Frankie's Harrison's Results

[lionpants]

So, after the advice you guys gave me, my girlfriend and I headed down to the local vet clinic to pick up some "Harrison's High-Potency Fine". We bought a 1LB bag just in case he doesn't like it. We had some trouble and worried a bit when trying to feed it to him, but in the end there was much success! I thought I'd post how and what I did in case anyone else is having issues converting to Harrison's. (or any other food)

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way a "bird guru" and do not claim to be!

For those of you that don't know, Frankie's a sun conure and he used to eat "Zupreem FruitBlend". We started off by switching his Zupreem food bowl with a Harrison's food bowl. He walked over to the dish, looked at it and walked away. We left it there for a few hours and noticed he still wasn't touching it, so we switched it back to Zupreem which he immediately began to eat. A little discouraged we tried again the next day, this time we mixed his food, with a higher ratio of Harrison's. No go! So we then took the mix of both foods and mashed them together, still no luck! By the next day he still had not touched his new food. I decided to take him out of his cage and have a one on one session with him.

I put Frankie on the floor and sat down with him. I took one pellet at a time and put it on the top of my lip. Frankie would climb up my shoulder and grab it off my lip and eat it! He ate about 20 pellets in a row that way, so then I took his food bowl and put it in front of him and guess what? He started devouring it! I couldn't believe how after 2 days it just clicked like that! The funny thing is that there was some Zuprem left in the bowl with his Harrison's and he ate the Harrison's while he moved all the Zupreem aside!

Anyway, that's my story of switching Frankie to Harrison's. I hope it was some what informative and fun. As I type Frankie is sitting on his bowl chowing down on his Harrison's breakfast.

[chapala]

That's great that you switched him off the "fruit" pellets. I would suggest your next bag be the Lifetime formula - High-potency is too high in fat and protein for non-breeding Conures.

[asulli]

I will certainly try to do that. I have to actually grind it up into nothing and mix it with what I call "sweet potato pudding". Sounds like a game that Shakti will love to play!

[lionpants]

Originally Posted by chapala

That's great that you switched him off the "fruit" pellets. I would suggest your next bag be the Lifetime formula - High-potency is too high in fat and protein for non-breeding Conures.

Ya, we were thinking that. The Harrison's book says to feed them it for 6 months before switching to Adult, although that seems like a cash grab to me!

[SillyArwenBurd]

this gives me hope! lol im eventually going to get some harrisons but its hard to travel to other towns when your car has been made into a cube at the wreckers ugh!

[Jak43]

LOL - wonderful technique lionpants. If you are not already a "bird guru", you are certainly well on your way. Lucky little Frankie.

[CRToon83]

Congrats. Also, if you are only feeding one bird, i'd stick with the 1lb bag. Since there aren't any preservatives, it will go bad. I have one GCC and I think i'll get through this 1 lb bag before it goes bad... but certainly not a larger size!

[SillyArwenBurd]

Oh Russell I was told by the breeder i got my sun from that keeping the food in the fridge keeps the food fresh just a little bit longer (im sure you know this already but figured id share anyways!) :)

[hollyhawkz]

We keep it in the fridge and freezer as well. It's an hour away to where we buy food.

[RXK]

yeah, we too didn't have any trouble switching our Jenday to another pellet brand. one day we just put some of his new pellets in his food bowl, with the remaining old pellets, and he just took right away to his new pellets. started eating, no problem. i thought it would be a huge endeavor trying to switch him (like everyone suggests), but to our surprise it wasn't :D.