High quality pellets?

[2birds]

I have a question? I am sitting here looking at the ingredients of a bag of pellets for parrots that I bought. These are supposed to be top of the line, good for your bird pellets and I've noticed that a lot of people agree (including avian veterinarians) with this which is why I bought them. They are not cheap either.
Everyone agrees, for the most part, that a diet high in sunflower seeds is not good for your bird. I am looking at the ingredients on the bag and the #1 ingredient is sunflower seeds. There is a whole list of things here that would seem to be good for your bird but it's still mostly ground sunflower seeds. I am not trying to start a debate, just wanting to know why these are so popular. Why is it different than giving your bird hand fulls of sunflowers seeds for a meal?

[kendrafitz]

That's interesting!

I get the Ultimate Blend from Bird Paradise. It is their own mix which includes pellets, along with dried fruits, veggies, nuts and pumpkin seeds. So I have no idea what the pellets in her mix contains.

[plax]

You are very observant, Lori. One of the main ingredients in Harrison pellets is *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds*. This fact struck me several years ago after reading the ingredients list on a bag of Harrison's pellets. My thought is that because the ground sunflower seeds are only one component of the total ingredients, which have each been selected for the specific nutrients they contain, that it's possibly looked upon as a fixed balance of nutrition. And it may be that the oils originally within the in-shell seeds do not remain at high levels within the ground product. It may be worthwhile to call Harrison's at 1-800-745-7329 and ask this very question. All in all a great question, Lori!

Note: asterisks denote an "organic" ingredient.


EDIT: Another good idea may be to ask an avian vet as well!

[2birds]

Harrison's is what I'm talking about. No doubt, a vet would agree that it is a good food as they sell it. But that same vet would point out that sunflower seeds are not good. So I don't know. I guess I wouldn't question it so much if it wasn't the first ingredient. Organic does appeal to me but I will be looking into other things. The birds don't seem to really like it much anyway. They like roudybush better. Actually Clover likes those fruity colored sugar pellets. lol That's what he ate when I got him. I'm looking into this
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What do you think?

[plax]

I'm looking into this
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What do you think?Sprouted is always a great way to go! And as for Roudybush, they are known for their history of maintaining a high quality product. Plus Zaf loves them, and he's a finicky parrot. Personally, I would try and stay away from those sugary/fruity pellets. I use quite a lot of Zupreem Natural ....I know, not the best (some sugar in them). But they are one of the only pellets that my two most finicky guys will eat.

[2birds]

Yeah, I don't give Clover those anymore. I finished off what he came with by mixing it with different ones. He hasn't had those for months.

[jtbirds]

I use pretty bird, some zu preem same reasons as plax and I as well like roudybush. Another thing that confused me about Harrisons was the fact it also had a lot of peanuts in it. Peanuts being a huge debate in the bird world as well. I refuse to use golden feast because i was at a conference of theirs and they flat out said they use low grade human products... I also prefer to do more fruits/veggies and cooked food but as we all know life can become busy...

[2birds]

Life does get busy, My big thing is needing food that doesn't spoil quickly but is still good for them. I was thinking about dehydrating veggies as well and see how that goes over with them. Two days a week I get up at 4 in the morning and leave by six. So I give them pellets and a small amount of parrot mix the night before when they go to sleep because I don't want to wake them up, turn light on them, etc. When I get home they are not as eager to eat other stuff as they are on the mornings that I am home.

[jtbirds]

dehydrated things are great but not really the best as the process removes a lot of nutrients.

[jacksmom]

I feed a few pellets as part of Jack's diet...but not because I think they are that nutritional...because I feel he needs to recognize pellets as food, in case one day he has a caretaker (any of us could die tomorrow) that will try to feed "conventional" foods to him. (Seeds, pellets) In this case, recognizing them as food could save his life. Let's pray our birds never have to be separated from us, ever...but still, let's prepare for the eventuality! I feed him Roudybush. And need to buy some more! ;) Embarrassingly enough, I don't think I have ever looked to see what is actually in there! :eek:

If you are interested, I have a mix I make fresh and then freeze that works soooo well...just pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds (or don't spoil them and serve cold) and take a new pack out of the freezer once every few days! "Fresh" fruits and veggies and beans and grains every day, and almost NO preparation time daily! (Though the day you make it all, it may well take most of a day!)

[kendrafitz]

I would love to know what you use in the frozen mix!!

[jacksmom]

No problem...I will post what I can remember from this one in another thread...I actually think I need to make more soon! :eek:

[plax]

Harrison's is what I'm talking about. No doubt, a vet would agree that it is a good food as they sell it. But that same vet would point out that sunflower seeds are not good.And that's why it should prove interesting to ask an avian vet how he or she resolves the apparent contradiction.

[jacksmom]

Our vet only sells Roudybush, I believe. :)

[2birds]

Roudybush is the pellet that I buy now and they like it ok but they still don't eat very much of that. The first three main ingredients are ground corn, ground wheat, and soy meal. Still doesn't sound that great. I don't know, pellets don't grow on trees, but at the same time, with an all fresh diet we more than likely cannot produce everything that they would find in the wild either. I just try to give them as much as a variety as I can so hopefully not much gets missed.

