Take Harrison for example, you can read the ingredients and certificates on the package, I highly doubt that anyone could provide even 10th of varieties what it can provide, not to mention to guarantee 100% organics.
Frankly, I consider any fresh food the owner offer not food supplement, but just snacks or rewards, because it is no way that an ordinary owner could provide more comprehensive food than any quality dried food.作者: gadgeteer 時間: 2015-8-6 14:24
The article only mentioned the nutritional value of sunflower seeds, but it didn't research into what it lacks, and it certainly didn't suggest sunflower seeds is comprehensive in any way.
Just buy a package for a few hundred dollars every few month. Is that really difficult?
If your parrots don't like dried food, it is an issue of the owner, not the parrot, and definitely doesn't mean dried food is inferior. That means you do not know how to properly train a parrot.作者: gwensoo 時間: 2015-8-6 14:45
I understand your concern, your worries are certainly warranted. But then there is nothing you can do, even human food have problems every day. So no matter what you do, there is still a risk.
I have discussed this already in other posts but suffice it to say on our first visit with the Avian Vet we got a 30 minute lecture on Pixie's diet. Our Vet recommends only Harrison's for Pellets. When I asked why she said she has witnessed more illnesses cured completely with a simple change to Harrison's pellets than any medication she has prescribed. This included a complete resolution to chronic kidney failure in her own parrot. She also cautioned us on feeding any type of "mash" as according to her it encourages nesting and territorial behavior, which can lead to biting. Having said that Pixie loves her mash and we still give it about 1-2 x weekely. She asked us to limit the feeding of apples, oranges, and bananas to only 1 or 2 times per week and called them "sugar bombs". We are also to limit the use of vegetables like carrots, peas and beets for the same reason. We feed melon, lots of berries, and just about every type of green the store carries including kale, swiss chard, and dandelion greens, on a daily basis. Cucumber, yellow and orange peppers, and hot peppers of any kind are also on our daily list. Pixie also loves Quinoa, couscous, and brown rice every 2nd day or so, and cooked legumes about twice per week.
We have tried the crumbles and the regular sized pellets and Pixie seems to prefer the larger size as others have mentioned. You can also run the large pellets through a coffee grinder (not used for coffee) in order the vary the size and keep things interesting.
Hope this helps!作者: gwensoo 時間: 2015-8-11 16:33