High quality pellets?

[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!

[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 . 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