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Commercial Lorikeet Food

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jamie

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There are several brands of Lorikeet nectar mix and powders available here in the US and around the world. Also, there are a few different brands of pellets that are suitable for lorikeets. One of the most important things to look for is the iron content. It should be below 100 ppm. Lorikeets and other nectavores are prone to iron storage disease (hemochromatosis) and should be fed a diet that is low in iron. Also, if you give your birds human baby food or other prepared human foods, read the labels and make sure there is no added iron (something that can be common in some baby foods). If you do use baby food (and I do) the only ingredients should be fruits or vegetables and no added vitamins or minerals (vitamin C - ascorbic acid it ok).

Another concern of mine is the Vitamin A content. I had a lorikeet who died from liver failure caused by vitamin A toxicity. So, I have switched all of my lorikeets to a diet that contains no added vitamin A (only beta carotene which is converted to vitamin A as it is needed by the body).

Goldenfeast makes a couple of different types of lory mix- I currently use their Nectargold Pollen Enriched product. This is the brand of food that I am using now. I mix it with water, baby food and juice in the morning. In the late afternoon, I just mix it with water. It does not dissolve but it remains suspended fairly well in the liquid.

Avico Lory Life Powder is one of the more popular brands. You can buy the powder or nectar mix. The iron content is less than 80 ppm (reference: http://www.birdsupplynh.com/catalog/...roducts_id=824) Two of my lories eat this brand of powder.

Rainbow Landing has the lowest iron content of any lorikeet nectar on the market at 56 ppm. Also, the iron comes from the ingredients and is not added. (reference: Rainbow Landing Lorikeet Nectar) I've used this nectar mix and am happy with it. I have found that it is one of the easiest to mix and dissolves more easily than others.

ZuPreem makes lory powder as well as pellets. I have not been able to find the exact iron content of either of these, but ZuPreem claims that it is low and suitable for lorikeets. I have used this brand for a while and am pretty happy with it. None of my lories will eat the pellets, however. So I think I will stop offering them once I've used up the bag I've got now.

Vetafarm is an Australian compnay that makes bird foods. They have a "blossom nectar" that you buy in liquid form that is ready to use out of the bottle. it is actually suitable for any nectar eating bird or mammal (sugar glider for example). I have a bottle of this and offer it occasionally. My lories will eat it, but they seem to prefer their regular nectar mix made with the nectar powders. Vetafarm also makes a dry mix as well as extruded lory pellets. I have tried the pellets with some bit of success but my birds are not too crazy about them. I have had better success grinding the pellets up and mixing them with the nectar powder.

Orlux Lori is another nectar mix, but I have not tried it.

Quiko Lori is another alternative. I bought a small container of this last year at PetCo. I could not really tell that it was superior to any of the other products I've tried so I have not bought any more since then.

Roudybush has a lory powder mix as well. I have used it and think it is a good product.

I've tried using Harrison's pellets with one of my lories and Harrison actually recommends soaking the pellets in a little corn syrup before offering them to the birds. So far, I have not had any success with this and will probabyl be sticking with the traditional nectar powders and mixes.

Pretty Bird has a lory pellet on the market and I've only had success with them by grinding them up in a spice mill and mixing them with nectar mix.

If I run across any other products, I'll list them here, also if anyone else knows of any commercial products, please list them. There are also several homemade mixes you can try and I'll post some suggestions later on.
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Cynthia & Percy

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thanks for sharing this information Jamieo
 

Thugluvgrl187

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Good info. Thanks for sharing.
 

Angelicarboreals

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I wish Cosmo would eat other types of Lory nectar, he is hung up on Roudybush. It just gets annoying to always have to order it online, as none of my local pet stores or bird fairs carry their nectar. Have you had any luck with feeding homemade nectar? I had thought about trying to make my own to see if he would try that, but I am worried it won't be nutritionally sound.
 

jamie

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I have not tired making it myself... like you I am a little worried about making it nutritionally balanced. However, to make the Goldenfeast nectar last longer, I mix it with pureed vegetables (baby food) and fruit juice. I take a 6 ounce jar of babyfood & dilite it with a jar of juice (right now I am using a fruit and vegetable juice blend) and enough water to make 2 cups of liquid. I add 4 tablespoons of the powder and mix it until the powder is totally suspended- it never dissolves, of course.

I give each one of my lorikeets 2/3 of a cup each morning. In the afternoons, I give them some fruit and sometimes corn or other vegetables. later in the evening, I give them a tablespoon of thepowder mixed with about 1/4 cup of water for the night.

Dewey was reluctant to eat the Goldenfeast powder also - but I was able to convert him by mixing it with apple juice. I was never really able to get him to eat it dry. I tried mixing it with the Avico powder that he was used to and he would totally ignore it.

