How many pellets?

[jenb416]

I'm converting my grey over to pellets from all seeds. I got Harrison's high potency course. First two days he didn't touch them, I have some in a separate dish, some I cut into smaller pieces and I left some big, then I also crushed some and mixed them with his seed dish and added a little water so they'd stick. Today he just ate like 4 pellets so I think he's gonna take to them. Just wondering how many pellets (course size) do most African grey's eat per day? Or if your bird is on Harrison's Course how many pellets does yours eat per day?

[BaileysPapa]

I have never measured the amount of pellets, or seed, that any of my birds eat per day. In all my cages, there is always a bowl of pellets, a bowl of seed mix, and a bowl of vegetables & fruits. To get your bird to eat pellets, you could restrict the amount of seeds offered. And tempt the bird to eat pellets by adding some unsweetened fruit juice to them. Apple juice has worked well for me. You could also grind the pellets and add that to their fresh fruits & vegetables. Kind of like how they make Nutri-Berries, without the seeds.

[KimKim]

I feed Harrison's, I give a small handful, enough to almost cover the large bowl he has. I make sure I check his pellet bowl a couple times a day. I use to fill it with more, but he wasn't eating it all and your suppose to throw the in eaten food out within 24 hours I believe, so it was being wasted.

[katana600]

Our parrot is a Timneh and she eats about six to eight pellets of Harrison's high potency coarse a day. I used to fill the small dish about a quarter of the way then realized how much we wasted because we do toss out the uneaten ones in the morning instead of topping off the dish. Now I just put in about ten pellets and seeing her dish close to empty seems to stimulate her to eat most of them every day. Eating four pellets this early in the conversion process is pretty good I think. If you just keep them in a dish and don't make a fuss over it, you may never see him eating them, but he will go snack on them if he gets hungry. We keep three dishes in the cage. One is for pellets, one for water and one for warm wet bean and grains with red palm oil in the morning, changed out with veggies later in the day, or maybe another helping of warm beans before bed time. When I had a sick parrot, I would toss a few pellets in the chopper and then make warm oatmeal and let them soften a little in the oatmeal and then feed them and they were well received first thing in the morning and right at bed time.

[Ray P]

Oh boy, the number of pellets a day !

First you must count the number of pellets a day you put in their dish, than you subtract the number of pellets at the bottom of cage, than you subtract the number of pellets found on floor, after that you estimate the number of pellets the dog eats after your bird calls them over and tells them to speak.

I gave up and just keep pellets in their dish

[danmcq]

LOL Ray, your trying to make me do math...

 

Anyway, I put 8 harrisons pellets a day and 8 zupreem nutty pellets mixed in with his seed mix each day. I don't bother counting what was eaten. Some days he eats half of them and some days he eats them all. Plus as much of the seed he wants. He also has a mixture of fresh veggies and a small amount of fruit everyday as well. I personally use the bountiful diet just like we humans enjoy. Some days you feel like a nut, some days you don't.

 

I must say, my personal belief is a strictly pellet diet is not enjoyable or healthy for our birds.

[Luvparrots]

Pellets, let's see. Ana Grey makes dust at all the pellets she gets. All of them. Louie eats the large green ones and round orange ones and ignores the small ones. Sterling Gris will eat only the round orange ones, tosses the green ones on the floor and leaves the small round ones in the bowl. I fed Zupreem Veggie Blend. Honestly, they prefer the nuts and seeds and human food I give them.

[judygram]

I just put in enough to cover the bottom of Josey's pellet bowl and when they are gone I replace them which might be a couple of days time, she eats more some days and less others but I definitely don't count them.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

I never notice! I mix harrisons seed mix with frozen veggies and fruits, then provide them with fresh veggies three parts to one fruit. They also love a 1/4 slice of toast butered every morning. I don't go crazy with their diet as I have experienced them throwing it away. I know what they like and have learned. Diet is never an issue for us. Nancy

[Cosmos_Friend]

My CAG Cosmo never took to Harrisons. I've tried just about everything from chopping up the pellets and mixing it with his seed diet (ABBA 1300 - https://www.birdsupplynh.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1519&osCsid=7f0752c718c154c5f3aa32c4bfa4a1d3 ), Mixing the pellets with a little unsweetened apple sauce, feeding it to him whole (He would just throw them out the side of the cage)... I've recently got him to eat RoudyBush Daily Maintenance Adult Diet (small pellets) to where I mix about a 1/4 cup of pellets into 1/2 cup of his seed mix (I no longer use any vitamin supplements). I also feed him daily, fresh fruits and vegetables and once a week as a special treat, I give Cosmo a cooked food called "Beak Smackin' Breakfast". I get this online from Avian Naturals - http://www.aviannaturals.com/index.html every food mix they sell is all organic. Enough of the diet background, I do have two questions, 1st: Is RoudyBush a good alternative to Harrisons? and 2nd: I've heard that putting a couple of drops of extra virgin olive oil in their main diet two-three time a week will help maintain a healthy cholesterol level, is this true???

Edited September 12, 2013 by Cosmos_Friend

[KimKim]

I give Cosmo a cooked food called "Beak Smackin' Breakfast". I get this online from Avian Naturals - http://www.aviannaturals.com/index.html every food mix they sell is all organic.

 

Wow, that's $$ :eek:

[Cosmos_Friend]

Wow, that's $$ :eek:

 

Yeah, their food sure is! I usually buy 1 pound and all you need is a tablespoon of the food in about 2-3 tablespoons of boing hot water, steeping it until the water is just about absorbed. The eggs and some other of the ingredients are freeze dried and will expand. So a little goes a long way.