jamie
Rollerblading along the road
- Joined
- 10/16/09
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- Jamie
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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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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