Who uses Volkman Avian Science Super Hookbill

[iamwhoiam]

I know others here use the product so I'm asking to see if anyone has received a bag recently with sticks and other unwanted types of stuff in it?
I know that this was asked in my other thread regarding alternatives to this seed but thought I would start a thread just asking who uses it and if
you've found stuff like this in it:



As far as I know no one else has contacted Volkman about this but I purchase directly from them and not
a 3rd party vendor.

I want to emphasize that this is not the norm for them and has just happened in my recent and previous orders.
Been ordering from them for many years and the seed mix has been high quality, IMHO.

 

[Mizzely]

That's quite a bit of debris! I haven't bought that mix since I first brought Ripley home, unfortunately! How many bags have you had like that now?

 

[iamwhoiam]

Four bags but the previous two were not as bad. I rebag the food when I get it for storage but I am fairly certain I didn't remove
all of the sticks from the food with the recent order because with the previous order I was pulling out sticks from the smaller bags.
I wasn't so concerned with the sticks last time but these recent bags had so many more plus all of the other stuff.

 

[Kassiani]

I feed that mix as part of Opie's diet. He get's 2/3 pellets and 1/3 Volkman Hookbill. I have occasionally had a piece of stem or an at spray that was not hulled, but nothing like that.

Please contact them and share your photos with them. They may not be aware that there is a problem with the machine or production.

 

[April]

Wow that's so much! I hope if you contact them they at least offer you some free bags or a refund.

 

[Love My Zons]

I do carry a few Volkman mixes and have used it in the past here and there. I have never seen that much in any of it. Was this a small bag or large bag?

 

[iamwhoiam]

I feed that mix as part of Opie's diet. He get's 2/3 pellets and 1/3 Volkman Hookbill. I have occasionally had a piece of stem or an at spray that was not hulled, but nothing like that.

Please contact them and share your photos with them. They may not be aware that there is a problem with the machine or production.

They know and they were sent those photos plus more and given the lot number. Quality control person is going to discuss this in a meeting today and they need to take samples from bags. I requested replacements but not if it's going to be like the bags I've already received. I'm waiting to hear back from them but I did let them that I am not comfortable feeding the food I received to my birds.

That stuff was pulled from 20 lb. bags which I've been getting from them for many years. Sometimes I've found one or two sticks maybe three but nothing like this although the previous two bags had lots of sticks but not as much and none of the other "stuff".

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Great… I just ordered a bag with other supplies. Should arrive in a day or two so I’ll give it an inspection and let you know. I haven’t bought it in a long time because I haven’t given seed to Lola or Henry for quite a while- just almonds, walnuts and pecan bits for treats. I ordered pine nuts in shell to keep Henry busy when I do his papers ( from Nuts.com. ) Yesterday I went to a pet store and bought their two bags of Volkman lovebird/conure mix because they don’t order it in much anymore. I used to only buy one bag of the parrotlet mix but they haven’t gotten it in for a while so I’m going to mix the hook bill in with the other. My littles only get a teaspoon or two late in the evening when I change papers as a treat. I hate to have to pick out the corn and peanuts. Wish they wouldn’t put those cheap heavy fillers in! Nobody likes those yellow balls either or any other form of pellet if it isn’t zupreem or Roudybush.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Great… I just ordered a bag with other supplies. Should arrive in a day or two so I’ll give it an inspection and let you know. I haven’t bought it in a long time because I haven’t given seed to Lola or Henry for quite a while- just almonds, walnuts and pecan bits for treats. I ordered pine nuts in shell to keep Henry busy when I do his papers ( from Nuts.com. ) Yesterday I went to a pet store and bought their two bags of Volkman lovebird/conure mix because they don’t order it in much anymore. I used to only buy one bag of the parrotlet mix but they haven’t gotten it in for a while so I’m going to mix the hook bill in with the other. My littles only get a teaspoon or two late in the evening when I change papers as a treat. I hate to have to pick out the corn and peanuts. Wish they wouldn’t put those cheap heavy fillers in! Nobody likes those yellow balls either or any other form of pellet if it isn’t zupreem or Roudybush.

