FINCHforum

I have two zebra finches- has anyone used LaFeber's NutriBerries for parakeets? They keep eating them, and it looks like they prefer them to their LaFeber finch food and the Harrison's High Potency Super Fine food. Should I stop feeding them, or will they starve if I just take it away? I've read the articles in the Finch Info Center, but I'm still not sure what I should do exactly. I've only had the finches for less than a week.

Try using the Zupreem fruit flavored pellets for finches and canaries. My finches love them and out avian vet recommends them. The Nutriberries are fine as a treat once or twice a week. I have used the Nutriberries for my hookbills and larger parrot. I have not used them on my finches.

Thanks for the suggestion- I did hear that the Zupreem rainbow pellets leave colorful marks all over the place, which I'd like to avoid... but I think there might be a plain variety out there. Does anyone else out there use LaFeber finch food? Do your finches like it? It's hard to tell if they're eating it or just scattering it around.

I used the LaFeber pellets and the birds weren't keen on them. I have large flights and individual cages and all the birds get the fruit flavored pellets including my bourkes and lovebird...as far as droppings go, I see no difference and don't have colored markings all around. their stools really don't have reds, orange colors colors to it. The only time I see color is if some of it spills in the tray and the birds bathe, you might have some color bleed onto the paper in the tray. They do make a natural colored pellet but I tried it on all the finches (over 20-30) and they prefer the fruit flavor.

Awesome, I'll try those then. I just didn't want my husband to get all upset if the cage looked even messier than it already does. Thanks for your advice!

I feed the Zupreem fruit pellets but I mix mine into a seed mixture. The birds pick them out. I never notice colored poop but then again the pellets are in a seed mix.
I tried the LaFeber pellets and nutriberries(for my hookbills) the pellets were not a favorite of the finches but the hookbills love the brerries. Never gave the finches the nutriberries... I gues I thought they were too big for them to handle but it would probably be good excercise and give them some foraging entertainment. I will give it a try

I don't know if the finches could handle the berries whole... I just crumbled them into a dish. But I'm worried that they won't provide adequate nutrition since they're designed for parakeets (although my veterinarian said they were fine for my parrotlet, that it was just the size of the berries that counted, though I'm assuming it's very different for finches). I've been slowly removing them from their diet by only putting the Nutri Berries in their cage for a few hours in the afternoon (to make sure they don't starve!).

try taking the Nutriberry and pulverizing in a food prcessor or spice grinder...you can try making it into a course or fine powder and giving it as a treat a couple of times a week, at first when transitioning them over to a new pellet food grind the berries up and add it to the pellets avery two or three days decrease the berries until the are "weaned" off of them. It is easier to wean them off something then go cold turkey....so to speak!

Another thing you can try is a natural zupreem pellet with a little fruit juice spritzed on them to entice them to eat it...slowly decreasing the amount of juice spritzed on it. The juice sprayed pellets can not be left in the cage for long periods and is only for transitioning them over to a "natural" pellet. The fruit pellets are very tiny and easily eaten...just a lot more enticing than the natural which none of my fussy flock cared for.

I used to use the Zupreem fruit pellets, but the poop was colored and that then stained the perches. So I switched to the natural, and now I don't have stained perches.
The owner of the local bird shop told me to use the Zupreem fruit as a treat because of the sweetness in it, and not to give it to them every day.

I feed my zebras and societies the Zupreem natural.

I feed my gouldians the Lafeber's finch food. I can't say that they like it, but they do eat it.

I have been sprinkling some of the Roudybush Maintenance onto the gouldians food, to get them used to it so I can later feed them the Breeder food.

One thing that I noticed is size of the pellets. The Lafebers is the smallest, then the Zupreem, and the Roudybush nibbles is the largest. In fact the Roudybush nibbles is the size of the parakeet food for some of the others. But the gouldians eat it, so it isn't too big for them.

just a note:I have no staining on perches and I use white paper on the bottom of the cages, no red, orange poop, no rainbows at the bottom of the cage. If they poop on a branch it looks normal with white. I clean the bottom of the cages and accidently a finch might poop on me, it looks normal. My bourkes eat it also and their stools are normal. As far as sweetness, not so our avian vet recommends them and said there is no problem giving these to the birds everyday. It is a food not a treat. Prettybird, Kaytee all make colored pellets.

It is all strictly a personal preference and finch preference...I have tried several times to get them to eat the "natural" colored pellets from Lafebers and Zupreem...it was like throwing money out the window. Some of our forum members use just pellets others use it mixed or along side of seed. Try giving the birds seed, in separate dishes leave down the pellets you want to try for about a week, if they don't go for it, try another brand/flavor.

Something interesting...a few of my birds will only eat certain colored pellets...one pair eat all the red and orange and leave the yellow and green. Another pair eat every color but the yellow. Others eat everything.

I also feed a seed mix, veggies and supplement with a calcium mix I make up, dried eggfoods, cuttlebone and herb salad.

I was going to try the Zupreem pellets everyone recommended, but then I read somewhere else in the forum that the Birds R Us seed (Premium Finch Blend) was really good... so I decided to try it. My two zebras have completely abandoned eating the Nutriberries on their own (a relief to me, since they are formulated for parakeets and I think they were just picking out the white millet and leaving the rest). They are crazy about the Birds R Us seed... and it does seem to be more nutritious than other types I've looked at. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients
Red Siberian Millet, White Foxtail Bristlegrass, Seeds from the Echinochloa genus (including Billion Dollar Grass, Japanese Millet, and Barnyard Grass), Canary Seed, French White Millet, Oat Groats, Switchgrass, Fescue Grass, Golden German Millet, Red Broomcorn Millet.

http://www.fabulousfinch.com/cart/produ ... 75-31.html

If given a choice I think most seed eaters will pick seeds over pellets.
Glad you found something that works for you.

For the longest time I tried the Zupreem Fruit Blend, but never really had much luck. My birds would eat it occasionally, but would rather go for the seed. I was buying Kaytee Egg-Cite for about a year or so. I noticed that the birds picked around the pellets and other stuff that was put in the bag. I switched to a simple seed blend from finch niche. I give them fruits and vegetables as well as some supplements. I have never thought of using Nutriberries, but I might give it a try. My parakeets rarely eat them, but they love playing with them in the dish before tossing them to the floor.