Pellets?

[Chicklet]

What do you look for in a good pellet brand?

Basically how do you know what is a good pellet brand and what isn't??

Thanks

[Michael]

You can only guess and take their word for it.

[Chicklet]

Yeah..I just don't like not knowing what my birds are eating. Because in dog food, corn isn't a good ingredient to have in there..it just basically goes right through them. Now, a lot of parrot pellets have corn as one of their main ingredients...is that bad?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I read labels, and use brand reputation as a secondary evaluator. For cat food, I look for brands that are voluntarily inspected by vets, but I don't know if there is an analog for parrot pellets.

[Michael]

Yeah but there is so much corruption when it comes to pellet recommendations. I think the vets, trainers, and vendors of higher end pellet brands get certain kick backs or incentives to recommend them which makes me doubt if they are really better or not.

If I were a pellet manufacturer, I'd probably provide popular breeders with a life time supply of pellets to feed their entire breeding flock so that when people buy the parrots, the breeder would tell the new owners that is what the parrot is accustomed to eating.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I think vets are often more objective than all that, even when the companies "court" them. In this case, though, we are talking about voluntary plant inspection which is different from an office vet being given perks.

I've found with cat food, anyway, the brands that are advertising the most as "all natural" and "all real food" have the most questionable ingredients. Sure they might be real blueberries, but what self-respecting cat would EAT blueberries? Not sure how much this is true for parrot pellets, there just aren't that many high quality brands out there as far as I can tell.

[myakando]

Definitely read the labels.... can't stress this enough! If you don't know what something means, Google it and you'll get your answer. I was in shock when I learned about some of the ingredients that are used in bird foods.

A lot of these pellets are extruded, meaning they are cooked at extremely high temperatures, between 400-600 degrees. Even IF the ingredients used are up to par, everything is detroyed after the food is processed and cooked. Basically, all you have left is some good quality, empty dead food.

The times I DO feed pellets to my guys, I use the Breeder's Blend cold processed pellets. Not 100% organic but at least they're getting soem nutrition.

My best recommendation.... sprout your birdie's food. Your bird will love you for it!!

[bmsweb]

I've been using the Vetafarm.com brand which is an Australian brand owned and operated by Dr Tony Gestier. The fact that he is a vet who also specializes in Birds makes me hope that the product is good. But like everyone says their is no way of knowing.

My conures are now on to Pellets and once a week they get seed. Mind you pellets smell like crap!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I like the Nutriberry/Avicake concept. The main plus to pellets is that the vitamins and minerals are inextricably mixed with the food so that the bird does get them. The berry/cake does much the same thing while still offering whole food that seems more appealing.

I don't think cooking bird food is any worse than cooking human food... it has the advantage of killing any bacteria that may be lurking in the raw materials. And it makes some nutrients more available. It does make others less so, but it isn't all negative.

[bmsweb]

I don't think cooking bird food is any worse than cooking human food.

My wife and I have been debating this lately. I've noticed some veggies they like cooked (steamed) and some they don't. I never considered the Bacteria issue.