is better,

Kaytee Exact Rainbow Parrots & Conures Pellets

Kaytee Exact Natural Parrot/Conure Diet: Premium daily nutrition at Drs. Foster and Smith

Is the natural one worth the extra amount of money???

also, what about these pellets

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=5059+5911+6202&pcatid=6202

 

[Printer bird]

This is the one that my vet recommended for my conure (Harrison's brand):
Bird Diets: Harrison's High Potency Fine Bird Food

She says its all killer, no filler! We are trying to control a feather picking problem and she said optimum nutrition was key and that is is the best he could be on. Other vets/owners will likely have different opinions, though, of course. I don't like the ones with artificial colours, I don't know if its that good for the birds (although it does pass right through them - so you get muliticoloured poop!). I had it suggested to me that you could soak some pellets in a good (not sweetened) fruit juice as a way of converting parrots to pellets and then slowly reducing the juice amount (please note, though, that you'd have to change the pellets a few times per day with this as the juice would make them more prone to bacteria growth).

Perhaps some of the people here with Amazons could recommend the brand that they use? Make sure you get a size that's appropriate for your bird!

 

[Colorguarder08]

I don't feed ANYTHING Kaytee. Currently I feed my birds pretty bird pellets however once I am able to not only afford my dogs food at $50 a bagx twice a month but also higher quality bird food (Will be in April right now hours are cut for everyone) I will be feeding them a mix of Zupreem fruit blend and Zupreem Avain Maintance Natural Diet.

 

[henpecked]

Given those two choices , i vote the natural, however use the Kaytee Exact Original, cost about 2.50 per lb.keep up with fruit/vegs and maybe sprouts, but only feed seeds and nuts as a treat. Variety is what's important and too much of anything is bad.

 

[Rambo]

This is the one that my vet recommended for my conure (Harrison's brand):
Bird Diets: Harrison's High Potency Fine Bird Food

Perhaps some of the people here with Amazons could recommend the brand that they use? Make sure you get a size that's appropriate for your bird!

We've been giving our yellow nape Harrison's Adult Lifetime formula pellets for well on 14 years now and he loves them. We did as another member suggested adding apple juice to the pellets for a while to get him to try them, then slowly weaned him from the juice soaked to dry pellets. He has maintained a healthy 550 gram weight for over 10 years now. He also gets a couple of Nutriberries a day as well as a couple of animal crackers as a treat.

 

[mishykinz]

I'm seconding Harrison's. When I adopted my parrotlet he was on a mostly seed diet with some colored zupreem pellets. An online birdy friend of mine told me that the colors aren't very good for their liver. I've since switched him to a mix of seeds and Harrison's pellets and he looks much better. The new pellets seemed to have improved his feathers and color. I've also recently started him on fresh veggies - he loooves broccoli.

 

[Gos]

Nothing with food color or dies. Roudybush is recommended by the two different avian vets that I've visited. Much more healthy than seeds. Save the seeds for training treats.

 

[Thorsmom]

Hi,
My parrots like the Kaytee Exact Natural, but I also combine them with the Lafeber's pellets ( not Nutriberries ), and a Hagan pellet that I understand that is no longer produced anymore. There is no "color" to their bowl of pellets, but there are different shapes and textures at the very least. With the colored pellets, you may find that your parrots will pick out ONLY the colors they like... and then you're stuck with the rest. And believe ME.... they don't taste like Lucky Charms. Plus, those artificial colors just aren't good for birds... OR people, for that matter. With many of the less-expensive pellets, they usually have cheaper ingredients that don't benefit a bird at all. Roudybush is also great, but I have been told by a few that it tends to be a little on the "oily" side and some parrots don't care for that. Harrison's is a great product, but it is on the higher priced side. However.... the ingredients are important. I would suggest trying smaller bags of a few different kinds just to see which one your parrot prefers. I mean, would you want to eat Cheerios every single day for the rest of your life? Well, I would... but I'm weird and I LOVE CHEERIOS. Birds tend to have different opinions on that subject! Variety is good... even in a pellet. You might also want to check out pricing on parrot food ( pellets, seed, etc...) on, of all things.... www.Amazon.com! Just type in the brand and it'll pull it up! I buy the Higgins Mayan Harvest seed blends for my parrots on there and they are the cheapest anywhere. Another place to check out is www.petfooddirect.com ... which, strangely enough, sells THROUGH Amazon... and sells CHEAPER on Amazon! I order from both of those places and have been very happy with what they have sent. Just keep researching and learning, and you'll make the decision that is best suited for your particular parrot! Best of luck!

 

[Tylerswildphotos]

Thanks, I have got my amazon zupreem all natural diet. It has only been in his bowl for a few days and seems to be eating it already.

 

[knarfwhite]

I would appreciate any advice on switching an older bird to pellets. My yellow nape is 26 years old and very stubborn about his food. I tried introducing pellets in the past and he wouldn't even touch them. The vet has told me that he really needs to change his diet. He has had bouts of periods where he loses his appetite for days. This is becoming more common and so I think I really need to do this now.

 

[Printer bird]

Hi Knarfwhite, does your bird like fruit/juice? I've heard you can try soaking the pellets in a fruit juice (please note that you can't leave them in the cage all day like that, though, they must be removed after a few hours) and then gradually reducing the amount of juice. I've also heard that mixing them with a wet food that they like (porridge?) can help. Another advice I've heard is to gradually introduce a small amount of pellets into the diet and increase that daily while reducing the seed amount. It can take weeks, months, even years for a bird who is super used to one type of food. Try offering them like treats etc. Surely your vet has a suggestion on how you might go about this, especially with an older bird?

 

[Mondos Parents]

After reading this thread, I have some concerns for Mondo, I have never met the last owners, so not sure what they feed him, (I will find out now) all they gave us was a half used container of seed blend from Walmart, and he is picky with that. I know he likes peanuts and sun flower seeds, seems we need to get some more items in his diet.