My bird's relationship with pellets

[scoutndizzy]

Hey, I was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience with pellets and greys as I have. Here's the scoop (I'm sorry about the length):

 

Scout hated pellets. I tried Pretty Bird, Harrison's High Potency Course and Fine, Zupreem Natural, and Zupreem fruity. I had to grind them up and mix them into her warm rice, and then I worried she wasn't getting enough! I kept offering her pellets, making them fun, making them into forage toys. She gave me the proverbial finger and went back to her multi-grain Cheerios. Two days ago, Scout ate a Harrison's High Potency Course Pellet. And then another. And then another. Pretty soon, she had eaten all of her 2 tablespoons of it and wanted more. So I gave a few more to her and she had been eating them pretty well.

 

It transpired that I had a birthday party to go to today and left Scout with my husband at home. When I got back, he said, "Watch this" and held my green cheek conure's cockatiel sized fruity Zupreem dish to Scout, and Scout ate a few pellets from there. I had a bag of medium sized fruity Zupreem in the fridge and gave her some, and for the first time since I got Scout (almost 7 months ago), she ate the Zupreem.

 

Has anyone else ever had an African grey who hated pellets, wouldn't touch them, and begged for other food and then overnight developed a taste for pellets?

 

Also, does anyone know where I can get Harrison's (my first choice for my bird, ALWAYS) at a lower cost than $10 for a 1 lb bag?

 

By the way I do want to mention here that Scout gets one warmed serving of "Sund chop" (check out parrotnation.com) and then later in the day, warmed up frozen unseasoned stir-fry veggies; she also gets about 5 sunflower seeds per day and a few nuts of her choosing--lately, she seems to favor almonds.

 

Thank you for any and all feedback!!

Edited August 15, 2010 by scoutndizzy

[Tweedle]

Pippa was on seed mix when I got her, and it took three months for her to convert to Harrison's. Now she won't eat anything else (apart from peanuts as treats).

I'm reading up and hoping to try the layered salad (Pamela Clark) and Tinkerbell Mash once I've moved into my new flat.

 

 

Actually, it's all my fault for converting her to Harrison's alone, and not offering other things at the time. I hadn't read up enough, and had been told that all they needed was Harrison's, and didn't *need* anything else, that adding other foods would unbalance her diet. She's doing fine on the Harrison's, but think we can do better with variety.

Edited August 15, 2010 by Tweedle

[Birdnut]

Our grey, Moussa, came home to us eating Pretty Bird African Special. I've been trying to get him to accept some different pellets; no luck yet.

 

I did have a similar experience with our pionus. She wouldn't touch pellets, and I had given up on her as just being a no-pellet bird. Then I caught her eating pellets out of one of the other birds' cages. Now she eats various types of pellets very well, as long as they're not in her cage, where she doesn't touch them. Go figure!

 

I don't know of any less expensive source for Harrisons ... they're just really proud of their pellets! LOL!

 

 

 

@Tweedle:

 

Actually, it's all my fault for converting her to Harrison's alone, and not offering other things at the time. I hadn't read up enough, and had been told that all they needed was Harrison's, and didn't *need* anything else, that adding other foods would unbalance her diet.

 

It's not your fault, Tweedle. It's Harrison's fault, as that's the line of bull they put out in their literature! I'm sure that's what you went by in good faith.

[KimKim]

I switched Babalu from a seed diet to zupreem by starting half and half then just putting the zupreem in his cup. He was mad for a day or two, giving me attitude. Then I switched him to Harrison's, at first I gave up, then tried again a few months later. I had to pretend I was eating them then he tried it and love them! I have to order it online because I can't find it anywhere. I order from birdsafe.com. For 1lb it is like 7 something, but then there is shipping, for me it ends up to be 13 something.

[KimKim]

Im sorry, its birdsafestore.com

[judygram]

www.birdsafestore.com is where I order Harrison's pellets also, I usually order two bags at a time so that one stays sealed until the other is used up plus I usually order some other things too so the shipping is not just for the pellets.

[Elvenking]

Issac is not into pellets either. However, he is at close to 9 months and still loves formula. If I try to give him one of those Coarse Harrisons pellets, he just drops it like it's not even food. I have tried wetting them and everything...he just doesn't go for it. I do see some dust on the floor of the cage sometimes from him grinding up the pellets in his seed and nut mix...but nothing major.

[scoutndizzy]

Issac is not into pellets either. However, he is at close to 9 months and still loves formula.

