Pellets for Caiques?

[Gracie_Bean]

I’ve made a deposit on a baby Caique that is currently being weaned! Right now I’m doing all the research possible before I bring the baby home. One thing I’ve been trying to decide is where I should get my pellets from. I’ve been looking at a couple nutritional options, but before I decide, I was wondering what current Caique owners give their birds. Please let me know if you have any recommendations! Thank you!

 

[Mizzely]

The best pellet is the one you're bird eats, does well on and that fits your budget. There are a LOT of options!

Pellets for Parrots

I really like Hagen Tropican myself, but Harrison's is one of the best of the fortified pellets. I personally don't feed any pellet that doesn't have added vitamins as otherwise they lack D3 and I live in an area where I cannot get birds outside more than 3 to 5 months of the year!

Vitamin D3 for Our Birds

 

[Laurie]

I use Roudybush for mine. They like the medium sized pellet which is larger than the size suggested. You should use whichever they like best when it comes to size.

I tried several that met my requirements then settled on the one that the birds are best.

 

[Leanna]

I use a mixture of tops, oven fresh bites and harrisons. I would feed all harrisons but they prefer the variety.

 

[Matto]

Mine was raised on the fruity Zupreem and now refuses to eat anything else. I mix in some Hagen Tropican and she'll occasionally eat them.

 

[Irishj9]

Whatever you eventually decide, your first pellet must be the one thd bird was weaned on.

Make changes very slowly. Less stressful for the new baby

 

[Irishj9]

And never forget pellets were created based on chicken studies.

You don't have a chicken do you?

You need a wiiiiiide variety of foods. Pellets are only a base minimum diet

 

[Irishj9]

After experimenting with a wide range of vegetable options, I now feed my babies (and myself) a high powered fruit and veg smoothie every day

 

[Matto]

And never forget pellets were created based on chicken studies.

You don't have a chicken do you?

You need a wiiiiiide variety of foods. Pellets are only a base minimum diet

Created, yes. But they have done a number of studies on their effects on psittacines.

 

[Mizzely]

Yes they started based on chicken research, but at the very least Harrison's I know has expanded that to African Greys and Roudybush to Amazons.

Similarly, rats are not people and yet we continue to use them as the forefront of research testing. Not saying I agree with their methods or even that it is the best way to gather data, but it does often give us a useful base to move forward from.

 

[Matto]

Plus HARI has 200-300 parrots in their facilities that they use to consistently run tests on the effectiveness of different pellet recipes, artificial light, etc.

 

[Gracie_Bean]

You need a wiiiiiide variety of foods. Pellets are only a base minimum diet

Yes I am aware. I’ve had parrots before and gave them lots of vegetables and a bit of fruit everyday. I only do about a tablespoon and 1/2 of pellets daily. The vegetable smoothie you mentioned sounds interesting. Do you just give it to your babies or also the adult birds?

 

[Irishj9]

We all rely on pellets as a base. I'm only suggesting you don't rely on them too much.

The latest studies show parrots in the wild have a very wide and varied diet. Look up the diet section on this forum

 

[Irishj9]

Yes I am aware. I’ve had parrots before and gave them lots of vegetables and a bit of fruit everyday. I only do about a tablespoon and 1/2 of pellets daily. The vegetable smoothie you mentioned sounds interesting. Do you just give it to your babies or also the adult birds?

Adults and flying babies

 

[Gracie_Bean]

The latest studies show parrots in the wild have a very wide and varied diet. Look up the diet section on this forum

Thank you, but I already have a large stock of veggies and fruits that I give to all my animals. I was just curious about pellets because a lot of the brands I looked at were mainly filler ingredients. Harrison’s was one of the options I was looking at, and that seems to be a favorite here. I’ll look into it some more, but that’s probably the one I’ll go with.

 

[ali_and_birdie]

I decided to go with Roudybush because it's readily available where I live (I get it at PetSmart). My caique was raised on the fruit-flavored Zupreem for the first 10 months of her life, before she came to live with me. However, I got her to switch to Roudybush in about a week.

For the first few days I mixed some Roudybush in with her Zupreem. Then I started giving her Roudybush on her play top (where she prefers to eat) and Zupreem in her cage (so she'd have the option). That got her to switch to Roudybush quite quickly! She seems to genuinely like it.

 

[Laurie]

And never forget pellets were created based on chicken studies.

You don't have a chicken do you?

You need a wiiiiiide variety of foods. Pellets are only a base minimum diet

Some pellets are actually tested and created for parrots and have been used for several generations of parrots. I know that Hagen maintains aviaries where they develop foods and raise parrots. So at least Hagen Tropican pellets are definitely developed for parrots. As for other pellets, I do not know.

The need to offer a wide variety of foods remains true regardless.

 

[Les charlson]

Caiques eat pellets? Not mine. Little blighters play with them. I buy them for all my birds but no one really eats many so I end up tossing them out. Then I buy more. They seem to prefer fresh foods, seeds, green beans, leaves, twigs, any wooden furniture, my feet....

 

[Irishj9]

Cha Cha is the only caique I have who will search out pellets and enjoy them.

The others treat the very high quality, additive free, cold pressed, avian vet designed fruit n veg pellets like they were dirt.

 

[Irishj9]

Num Nums will spend all day picking the remaining fruit off a banana skin rather than eat pellets.

My birds find them boring. No skin to play with. No juice to splash around.
They won't stick to the bar's