[PlaxMacaws]

Roudybush is the pellet that I buy now and they like it ok but they still don't eat very much of that. The first three main ingredients are ground corn, ground wheat, and soy meal. Still doesn't sound that great. I don't know, pellets don't grow on trees, but at the same time, with an all fresh diet we more than likely cannot produce everything that they would find in the wild either. I just try to give them as much as a variety as I can so hopefully not much gets missed.I think you're right about variety being the key to obtaining as many nutrients as possible, Lori. And pellets may not grow on trees, but corn and wheat and soy grow in fields. The idea behind pellets is that they are looked upon as being able to provide a combination of nutrients, some of which may be lacking in the non-pellet portion of a bird's diet. Most of us have little to no idea what the optimal levels per day of certain essential nutrients actually are for any given species of parrot, much less what the levels of each such nutrient happen to be within the amounts of fresh food our birds usually consume. I'd say it's a fair bet that they seldom get enough of some of those nutrients. I've read and heard avian vets speak to this very issue, saying that a large part of providing adequate psittacine nutrition is guesswork, and another part is applying some logic. I think it's at least reasonable to conclude that a sustained intake of certain elements may well be progressively harmful to a bird's health... such as saturated fats, pesticides, sodium, and sugars. But in the end, determining the best pellets (nutritionally) still seems somewhat difficult for many of us. And then getting our guys to eat certain brands of pellets can be quite challenging as well :th_shakehead:. I wish there were a safe and healthy guideline that worked for every bird :(

[jtbirds]

2birds I agree with your statements, but I recently lost a bird to the same statement pellets don't grow on trees.. and have lost many more due to that and reading the stories after mine pushed my point even further.

let me give you an example at the vet hospital i intern'ed at.. people would try and feed raw diets of meat to dogs. The dog was extremely ill and lacking basic nutrients to fight anything. The vets word was dog food was created for a reason. Not because its for the lazy or simple minded, but because it gives the basic nutrients in one simple food. It may not be the ideal variety we want that a raw diet makes the idea for, but it is wayyy better.

I wish we could stop feeding pellets and do a whole diet that was more natural, but it is near impossible without making a defect somewhere along the lines.

Simple answer is any pellet is better then none and is better then feeding a horrible diet. More ontopic i will add what i suppose i have liked over the years:

zupreem natural and fruit blend- not the best but a pellet, contains sugar which is why most don't like and the food coloring.
roudybush- pretty decent pellet some birds really dislike it though
pretty bird- i'd say one of my favorites as the coloring is minimal and the ingredients are generally of better quality
harrisons- good expensive, not my favorite or the birds


my list of not liked:

goldenfeast- at a press conference they admitted the ingredients for there pellets was the cheapest and least closest to human grade we could get. cheaply made and expensively advertised as great.

browns- birds don't like them/ dusty

[Mare]

My birds also won't touch the Harrison pellets, it's Zupreem natural around here. A couple years ago I did notice the surprising amount of sugar in these pellets. Let's face it, our birds like the sweet stuff :). I suppose if a parrot was fed only pellets this might be a fix for his want of a piece of fruit :(

[jtbirds]

The pellets may smell fruity but parrots sense of smell is not suppose to be great. I only add the needed amount of pellets/seed mix and nuts and then some fresh foods.

[2birds]

2birds I agree with your statements, but I recently lost a bird to the same statement pellets don't grow on trees.. and have lost many more due to that and reading the stories after mine pushed my point even further.

"Pellets don't grow on trees and neither do sunflower seeds which is what my original question was about. I read so much on how sunflower seeds are not so great for parrots and then here is this high quality pellet with the first ingredient of sunflower. Just questioning the seemingly contradition."

let me give you an example at the vet hospital i intern'ed at.. people would try and feed raw diets of meat to dogs. The dog was extremely ill and lacking basic nutrients to fight anything. The vets word was dog food was created for a reason. Not because its for the lazy or simple minded, but because it gives the basic nutrients in one simple food. It may not be the ideal variety we want that a raw diet makes the idea for, but it is wayyy better.

"Dry dog food has come a long way in the last 20 yrs. People are demanding higher quality dry food for their cats and dogs and it has arrived. The crap is still on the shelves though for the people who can't or don't want to afford the higher quality stuff. My mother has had pekingese dogs throughout her life. They have always had dry food available but one small bowl of it would last for days. Their main food has always been chicken, venison, and walleye fish, and some cooked veggies. Her shortest lived dog was 16 yrs. and the oldest lived was almost nineteen. Hopefully pellets for birds will catch up"

I wish we could stop feeding pellets and do a whole diet that was more natural, but it is near impossible without making a defect somewhere along the lines.

Simple answer is any pellet is better then none and is better then feeding a horrible diet. More ontopic i will add what i suppose i have liked over the years:

'I agree, but I wish they would make a good quality pellet that is really good for them instead of just better than an all seed diet."

zupreem natural and fruit blend- not the best but a pellet, contains sugar which is why most don't like and the food coloring.
roudybush- pretty decent pellet some birds really dislike it though

"That's what I am feeding now"

pretty bird- i'd say one of my favorites as the coloring is minimal and the ingredients are generally of better quality

"That's what the breeder of the CAG that I am getting feeds."

harrisons- good expensive, not my favorite or the birds

Me nor the birds are really crazy about this one


my list of not liked:

goldenfeast- at a press conference they admitted the ingredients for there pellets was the cheapest and least closest to human grade we could get. cheaply made and expensively advertised as great.

browns- birds don't like them/ dusty

Good to know