What is the Best brand of pellet food for African Greys?

[moderndaydinosaurs]

I don't know if you are still looking for advice on the pellet question specifically. Pellets seem to get a bad rap around here. For what it's worth, I feed my grey Harrison's high potency coarse as a staple pellet and supplement with various dry snacks, cereals, oats, dried fruit, etc. Every day I also do a fresh offering of fruits and veggies, bird bread, bean mix, etc. He seems to enjoy the variety and my vet is very happy with me. He's 9 years old and just got back near perfect bloodwork, aside from a very slight calcium deficiency that can be addressed with a supplement. He's a great weight too. 401g. Lean but not skinny.

I've heard good things about TOPS and Roudybrush too.

[Wolf]

Actually, not that many people have weighed in on the pellet issue, so I am not sure how you mean that they get a bad rap here. Pajarita doesn't use them, but does recommend TOPS pellets should you want to use them. And I just don't care for them, I also don't recommend them to anyone, but that is not because I am against anyone else using them. The reason that I don't recommend any of the pellets available is because my not using them is a personal choice, and should not unduly influence anyone elses choice to use them or not. Beyond that I do speak up against the use of a couple of inferior types of pellets, primarily the dyed ones as I know that they also contain too much sugar. If you wish to use pellets, by all means do so, just take the time to research and choose a high quality pellet.
There are quite a few members here who use pellets, and I think that they are the better qualified to recommend to you which ones they feel are te better pellets to use. Please don't think that pellets get a bad rap just because of a couple of outspoken individuals, look a little bit deeper for a more accurate picture.

[Pajarita]

I don't know if you are still looking for advice on the pellet question specifically. Pellets seem to get a bad rap around here. For what it's worth, I feed my grey Harrison's high potency coarse as a staple pellet and supplement with various dry snacks, cereals, oats, dried fruit, etc. Every day I also do a fresh offering of fruits and veggies, bird bread, bean mix, etc. He seems to enjoy the variety and my vet is very happy with me. He's 9 years old and just got back near perfect bloodwork, aside from a very slight calcium deficiency that can be addressed with a supplement. He's a great weight too. 401g. Lean but not skinny.

I've heard good things about TOPS and Roudybrush too.

Please do more research, my dear, because High Potency should never be fed on a daily basis. It even says so on the package and on the Harrison's website. They are meant for birds that are sick or, for one reason or another, have had a terrible diet in the past but only as a temporary food to bring them 'back up', never long term. They are too high in protein and vitamins/minerals for every day and the fact that blood work comes back within normal ranges doesn't mean that, over time, the bird will not show a negative effect from them (there have been birds diagnosed with hypervitaminosis because of avian vets recommending them for everyday food -remember that AVs do not study parrot nutrition). More is not better when it comes to these things...

And I am surprised that your bird shows low levels of calcium when it's eating High Potency! Was this based on results from a regular chem panel or was an ionized calcium test done?

[Tman007]

I feed mine Roudybush maintenance mini's . They love and the breeder weaned them on it. Some people feed pellets some don't But the one thing most of us do agree on is stay away from the flavored ones. to much sugar in them. a lot of brands make the pellets look good for us not for the parrot. Read the labels and just see witch one you feel will do the best for your parrot. hope this helps.

[cml]

I don't know if you are still looking for advice on the pellet question specifically. Pellets seem to get a bad rap around here. For what it's worth, I feed my grey Harrison's high potency coarse as a staple pellet and supplement with various dry snacks, cereals, oats, dried fruit, etc. Every day I also do a fresh offering of fruits and veggies, bird bread, bean mix, etc. He seems to enjoy the variety and my vet is very happy with me. He's 9 years old and just got back near perfect bloodwork, aside from a very slight calcium deficiency that can be addressed with a supplement. He's a great weight too. 401g. Lean but not skinny.

I've heard good things about TOPS and Roudybrush too.

Dont worry, its just a vocal minority that's against pellets here. Personally, I believe pellets shouldnt be their sole diet, but rather part of it. My birds get pellets once a day, a multitude of different fresh foods once a day. The best of two worlds in my opinion and both avian vets Ive visited agree.

[Pajarita]

Pellets are very popular and this is, most likely, because it's the easiest way of feeding them and because AVs (who, apparently, either don't know what they are talking about or have no faith in their clients intelligence or devotion to their birds) recommend them. To me, feeding parrots pellets is the equivalent of feeding cats and dogs a supermarket dry food. Me, I am very picky as to what my animals eat so I don't feed my dogs or my cats supermarket food and I don't feed my parrots pellets. But I know lots of people who do both.