Also, I use organic baby food that is not fortified with any additional vitamins or minerals. I usually buy mixed vegetables, but this week I was only able to get squash and sweet potatoes. I guess I could achieve the same effect by using fresh or frozen vegetables, however with the jars of baby food, I can use a day per day and not have to worry about storing anything extra. Also, I can recycle the jars :D
 

Angelicarboreals

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That is fabulous info, thanks for the reply! I never thought about buying baby food for the birds, but that sound like a great way to get everyone to try new veggies, even the other birds! I will have to steal your recipe, it sure would make a $30 bag of Roudybush nectar last longer.
 

jamie

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You can sneak other things in there also ... if you use a juice that they really like, you can hide all sorts of vegetables or other things in it :)
 

Raizer

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Hey Jamie what are your thoughts on yeast in wet mix?
 

jamie

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Hey Jamie what are your thoughts on yeast in wet mix?
You know, I've read a little about that. At this point, I do not have a problem with it being added to a mixture. The yeast that a manufacturer will add will not cause problems with the birds. However, if you are referring to "natural" yeast that will grow in the wet mix as it sits throughout the day, I think that can be a problem. I've actually been adding apple cider vinegar to my wet mixes to help prevent the growth of yeast and things like that.

Remember that there are hundreds of species of yeast :D
 

jamie

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Shiloh- the type of yeast I was referring to is "Nutritional Yeast" Nutritional Yeast is a good nutritional supplement for vegetarians.

You might call it something else in NZ. Some people also use Brewer's yeast (You can buy it at a place that sells supplies for making beer and at some health food stores) Vegemite is made from an extract from Brewer's yeast also. I just read something else ... you have Marmite in NZ not Vegemite :D I was not sure if you had the same thing as your neighbors or not :D but it's still made from a Brewer's Yeast extract :D
 
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Raizer

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We have marmite and vegemite here, just marmite is a lot nicer than vegemite :D

I have heard that brewers yeast can be good for you, I can't say I have heard of nutritional yeast before though.

I have no clue what type of yeast is in this nectar mix, but I was just surprized when I was told it is an ingredient in the suspect food we got as none of the other brands I have seen over here list it as an ingrediant so I wasnt sure if it was a normal thing or not.
 

jamie

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My guess is that the nectar mix contains nutritional yeast. The yeast that can cause problems is a Candida species- that's not added to foods.
 

Smschaaf

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I'm very interested in the mention of Vitamin A toxicity. Were there feather color changes? My lori has pretty significant color changes. Liver and other tests are okay, but the vet and I can't figure out what the problem is.
 

jamie

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No there were no changes in the colors of Prissy's feathers. In fact just a couple of months before he had been examined and had blood tests. He did not show any symptoms at all until the end.
 

hobbit5153

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This info is awesome! It helped me decide what kind of lory powder to get for my black lory when her regular brand became really scarce for a month or so. It turns out that she is more satisfied with what I chose. I am confident now that she is getting the best diet I can give her....Thank you!!!
 

Butters Mom

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I recently switched my lori to Goldenfeast Nectargold Complete. I've noticed that:
#1- she's not eating as much nectar (even though I've added a bit of powdered sugar)
#2 She's going to town on her dried fruit, fresh veggies & fruit
I'm worried that she's not getting the nutrients she needs by scrimping on the nectar.
So I went to the manufacturer's website & found that while they promote their nectar as a superior blend, they also recommend foods for lories that include nuts!
Now I'm questioning their nutrition value-period! Loris cannot digest hard seeds & nuts!!!
I'm particularly worried especially since my bird is not consuming as much as I would like to see!
She also seems to be having some balance issues that I have not seen before.
Please help before I totally freak out!
HELP!!
 

Butters Mom

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This is the email I sent to Goldenfeast:
Question re: your website recommende​d food for Lorys
Elise Jones
Nov 24 (1 day ago)
to goldenfeast

Hello,

I have just recently switched my Lory to Nectargold Complete, under the total belief that you know what you're doing as far as Lory nutrition is concerned.

While browsing your website, I found that you have a lot of mashes/ supplements listed for Lorys & Lorikeets, ie:
Lori
Goldenfeast » Medium Birds » Lori
Asian Medley
Australian Blend
Bean Supreme
I didn't bother going further because all of these foods contain nuts!
Now I'm worried. Lorys cannot digest nuts & hard seeds due to a weak crop muscle. So....... what are you unknowingly adding to the Lory diet that you're selling that could be potentially harmful or fatal in the long run?
Please put my mind at ease or remove the nut selections from your recommended Lory supplements!
If you're going to recommend a supplement for Lorys, please make sure it has no nuts & no high iron (raisins) ingredients!
Thanks & I hope to hear back from you soonest,
Elise
 

JAM

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For those Aussie based owners the one we have had the most success with is Avione Rearing and Conditioning Feed supplied daily as a dry powder. As a wet mix I use Passwells or Wombaroo mixed with a little bit of the insectivore rearing mix, organic apple and mango baby food and a sneak of honey which is eagerly devoured.

M&J
 

Jabba

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For those Aussie based owners the one we have had the most success with is Avione Rearing and Conditioning Feed supplied daily as a dry powder. As a wet mix I use Passwells or Wombaroo mixed with a little bit of the insectivore rearing mix, organic apple and mango baby food and a sneak of honey which is eagerly devoured.

M&J
Yeah, ive always used the Avione as well for the dry mix. It's the best of all the ones i have tried. The wet mix i use the wombaroo with the smaller species of lorikeets like Purple Crowns and the Avione for the larger ones like the Rainbows.
 

waterfaller1

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Goldenfeast has seriously gone downhill in my opinion. I used to love their mixes, the quality was visible. Not anymore.
 
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