Bird store owner said to avoid Harrisons

[schnitzle]

Our avian vet suggested we try Harrison's super fine to help wean our canary-winged parakeet off of seed.
Since we had some extra time a day were curious we decided to drive a town over to a new-to-us bird store.
The store was kind of a nightmare, I won't go into details, but they did have the Harrison's , so I grabbed a bag. When my hand touched the bag the shop owner came over to give me a lecture. She told me to look at the ingredients, and notice that there are peanuts and sunflower seeds. OMG she said, the exact thing going you're trying to avoid!! After that she gave me a long lecture about using food from her bulk bins (while the occasional moth flew around) It was just bizarre.

I'm assuming that the Harrison's is balanced andnothing like feeding a bunch of seeds, but I have to admit the lady got in my head a bit. Do any fellow AA members have reservations about this food?

 

[JLcribber]

Who are you going to believe, your vet or some store owner? The answer seems clear.

 

[janicedyh]

Get her outta your head. She was just trying to manipulate you

 

[Macawnutz]

I feed harrisons. Out of curiosity, what did she recommend? Lol

 

[Just-passn-thru]

Yeh ,here get the "stale / mouldi bulk junk food" instead. She obviously wants to push her bulk crap. I wouldn't even go back again.

 

[janicedyh]

Yeah, she was trying to get you to buy from her nasty bulk bin. What little pellets Dobey has is Harrison's pepper.

 

[rocky'smom]

if you want flour moths everywhere and little beetles running around your house, go for the bulk crap. I had horrible infestation that took 5 months to get rid of.

 

[MiniMacaw]

I feed Harrison's and one of my macaws needed excellent nutrition to get back to health. Harrison's only helped (along with fresh foods).
I would say this is a shady store owner and run far away.

 

[Mizzely]

As a part of a healthy diet, those foods provide great nutrients Dark chocolate, for instance, is really healthy for people! But only as a portion.

Harrison's also has one of the most stringent testing of the ingredients they use before they add it to their recipe, and after, to prevent unhealthy things making it into your bird. Ask her what the ppm or ppb of mycotoxins or aflatoxins are in the food she recommends next time you go in.

I imagine her profit margin is larger on the bulk bins, which is why she wanted to steer you towards those. If it's such a "terrible" food, why does she stock it?

 

[aooratrix]

Harrison's is a quality food. It's one in my rotation of pellets for out time.

 

[Hankmacaw]

You dodged a bullet. I'm glad you are a member here and came to us with your concerns. Always consider the source of your information. Dr. Harrison is recognized as a fine veterinarian and one of the top experts on bird nutrition in the world. Your store owner is a store owner.

 

[Rolanda]

@schnitzle Please make sure you checked the date on her Harrison's. If she's done the same thing to many others they may have been sitting on her shelf for a while! That IS a bizarre experience. Imagine how many people who don't know better are taking that bin junk home and dealing with her bugs and Heavens knows what else.

 

[rocky'smom]

bulk food is like the going to free box at every garage sales, lots of junk and nothing anybody wants in their house....

 

[schnitzle]

@schnitzle Please make sure you checked the date on her Harrison's. If she's done the same thing to many others they may have been sitting on her shelf for a while! That IS a bizarre experience. Imagine how many people who don't know better are taking that bin junk home and dealing with her bugs and Heavens knows what else.

It was SO bizarre! I bought a toy as a way to get outta there! We got the Harrison's at a different place. We also told her we already had seeds and Zupreme so we didn't need any "bulk foods", which was actually true. They were mostly name brands I knew but...no. I wanted to visit her birds, but between the too small cages, the guilt up poop and the screaming we couldn't.

 

[schnitzle]

To my way of thinking she seemed to be talking me out of a more expensive purchase, which was really weird.

The shop that Clover came from also sells bulk, but the don't give you an hour long lecture to get you to buy it! We went back there to buy the Harrison's.

 

[Mizzely]

To my way of thinking she seemed to be talking me out of a more expensive purchase, which was really weird.

The shop that Clover came from also sells bulk, but the don't give you an hour long lecture to get you to buy it! We went back there to buy the Harrison's.

Harrison's is expensive at wholesale too, and they don't sell it in bulk, so the profit margin is a lot smaller, especially for smaller shops

 

[javi]

Just wanted to add that even when buying a sealed bag of food you can get seed moths and beetles. Heck, buy a bag of cereal from the store and just keep on counter for a while. Bugs will start appearing. Just the way it is. Which is why I freeze all food when it comes home. Not for freshness but to keep from getting infested.
And yes, Harrisons is a great food. It is also in my rotation of foods my birds get.

 

[Lwalker]

I had a similar experience in a store that told me the Hagen Tropican pellets I buy are "crap" and I should buy Zupreem if I want "that kind of food" but would be much better to buy their in-store peanut and sunflower-seed-free bulk mix.

According to my vet, what I buy is just fine and there is no need to change. I won't be buying from that store again.

 

[greys4u]

When you shop for a blouse you have your heart set on, a salesman comes along and tries to show you a blouse that is better than what you want., same thing.