Nekton or Blessings Gourmet Lory Nectar?

[PetFoster]

This is Peaches, identified as a Swainson's Rainbow Lorikeet by our avian vet, and she was surrendered to the rescue I manage with another person through our local bird club. She is not quite three years old, and this is her third surrender, so we are being very choosy about finding her forever home. The family who has been fostering her is moving across the country, so I will be taking her in next week. I kind of plan on keeping Peaches unless the most perfect family shows up for her within the next 3 months or so.

All of this to say: Peaches is used to a diet of mixed (dry powder) lory nectar and pureed fruit. The current foster has made up several freezer bags of fresh pureed fruit for her, but is running low on the nectar powder. We live in the U.S., so she has been giving her Blessings Gourmet Lory Nectar, but I wonder if Nekton (which I am more familiar with, having worked with lories in a shelter setting previously) is better, nutritionally speaking? I don't want to put Peaches through more change than necessary, but the current foster has said she changed to this powder when the stuff she previously used was unavailable -- so my understanding is she will eat just about any kind of nectar. I just need to decide what to order before she gets here!

Peaches is actually a very sweet and social bird, despite what she has been through. She does all the silly lory things (dancing, clowning around), says a few words (and meows), and enjoys head scritches. Her previous owners all said they did not have enough time for her, but based on what her caged looked like when she was brought to us most recently, it seems like it might have been more an issue with finding time for upkeep.



Pic for attention -- thank you!

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[Karija]

Three years old and three surrenders already - that poor baby!

The zoo I volunteer at uses Nekton for all its nectar birds (honeycreepers, lorikeets, etc.). They use Nekton plus for everyone. I adopted my goldie's lorikeet from them, and he gets Nekton Lori in AM and Nekton Plus in PM just for some variety. He also gets fruit/veggies and softened Mazuri Softbill pellets (was part of the zoo's diet in the mixed aviary). I've tried Higgins In-Tune Lory (dry and wet) and the Pretty Bird lorikeet pellets but he has zero interest in dry feed or other nectar. But he is a senior and may be set in his ways.

I haven't used Blessings. I'm not entirely sure if the nutritional difference between the two matter much, but it looks like Blessings may have slightly more iron than Nekton. It also looks like Nekton has a ton more protein (their label has 21.9% vs. 12% in Blessings). The ingredient list is also a bit different, Blessing lists oat and other flours first, whereas Nekton lists Dextrose. Might be a good question for your avian vet. A bigger thing might be method of feeding. Blessings is served dry. Nekton is served as a liquid (mixed with water). Not sure if there'd be a learning curve at all for Peaches if she hasn't had wet nectar. If you go with Nekton, you'll probably need an extra food dish and would probably need to swap it out if you were offering it all day as it can go bad after a couple hours. Probably not the most budget friendly advice, but if you decide to try to switch, may want to have both on hand for the transition in case she doesn't like it or it takes her a minute to adjust.