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.
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.
