What are the best seed, blend and pellet diets for captive birds?

Mitch Rezman
Jul 28, 2017 · 5 min read

There is no perfect seed or pellet for a lovebird or any exotic bird species. Our Senegal parrot Peaches eats whatever broken bags or tubs we get with our deliveries. She probably has five or six brands in her food storage container currently. I even toss in large parrot food and simply crack large nuts open for her.

Not all pellets on the same. The concept behind pellets is they are an engineered food containing 100% of all the nutrition that a bird needs. At the Hari avicultural research institute they have third generation quaker parrots who have been eating Hagen Tropican exclusively for 25 years.

One of the differences between Hagen Pellets and Harrison’s pellets is that Harrison’s pellets have the same formulation but are just different size chunks. Conversely, Hagen Tropican pellets have different nutritional values based upon bird size.

Hagen Tropican Lifetime Sticks are for larger birds like large macaws and cockatoos who eat holding food in their zygodactyl foot. Hagen Tropican Lifetime Sticks have more protein in them than their smaller cockatiel/lovebird mixes because bigger birds require more calories.

If a bird is exhibiting negative behavior like plucking or is getting up in years (senior birds) we will recommend removing soy from their diet. Soy is seen as a bad nutrient by some but not all bird nutrition Influencers.

Until the jury convenes, we (and many avian veterinarians) have had success with improving behavior, weight and hormonal issues by feeding soy free soy from a bird’s diet.

As good as Roudybush and Harrisons are they both contain soy so we would migrate the bird to Hagen Alternative Formula pellets or TOPS Pellets.

On the flip side Roudybush has a rice based diet developed by Tom Roudybush who believes food allergies trigger many negative issues in companion birds.
Zupreem pellets come in all natural and fruit flavors while Pretty Bird pellets are available in species specific blends.

Regarding seeds, Higgins Premium offers 6 different lines. Vita seed is straight seed, Mayan Harvest, Safflower Gold and Sunburst are seed, fruit and nut blends which all contain InTune pellets (yes, Vita seed has InTune pellet pieces as well.

InTune can also be purchased as a stand alone pellet. This makes for an easy way to increase pellets to seed ratios. Worldly Cuisines is a cookable food and they also offer many treats under the Higgins Premium label.

If your parrot is a dunker? You may be interested in Scenic pellets which do not fall apart when wet. Instead staying firm enough to hold and eat wet.

Are you a seed purist? You may be interested in Volkman or Kaylor of Colorado bird seed lines. Both are vitamin fortified with Volkman seed also offering a non fortified seed mix specifically for eclectus parrots.

Editor’s note: Eclectus parrots have elongated digestive systems thus vitamins can become toxic by remaining in their system too long.

Lafeber’s does make pellets but their line of Nutri-berries (8% pellets) and Avi-cakes (50% pellets) are their most popular products. Enjoyed by many birds as snacks or even as a complete diet.

Avi-cakes make great delivery vehicles for powders supplements because they are bound with molasses allowing the powder to stick to the nummy treat.
Goldenfeast is a real interesting line of both pellets. seeds, nuts, fruits and blends.

All natural, having no preservatives or added vitamins with some blends like Fruits and Nuts Plus having over 60 ingredients, all human grade. The entire Goldenfeast line is safe for eclectus parrots.

Speaking of all natural, Dr Harvey’s is a great bird and parrot line that is all natural and human grade as well with no preservatives and available for all size birds. The fruits and nuts are of such high quality that you may be tempted to eat them out of hand.

Not all birds accept pellets well because it is a counterintuitive food There are no pellet trees in the rain forest. If your bird insists on a straight seed diet it is recommended to offer an all-purpose bird vitamin supplement like Hari Prime.
Many people call or write saying that “their bird will not try any new foods”.

Our answer to that is it’s not the food, it’s the delivery system. In other words birds in the wild do not get bowls overflowing with food.

A bird who sees it’s food dish almost overflowing constantly and has plenty of food, he or she can become picky. A female bird may also see it as a signal that because food is so abundant she may feel like it’s a good time to start laying eggs.
Regardless of the food you offer your bird we recommend making them work for it in various ways.

Because birds have been hardwired to search for food on the ground under rocks and trees and bushes for the past 99 million years is not a bad idea to hide some food from them making the move objects in order to access the food as we show in this video.

YouTube

In addition to a seed and or pellet diet fresh food should be offered as well. All 5 of our birds like dark green leafy lettuce especially romaine. To keep things simple we offer them frozen mixed vegetables that we briefly thaw by running them under cold water for about 10 seconds allowing them to stay semi frozen for a couple of hours.

We spend a lot of phone/face/blog time debunking the theory that full spectrum lighting helps birds produce Vitamin D3 (which aids in the assimilation of calcium).

Once a captive bird keeper understands the futility of this we’ve opened the door to controlling vitamin deficiencies with supplements.

More importantly we try to determine how the bird owner knows their pet bird does in fact suffer from a vitamin deficiency. Something hard to know without a full blood work up by an exotic veterinarian.

Remember, birds in the wild are scavengers. They’ll eat anything to survive. With 5000–8000 feathers, protein is paramount for feather production. Feathers are built on amino acids — which are derived from protein.

If you know your bird or parrot is amino acid deficient or you want to insure your bird is getting enough vitamins, minerals and aminos, try HARI Prime bird supplement by Hagen .

Fruits and vegetables alone, as in chops, should be an accompaniment to a commercial bird food diet. Personally I like a simple one pound for one dollar bag of generic frozen mixed vegetables.

I thaw them in a small dish for our Senegal and 4 budgies by soaking them in cold water for 10–20 seconds. This way they stay semi frozen for a while and fresher throughout the day.

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