Sun Conure Diet?

[BridgetTracy]

I'm getting a Sun conure soon and am having problems deciding what type of food to get. Im stuck between Zupreem Fruit Blend vs Zupreem Natural. If you have any other suggestions please let me know!

Thanks!

[Wolf]

I do not feed pellets to any of my birds. There are several recipies for gloop in this section and that is what I feed to my birds along with fresh produce for breakfast and all day long and then I feed a seed and nut mix for dinner.

[Curious Diode]

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[BridgetTracy]

I have decided on Harissons. Thanks for your replies!

[Pajarita]

Please do some in-depth research about their natural diet in the wild before making up your mind. Mother nature always knows best.

[Tro]

I use Harrison's high potency fine for my GCC this is the brand his avian vet recommended to me when I first bought him. Tak (my GCC) always gets compliments on his plumage! I do also feed him fresh fruits and vegies (mangos, carrots, sweet potato, ect) along with some whole grain rice and cereal and bird bread and sunflower seeds for treats!

Harrison's pellets are always in Tak's cages so he has access to food at all times. The other stuff I give him throughout the day and in foragers but don't leave in his cage all day.

It sounds like your doing your research and probably know this already but just incase I thought I'd mention most birds have to adjust slowly to a new diet so make sure and switch him to Harrison's slowly if that's not what he/she is used to eating.
Good luck to you and your future friend!

[Pajarita]

Hi, Tro! I am not trying to say that you are feeding your birds wrong because I can see that you have gotten your birds to eat raw produce which is great! And, if you are aware of the following fact, please bear with me for mentioning it but maybe you are not aware that GCCs are mainly fruit eaters in the wild so they need a diet VERY high in moisture and low in protein (two things that pellets cannot provide). I know that your avian vet told you to feed your birds Harrison's but as AVs don't study parrot nutrition, I hope that you are taking this fact into consideration when it comes to them giving advice on parrot diets. Now, there are a few AVs that have had parrots for years and years and have done their own personal research on the subject so maybe yours is one of these few (I had two AVS that had parrots themselves but neither fed pellets, either) and, if so, you might want to ask him how he reconciles a GCC natural diet with their eating pellets. Also, I hope that when you say 'cereal' you are referring to a cereal grain and not human breakfast cereal which is real bad for birds.

[Tro]

Pajarita,
Thanks for your response! I'm not a parrot nutrition expert by any means and don't claim to be. I just personally feel like pellets leave room for error in a diet at first. But if I felt like I could accurately replicate his wild diet I certainly would not hesitate to take my parrot off pellets and feed him all natural! I do my best to replicate the natural diet, by offering a variety of fresh produce and such through out the day, but just incase I'm missing something I like to give him access to pellets. But I'm always researching on parrots (and fish) topics so will definitely keep learning as much as I can on the topic!
Thank you for your concern of my GCC, I appreciate it!
Oh and also I meant I give him cereal like plain kashi hot cereal type stuff, not a bowl of lucky charms

[Pajarita]

Oh, good on the cereal!!! Sometimes, people feed them human cereal thinking they are doing something right when, in reality, is real bad for them. I have a sun conure that was fed cheerios as her staple food (no pellets, no seeds and, apparently, nothing else but cheerios because I am still trying to get her to eat produce!) for years and she ended up with borderline (actually over the limit but by a very tiny margin, thankfully) liver function so she now requires a special diet and liver supplements for the rest of her life. I don't know if you are aware of this but, if you are, allow me to repeat it, just in case: humans require high levels of iron but birds are the opposite and, unfortunately, most human cereals are 'fortified' with it to the tune of up to 45% in cheerios! The thing with iron is that the body has no way of getting rid of all that excess so it stores it in the liver which, in time, impairs its function. The condition is called hemochromatosis and there is no cure or treatment for birds.

Now, I will tell you what my opinion is about free-feeding protein food. In two words: not good. It sound rash but let me explain. Protein is needed for procreation and life so it's absolutely necessary for birds BUT, as high protein is not found easily and/or abundantly in nature in vegetal sources, all birds crave it. Nature set up this survival trait in them that makes them gorge on protein food whenever they find it (it's the same with fat and salt for us and that's why nobody can eat just one potato chip ), which is usually during breeding season. So, when you just fill up a bowl of protein food in the morning and do this all year round, even if the bird is a great eater, he will, most likely, end up eating too much protein and too little produce. It's not that birds don't know what is good for them, they do in the wild but that is because nature made it so they can thrive on their natural diet and their parents teach them. But captive birds have too much available of what is good and often overindulge - they can't help themselves because nature made them that way. Now, high potency blends have the highest protein and vitamin/mineral levels of all the pellets out there. They have recently changed the label because, when it first came out and for years and years later, Harrison specifically stated that this was food meant to be used only temporarily when switching birds that only ate seeds, were sick or breeding. But now they are recommending it for all birds all the time... I don't know why but I assume it is because they simply don't care and cannot be sued for it.

Now, if you want to continue feeding Harrison's, by all means do! Personally, I don't like any pellet but I will admit they are a very practical solution for the parrot owner. I would only ask you to consider using them only for their dinner because they are hungriest early in the morning and that's the best time to get them to eat a nice selection of produce and whole grains low in protein but full of good nutrition for them. I feed gloop (cooked whole grains and veggies) with raw produce in the morning and seeds/nuts for dinner. I have done a lot of research on parrot diets and have reached the conclusion that, so far, this is the best I can offer. And I have been feeding them this (the gloop recipe has actually changed a million times and it's still a work in progress) for a very long time and even though I have birds that have medical problems, they all do very well on it.