 

You know, I'm kinda glad that I'm not the only one with a bird who would still accept formula. When Scout was almost 6 months old, she finally weaned. However, the other day I was cleaning out her old baby stuff and I found her hand feeding syringe, and she got really super excited and started shaking her head waiting for the food. I'm so glad that she finally weaned, but it took FOREVER! Now that she is, and she likes Harrison's, I am happy. I am going to check out that website now. If it's more inexpensive than local (which is roughly $10-$15 per 1 lb bag) then I will order from them. Otherwise, I will head over to our local vet office and get some--after making sure they have it in stock this time! :-)

[danmcq]

My Grey would not touch a pellet until around a year and a half old. We have purchased and offered pellets of Harrisons and Zupreme varieities. He will occasionally pick a harrisons up and eat it, with most of it crumbling to pieces. he will eat a zupreme once in a while as well. So, basically we go through a couplr bags of harrisons and zupreme a month (1pounders) we toos out probably .99 pouns of each and I figure .1 pound was eaten. But, we continue to offerthem, but I do know that he receives all the vitamins, minerals fatty acids and protiens from the very broad and generous diet he eats each day, along with outdoor sunshine and indoor avian lighting.

 

I will say, he loves the harrisons birdy bread though, which he does not realize has the same ingredients basically and we through in a few tablespoons of Red Palm Oim in the mix as well.

 

I just cannot come to the conclusion that he should be on a pellet, when he can have a very broad and enjoyable diet of literally hundreds of good tasting fresh stuff. He seems to enjoy the variety and thus we continue providing it.

 

I guess I went the long way around of basically saying, no he doesn't really like or eat pellets.

[Luvparrots]

i give my fids fresh vegetables, beans, fruit everyday. When I say fids, I mean my canary as well as my parrots. My ekkie always has pellets in his water so I do need to chance his water often. Does he eat some of these pellets, I don't know. Ana Grey usually has crushed pellets in her food bowl and on her cage floor. I change her cage flooring everyday. Does she eat any of these pellets, I can only assume so. Eating pellets is not a thing I worry about as my birds get lots of fresh food everyday and I weigh my parrots at least once a week and their weight is steady.

[NikB]

I managed to convert Billy at about 11 years old from a nasty cheap seed diet (and other foods he shouldn't have had) to a diet of pellets, fresh fruit and veg, sprouted mix and cooked pulses and then did the same with Echo. I started with Billy by mushing TOPS pellets in warm water and giving it on a spoon, gradually making it less water until he was taking solid pellets. They both now get a mixture of TOPS, Harrisons and Hagen along with their other foods

[Jayd]

After spending a fortune or two, I'm finely having some luck with TOP's.....If you ever get TOP'S TREAT, try it, it's for humans also...lol, it's good, We bought a bag for us to...

Edited August 17, 2010 by Jayd

[Birdnut]

I'm trying TOPS, but not much interest yet from any of the birds.

 

BTW: If you want to talk about tossing out 99 pellets for every one consumed, get yourself a cockatoo! LOL! They do the tossing for you!

[scoutndizzy]

BTW: If you want to talk about tossing out 99 pellets for every one consumed, get yourself a cockatoo! LOL! They do the tossing for you!

 

Scout likes to do that too. Or she'll grab a Harrison's pellet, hold it and eat part of it, then throw it at the cat.

 

And we wonder why our cats are afraid of the birds.

[Jayd]

I'm trying TOPS, but not much interest yet from any of the birds.

BTW: If you want to talk about tossing out 99 pellets for every one consumed, get yourself a cockatoo! LOL! They do the tossing for you!

LOL... One of our 'TOO's love TOP's and Zupreem Natural, Our other 'TOO, we feed him TOP's seed, we put some pellets in a separate bowl, and hand feed him TOP's pellets one at a time, [ugh] He's 19 years old, hope he accepts them soon, Joey, same way, eats them as a treat...Toss, Rollo our dog loves them...LOL

[zandische]

I don't feed my birds pellets anymore. They get a sprout mix instead along with a variety of all the other goodies (cooked mash, fresh fruits and veggies, seeds, nuts etc). Before we went non-pellet they loved Zupreem but would not touch Harrisons. We went off the pellets after a kidney infection caused by too much protein in the diet, at which point the vet told me that if they get sprouts on a daily basis then there was really no need for the pellets as the sprouts provide a balanced source of nutrients. So, quite happily, the fids get an all natural diet now

 

scoutndizzy, if your bird likes cheerios you might also consider "Goldenobles" from Goldenfeast. My birds really liked them too. They look like a dark brown cheerio but have the nutritional value of an organic pellet. Just a thought!