Switchiing from Kaytee Rainbow Exact to Harrison's

[KNG]

I am trying to switch my green cheek conure and two lovebirds from Kaytee Rainbow Exact Pellets to Harrison's Pellets. I'm not exactly sure how to go about this.

On the Harrison's bag it says GCCs eat 2-5 tsp of food a day, and the lovebirds will eat a total of 6 tsp between the two of them. So I gave them mostly Harrisons with a tsp or so of Kaytee. Mostly, I'm confused about the ratios, and when to decrease the Kaytee and add more Harrisons. Maybe I'm starting out with too much Harrisons. I also have nutriberries which the birds love - should I keep offering them these during the conversion process?

Also, I weighed Lola yesterday and she weighs about 80.8 grams, but I haven't gotten her to step u on the scale yet today. The lovebirds aren't tame enough for me to weigh.

[sidech]

I'm no expert but I would make it a slow process, maybe over a two week period. I would start by giving maybe 10% of the new food mixed in with the old one, and gradually increase a little bit evey second day or so, until in about 2 weeks their food is 100% the new one.

If they love it and it goes very well, maybe you can make it a bit faster to 100%.

I don't think going too fast is a good idea.

[zazanomore]

I'm going to start converting my birds onto roudybush.

*crosses fingers*

[entrancedbymyGCC]

If they are willing to eat the new food, I actually don't see why you couldn't make the switch all at once. As far as I can tell, birds are the exact opposite of horses in the sense that they can eat something different at every meal and not have any problems. But more usually they don't want to eat the new food, in which case gradually replacing a little more of the old food with the new food over a period of weeks is probably the best approach.

There's no reason to be overly precise about it, and nothing wrong with mixing pellet types so far as I can tell. You can tweak the amount you are feeding after you have them on the diet you prefer. I tend to feed more dry mix than either bird will eat in a day, so essentially free choice, but if you need to restrict the amount, and it is very different between the two types, I'd just think of it as feeding 1/4 of one total serving + 3/4 of one serving of the other, etc.

[lotus15]

I would monitor the birds' weight every step of the way. Make sure they are eating enough and not just picking at the Harrison's before you do the full switch. It took me nearly 2 months to fully convert my budgie... it's imperative to go at their pace.

[Mr.Darcy]

My Hahn's arrived with no food from the breeder, just some fruit for travel. He was on some pellet but I was not sure what brand. I just gave him Harrison's. I did use some Abba green 92 mixed with Harrisons and used a bit of hot water to make a mash. He eats it throughout the day with veggie rice and pasta and a fruit kebob. My parrot eats like a goat....anything that is!! He also eats Kashi go lean cereal dry with pellets mixed in.....

Do keep an eye to make sure they are eating something, and if you can't weigh them you can feel there chest/keel bone for reference...