Which food is best?

[Duky]

Hi I have a GCC and want to switch her over to organic pellets. I know that conures are active birds so they need a bit more fat in their diet but I haven't been able to find out what % Fat I should look for in a food. Most of the pellet's I've seen have around 5% min fat, but would a food that had say 10% min crude fat be bad??? The specific foods I've been considering are Harrison's, Nature's Choice Essentials 100% Certified Organic Bird Food - Nature's Choice Essentials 100% Certified Organic Bird Food, BirDelicious species specific diet BEST Bird Parrot Food ORGANIC PURE Natural Bird Foraging Toys Parrot Gourmet Premium Fresh Living Quality! BirD-elicious!, TOP and maybe even Zupreem though it's not organic. I also liked the sound of sprouts instead of seed mixes as a side dish. Is anyone using these foods and what are you opinions on them? Thanks for the advice!!!

[MissileMe]

Long story short pellets alone arent enough. They are best used as as supplement. No one knows the exact combination of vitamins, mineral, fat, protein, carbo, etc etc.

One thing for sure is that budgies on a mainly pellet diet lived shorter than those on a more natural diet.

Keeping that in mind, the best you can do is give them a variety of food. Grains, vegetables, beans, seeds, etc etc. On top of this give them pellets. For parrots the most important vitamin is A. So this is something you want to give in abundance. Food containining vitamin A is not the same as vitamin A supplement. You can not overdose vitamin A food as opposed to vitamin A supplement, you can overdose.

As to specific types of pellets, I've used TOPS, Foundation, Harrisons and a bunch of others. I can tell you that the less fat, birds will like it less.

Currently I am using Foundation, TOPS and Hagen (not organic). I mill them and sprinkle 1/4 spoon on their regular food. I consider it like a vitamin supplement. Foundation and TOPS is virtually tasteless in human terms. They have very little odor. Hagens has a fruity odor/flavor. My T2 will not eat TOPS or Foundation if it is not laced with Hagens. I guess it has to do with the flavor. In any case, I use as little amount of pellet as possible. I figure pellets don't grow on trees and it's about as natural as vitamin pills and instant noodles. That's not to say that they aren't good. It's convenient and I give them pellets as a means of hedge. Hedge incase something should happen to me and someone else has to take care of my T2. In such a case, i figure pellets is a universal food that will keep my bird relatively in good shape even in the hands of someone without much prior bird keeping knowledge.

Just to give me a little bit of peace knowing that my T2 is getting enough vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc, I use avian specific vitamin Orlux Omni-Vit 2X a week in 1/2 the recommended dosage. I also use Avi- Culture pro bac regularly.

Anyway the long story short, a varied diet is the best. Whatever you feed, keep in mind a few things:

Sodium. High sodium is bad. It's addictive and stresses out the bird due to high blood pressure. (high metabolism in birds). Many bird pellet have sodium in them as a preservative.

Carbo. Overloading on carbo will make your birds hyper.

Sugar. Birds in the wild don't wait for fruits to ripen. They pick at fruits when they are bitter which is why they don't mind bitter food. Sugar is human food. They won't have a craving as long as you don't get them addictive to them.

Ethoxyquin is horrible. Don't get any pellet or food with this crap.

BHA & BHT is very iffy. I'd stay away from it.

[kellywess]

Absolutely NO sunflower seeds!

[kellywess]

Sprouts are hard to do, they go bad easily. I use zuprem and nuts/seeds for treats. I also use alot of dehydrated fruits and veggies, nutriberries. I also cook for my babies. Birdie bread, pasta, corn, beans, kale ,berries, grapes, mangoes, apples, pumpkin, pomegranates, sliced peppers, egg whites, boiled chicken, corn, broccoli, peas and god dont forget the sweet potatoes. The list goes on... read everything. They love orange juice too! Keep them away from the Ice Cream.... they really love that and banana popsicles... my severe can smell one of them a mile away. He knows the sound of the wrapper. Hes at the couch waiting before I get there from the kitchen. :)

[Valo's Moirana]

agree with previous posts - my GCC eats harrison's and zupreem natural (fruit are more a treat). but only about twice a week... otherwise, lots of fresh veggies, birdie bread and muffins, bean mashes, little bit of pasta (processed carbs - not too much), some rice here and there, and more veggies.
fruit is also more a treat....
i also sprout for them - do small portions and keep whatever is left in the fridge

Originally Posted by kellywess

Absolutely NO sunflower seeds!