Yours might be OK. Let me know. Hopefully a different lot number. What size bags do you get?
The yellow balls are corn kibbles (or kibbled corn) but now they are shaped like little "critters", at least that's how I describe them.
My Dusky Conure, Jaden, loves them. When I've talked to customer service I've asked several times if they could please make a hookbill mix without peanuts but that has never happened.
Years ago there were fewer peanuts but there were pine nuts in the shell which was great. They stopped adding the pine nuts probably due to the cost. Picking out the peanuts is a hassle
and sometimes I miss a few but most of my birds won't eat them (smart birds).
I have enough seed from previous bags to last about 8 more days and then I'm out. Probably going to give Volkman a call tomorrow to see if there are any updates.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Update: Volkman will be sending me two replacement bags. Was told they checked the current seed and didn't see anything "off" but If there is more junk in this next batch to let them know.
Once again, I've received excellent customer service with them. Thanks to the quality control person and customer service agent who were very helpful.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Update: Volkman will be sending me two replacement bags. Was told they checked the current seed and didn't see anything "off" but If there is more junk in this next batch to let them know.
Once again, I've received excellent customer service with them. Thanks to the quality control person and customer service agent who were very helpful.

That’s nice they care about customer satisfaction. I like Volkman because it is a clean seed with little to no dust even at the bottom of the bag. My big gripe is fillers that birds shouldn’t have. Those just add weight to a product and have no value. I opened my bag. I only bought one 4lb bag and it did have the same sticks you showed. I’ll have to pour the contents out in a bowl and remove the peanuts, corn and see if there are more sticks. Do your birds mess with the hard corn kernels? I don’t let mine have them. The bag did smell pleasant and the banana chips look fresh too. The safflower seed was nice. The price of foods has gone up so much I try to catch sales. I bought when Chewy sent me a coupon in an email for 15.00 off my next purchase. I wonder if it would work for anyone else. It was MISSYOU15.

 

[iamwhoiam]

That’s nice they care about customer satisfaction. I like Volkman because it is a clean seed with little to no dust even at the bottom of the bag. My big gripe is fillers that birds shouldn’t have. Those just add weight to a product and have no value. I opened my bag. I only bought one 4lb bag and it did have the same sticks you showed. I’ll have to pour the contents out in a bowl and remove the peanuts, corn and see if there are more sticks. Do your birds mess with the hard corn kernels? I don’t let mine have them. The bag did smell pleasant and the banana chips look fresh too. The safflower seed was nice. The price of foods has gone up so much I try to catch sales. I bought when Chewy sent me a coupon in an email for 15.00 off my next purchase. I wonder if it would work for anyone else. It was MISSYOU15.

Let them know that you found a lot of sticks in that bag. I think it's important that they realize that debris is winding up in the seed mix.
Chewy never sends me coupons any more but I do have a gift certificate. Maybe you don't order from them very often since the coupon says "miss you".
I might give the code a try. Thanks for posting that.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Let them know that you found a lot of sticks in that bag. I think it's important that they realize that debris is winding up in the seed mix.
Chewy never sends me coupons any more but I do have a gift certificate. Maybe you don't order from them very often since the coupon says "miss you".
I might give the code a try. Thanks for posting that.

I haven’t ordered as much this last year when prices jumped and they weren’t offering any sales on dog food or bird food. I typically order a 33lb bag of food for my two little dogs because it’s some savings and lasts for quite a while. For pellets I stock up on better pricing where ever I can find it. Petsmart, Petco or a small local pet store to support small business. When Russia invaded Ukraine I was concerned about the grain supply affecting not just our food supply but pet food supply too. I would like to know where grains are sourced from for the products I buy. Then there are the natural disasters in our country that may affect those food supplies. I always keep plenty of backup. I didn’t go crazy on my order with Chewy.. just enough to get free shipping. I already had a good stash. Let me know if that coupon works for you!