Harrisons food system

[cynttex1]

I recently purchased the Harrison's food products for my grey. I have introduced them to Buster along with his usual fruits and vegetables. However...I haven't seen him eating it, does anyone know the proper way to get him to start eating them? Should I take all his food away except the High Potency Course food? I want Buster to be healthy but am unsure on how to get him to eat it. Help!

[Morana]

There is a good reading material on Harrison's official site about how to convert on to their food. You can try with birdie bread-also their product-read their advice. It would be wise to weigh food couple of days so you'd know how much your bird eats. Weigh the bird too so you'll know how the transition to pellets is going. Bird shouldn't lose more than 10% of his weight.

I didn't have a possibility to offer birdie bread so I in the morning I just put a bit of seeds and the rest pellets. Zak wouldn't eat first few day pellets at all so I left them (after morning portion) there during the day. Eventually he tried a pellet or two but still he wasn't eating them. So I gave him his seeds before bed time so he wouldn't starve (not literary). After a day or two I started to offer much more fruit and a bit of veggies (Zak doesn't really like veggies) and less of the seeds. He was hungry and decided after a day that it is too long for him to wait for the seeds which now I offered even less so he started to eat pellets. He soon grew fond of them but even now he has his on schedule when he likes pellets best. He will eat pellets in the morning but likes seeds to. During the day he usually eats fruit and finishes if something remained in his food bowl. I refill if necessary. But before sleep he prefers pellets so I offer just pellets. But my story is unique. Because of some reasons (before mentioned on this forum so I don't want to get into it again) I can't afford to import pellets on a regular bases and I need to mix food so he never ate like that before and transition was a bit rough. When I started the transition I wasn't aware of advice given by the manufacturer and I didn't know about this forum so I did the best I knew how which wasn't that great. Maybe you can combine my experience with other given advice and make it work better. Good luck!

 

PS: now I have a birdie bread and e loves it!;-) But if you put pellets in that and bake the bread he'll get used to the taste of pellets but you'll fry the vitamins so don't put too much pellets in it. Just a bit so he would get used to them..

 

PPS: I adjusted to Zak. Don't take the text above literary. His well being was first and I didn't want him to be too hungry or to have shock about all this. But I did want him to start to eat pellets. You need to find a balance if you improvise like me. But as I said, you have other people and Harrison's official advice to benefit from, which I didn't. Use it ;-)

 

Sorry if I was rambling...I am so sleepy.. Good night :-)

[munch]

Took hates the pellets by themselves. And I don't blame her, they are awful (yes, I tasted one!). So i melt peanut butter in water then add some pellets. I give her some nice and warm (her favorite) the rest I put in the fridge. I usually make two day worth of serving and then repeat the process. sometimes I'll add just a couple pieces of fruit to the concoction.

 

Another weird way I give her pellets is I crush them and add them into eggs. she loves eggs so now they come in a Harrison's scrambled eggs or her true favorite- hard boiled egg yolk, crushed harrison's, some water to get the flavors mixed and depending on if i added too much water, a quick "cook" in a pan (boil out the extra water).

 

It seems like a lot but the peanut butter thing is very quick.

 

Then in her other bowl i will have her vegie mix (she is so picky with her vegies!! some days she loves one thing,t he next hates it and vice versa! Good vegetables can be expensive, they must be fresh, and hate wasting them- i wish she stop changing her mind so much. It's hard with her ever-changing vegetable preference. i digress!).

[rbpittman]

The peanut butter idea sounds wonderful. I have all of my fids on Harrison's and the switch was not easy until I found out that lightly spraying them with baby white grape juice (literally meant for babies). It doesn't cause the pellets to get mushy, even though Dixie is a dunker, she readily eats them instead of just throwing them out. Beau and Morgan started on Harrison's so not major issues with getting them to eat them. Yoshi is in the process of switching. I've added about 10 pellets to her normal meal daily and she's eating them very well. I do keep a bowl of just Harrison's in their cage without anything on them for that "snack" they need/want when I'm not looking or it's not meal time and they do get eaten without the spritz of juice. I also keep a bowl on the playstand - Morgan thinks he's getting more than anyone else because that's his preferred "eating" station.

 

Robin

[AliAZ77]

Diet and greys can be a tricky thing. I mentioned this in the Health Room, but my grey has liver issues and would rather starve than eat a low-fat Roudybush diet. He started out on seeds and transitioned to Harrison's and loved it to death. So, the point being that dietary transition can be challenging and push us to get creative. Do some online research as Morana suggested, consult with your vet, and keep tabs on your grey's weight. It can be done, but it takes time.