not for food - sunflower seeds are a treat

[MicahEspudo]

I have three really healthy seed and trail mixs from Omar's and I also just started using avian specific vitamin Orlux Omni-Vit once a week in the recommended dosage

[Duky]

Wow there is a lot of mixed information out there! I thought pellets were supposed to be the best base diet for birds since they have most of the nutrition they need mixed in. Right now my bird has a dish filled with pellets that she can eat all day, she gets a small handful of seed mix in the morning that she eats in about 2 seconds! And then I give her a piece of whatever fruits or veggies I happen to eat sprinkled with her vitamin supplement powder. The food I'm feeding her now has Methione which I just learned is BAD, that's why I want to switch to organic foods and want to know which brands are most trusted. I like the ingredients in BEST Bird Parrot Food ORGANIC PURE Natural Bird Foraging Toys Parrot Gourmet Premium Fresh Living Quality! BirD-elicious! and that it's species specific...but it has about 10% fat and is it really a good food?? They also sell sprouts and that bird bread. I don't really know about avian nutrition so I can't really trust what they have to say, but I trust you guys! The ingredients in 100% Certified Organic Bird Food - Nature's Choice Essentials 100% Certified Organic Bird Food seem really good too but their site seems to have a problem with the security certificate so I don't want to get ripped off. Has anyone ordered from them? Is it a trusted site??

[MissileMe]

10% fat content isn't that high. I'd say anything above 12% would be considered somewhat high. 9-10% is normal.

What you need to know is that no one, and mean NO ONE knows the true formula to what birds need in their diet. Sure we know that certain species require more fat, calcium, etc etc. But that's about it. It's like all other pet food, it's continuously improving. Mainly because manufacturers can not get away with using cheap carcinogens as preservatives. Long story short the manufacturers are having to become a little more honest and make better products. (God forbid... LOL)

Keeping that in mind, species specific food is hear say. I hear people say........ (fill in the blank). That's about the extent for now. Even Harrisons says in the web that you need to give birds fresh vegetables and fruits.

As to bird e licious, I'm sorry but I've never used their product. I've been meaning to get it but found out other products. I'll get to it one of these days.

Other manufacturers you might want to try are: Avian Naturals, Avian Organics, Golden Feast, Foundation Formula.

I've tried all the above and bunch more and I can say that they are all pretty good. If you must be absolutely sure about what you feed your birds, you need to make sure it is certified organic AND human grade consumption. The latter is probably more important though. (not that I trust what any government would recommend when all nations still allow artificial sweetners, but at least it can't kill you immediately.....)

One thing about dried fruit, it's mostly sugar and if I remember correctly they are preserved with some sort of sulfur and it's not that great. So keep that in mind when giving dried fruit to birds.

Anyway the information isn't really contradicting nor is it grey. It's confusing because of the amount of information and products. But one thing for sure is that natural food, organic food, human grade consumption is the best. Pellet is hedge against any mishaps and is pretty much a supplement only because we don't know if there is such thing as "one godly food" that fills in all the requirement.

One last thing. Pellets are really unnatural to birds if only for the reason below: Birds don't salivate like dogs. Pellets is like eating dry oat meal after running a marathon. This is the reason why they dunk pellets into water when they eat. Pellets cause constipation in some birds due to their lack of water content. Psychologically pellets are boring to birds. No variety. So keep those things in mind. Like I said above, variety is good and that variety probably should include pellets.

[birdsnreps]

no one is ever gonna agree as to which is the best diet for a bird, and honestly, i dont think all parrots have the same dietary needs, i know they dont. pellets are a good supplement, and are made for all parrots, but parrots need more than just pellets. on most days, we only feed a pellet/seed mixture, maybe about 35-50% of their diets at the most. (we've been using zupreem for years, btw) the rest is fresh fruit, veggies, some frozen/thawed veggies, cooked rice, pasta noodles and beans, and sometimes some nuts and some type of "birdie bread".

i strongly believe the best thing you could do for your fids is to feed as varied a diet as possible. just go to the grocery store and buy a little bit of every fruit and veggie you find and rotate what you feed each day. we use higgins seed mixtures and rotate which mixture we get each time we run out. we also like to buy dehydrated fruits and veggies, and we feed millet sometimes to the smaller birds. we try our best to vary their diets, and my birds will eat anything you stick in there :) alot of our breeder birds came from people who fed them all or mostly seed diets, so it is very possible to turn seed junkies into piggy-healthy eaters, as long as you are persistant.