Better eating! And pellet question

[datlamb]

I now served my two cockatiels Happy and Hopi pellets and they immediately started eating them! Even picking them out among the seeds! I'm so happy!

However,i have a question, the pellets I give them are pretty bird breeder select Natural color. (to tell the truth I only now found out it was breeder and not natural like I thought as it was repackaged . Fml. I'll see if I can find the natural select.)

On this forum I saw some users say pretty bird is a good brand and some say to stay as far away from it. The only other popular pellet brand that I can find for sale here is nutribird which from what I read is not recommended.

I did find one store that sells zupreem, their online website will open in a week and I plan to start purchasing from them than.

Even though zupreem is much better than pretty bird I still want to give them both brands of pellets in case I can't get zupreem, since there is only one store selling it. Will this be an OK plan? Or are pretty bird so bad I should stop feeding them as soon as I can get zupreem?

I do not plan to only feed them pellets but I do know it is an important part of a parrot's diet, among seeds veggies sprouts and fruits

edit:: i found out the pretty bird's breeder pellets have 16% protein and 10% fat plus extra calcium. while the cockatiel specific pellets have 14% protein and 10% fat in small-sized morsels.. so it might be ok? what do you think?

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[finchly]

How interesting! I was told Pretty Bird was a superior brand, so our local store started carrying it and I have been buying it.

14% should be fine. Tiels can have even more than that.

 

[Mizzely]

The breeder pellets can encourage mating behavior, as it tells the body there is an abundance of food, which triggers breeding. So I personally would feed them only a small amount of them.

Pretty Bird does have a higher amount of sugar than Zupreem which is my biggest complaint with it. Otherwise it's an ok food.

 

[Odin]

What is a good pellet that won't break the bank? I am feeding Zupreem now, I was told that it does have a lot of sugar, so I bought some Tropican pellets.

 

[Mizzely]

It has about as much or less sugar than Cheerios. Zupreem is a fine pellet.

 

[Odin]

It has about as much or less sugar than Cheerios. Zupreem is a fine pellet.

Oh, ok ! Thank you! Of course I am feeding a seed mix and fresh food, I am sure they are getting a lot of good nutrition, but I am always worried... LOL

 

[datlamb]

The breeder pellets can encourage mating behavior, as it tells the body there is an abundance of food, which triggers breeding. So I personally would feed them only a small amount of them.

Pretty Bird does have a higher amount of sugar than Zupreem which is my biggest complaint with it. Otherwise it's an ok food.

yeah that is what i was worried about... so far i haven't found pretty bird pellets that aren't breeder's but i'll keep looking!
and when i'll get the zupreem pellets i guess i'll mix in only a third of the pretty bird. i only want to keep feeding them pretty bird in case i won't be able to find zupreem.

i'm still trying to get them used to eating veggies and sprouts, so their only diet right now is a cockatiel seed mix and the pretty bird pellets. how should i ratio them?

 

[Mizzely]

I don't have much experience with cockatiel feeding guidelines. I do about 70% pellets here, with 25% veggies and 5% seed.

Dr. Scott Echols has a form on his website that might give you some insight. He recommends 50% or less of the diet being pellets, with the rest being largely veggies and grains, and seeds being treats. http://avianstudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Foods-for-Different-Avian-Species.pdf

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I just successfully switched all of my birds over from zupreem fruity to Roudybush. My tiels love the new Roudybush formula. I like it because it has no sugar. I do wish it had more fruits and veggies in it, but I'm not sure how much they add to the nutrition of the pellets after they are processed so much anyway.

 

[Shyra]

I think it's wise to feed more than one brand of pellet for the reasons you stated datlamb I try to feed mine two or three brands just in case I run out of one I know they have a back up plus my local store doesn't always stock my pellets it's kind of hit and miss and since I try to buy from places who have them on sale I may end up waiting a week or two before the brand I ordered gets here. Plus all pellets are made a little differently so what nutrients might not be in one hopefully will be in the other brand.

 

[hotfoot jackson]

Don't forget Cockatiels come from the arid lands of Australia, their little bodies are designed to grab all and any nutrients that come their way....so whatever you feed them watchout for their weight or they like budgies will very quickly into feathered "blobs"

 

[Milo]

Don't forget Cockatiels come from the arid lands of Australia, their little bodies are designed to grab all and any nutrients that come their way....so whatever you feed them watchout for their weight or they like budgies will very quickly into feathered "blobs"

That is a very good point to make! Cockatiels, like African Greys, are the poster children for atherosclerosis. Making sure they have a good diet is super important!