Quality of Pellets

[shellbeme]

I'm curious about which pellets you guys feed your birds and what results you have had with them.

Is pretty bird a low quality pellet? I've kind of always thought of it that way. Does anyone think that the speciality diets they offer really make that big of a difference?

Zupreem from my experience is good quality-but messy and seems to go by very quickly. If using the fruity kind, poops tend to stain terribly-anything they touch, otherwise I do like the feather quality on this brand.

Roudybush I have had good experience with and feathers seem to do well.

Harrisons makes the poop nice and firm but that's the only plus I have seen with it. This is what we are using currently.

La'febers-I have no clue.

Tropican? I always thought it looked cheapish and was afraid of it...

Kaytee-lets not go there. (totally joking if you're a fan)

What do you guys think? Can you give me your ideas and thoughts on pellets?

I thought there was a thread sort of rating the different pellets but I couldn't find it. Please lend your thoughts!

[Greycloud]

I feed a mix of Roudybush and Lafabers to my CAG. He looks great. My U2, unfortunately came to me on Zupreem fruit blend. I don't feel thet are very high quality, plus the coloring. I cannot get my U2 off of them. I got samples of Tropican today in the mail and they come highly recommended. I am going to try hard to swith him over.

[Lisa B]

I use Harrisons, Zupreem natural, Zupreem Fruit, A small amount of hagen, same with higgins, and then a good quality seed mix, along with nuts, veggies and home cooked meals nightly

[becca623]

Have you looked into Totally Organic Pellets (TOPs)? They are made differently than any other pellet. All of my birds, except Gabe, love them. Gabe has to have Zupreem naturals or he gets very grumpy.

[ilovekiwi]

i have a 6 month old senegal. i give her a mix of roudybush small and medium size, harrisons high potency fine pellets and totally organics. they are all high quality pellets and the mix of the different shapes and tastes makes it more fun to eat. i also feed her a high quality seed mix, beak appetite, bean cusine, and thawed frozen veggies mixed with baby food, and fruits as a treat.

[chapala]

Just remember that TOPs does not supply Vitamin D3, a necessary nutrient and important in Calcium utilization. If a bird gets outside in natural sunshine regularly, then no worries about D3, otherwise they need a source in the diet.

I don't think any pellet is perfect, and prefer to feed Shauna's Mash diet, a whole foods diet. However, I also include pellets in the diet so that they know pellets are food in case of any emergency (which I had last year). I choose Harrison's Lifetime, not because I think it's perfect, but because it's one of the best out there, and it has complete protein and supplemented vitamin D3. Zupreem is okay - my only real complaint is the high amount of sucrose (sugar) in it. Birds of course like it, just like kids would, but they sure don't need that sucrose. Roudybush is one of the top three. I wouldn't choose either Foundation Formula or TOPs because of the lack of complete protein in TOPs new formula, and no vit. D3 supplementation. Pretty Bird and Kaytee are down the list and I wouldn't feed either to my birds.

[chapala]

Originally Posted by ilovekiwi

i have a 6 month old senegal. i give her a mix of roudybush small and medium size, harrisons high potency fine pellets and totally organics. they are all high quality pellets and the mix of the different shapes and tastes makes it more fun to eat. i also feed her a high quality seed mix, beak appetite, bean cusine, and thawed frozen veggies mixed with baby food, and fruits as a treat.

The Harrison's high potency has too much protein and fat for most parrot species. Fine for Macaws, but I would feed the Lifetime formula to most other parrots, unless you're talking about breeding birds of some species which have higher nutrient requirements.

[Congobongo]

I think we need to look at a pellet like cereal. It is a basic. As long as we are feeding a good premium pellet I don't think it's a major issue. However, we need to include in addition to the pellet the fresh veggies, fruits and nuts our birds need. As in I give my CAG's broccoli and almonds and a fruit (red grape, banana or apple) daily along with the pellet.

So, I would not be focused on Harrisons vs. Zupreem. I would focus on the total diet. And the pellet is only a portion of that.

If you are feeding a good quality pellet and including all the rest...not to worry.

[Vega]

Funny, I came here to ask about pellets and this thread was here! I feed my pattagonian roudybush and have been thinking of changing it. I was told some months ago that no pellet should be fed over a lifetime as they all have their pros and cons.

I would like to mix the roudybush with another pellet, but I don't want to go with anything that has added colors. I'm open to recomendations for this.

I'd also like to know where you all get your pellets from. I was hoping to find a place online that would be cheap to order from.

[chapala]

If you feed very much of the diet in pellets, I think it's a good idea to mix a couple of different kinds to help cover more nutritional bases. Harrison's Lifetime would be a good one to mix with Roudybush. Problem is some birds will choose a favorite, and won't eat the other one!