FINCHforum

Hi there: I am looking at some "almost done with molt" Gouldians tomorrow (Sunday) ($65 each) & they have been fed on Zupreem pellets. I bought some today to have for them; question is, can I also feed them seed? Mix the Zupreem in w/seed? Tell me what to do. I was not impressed when I read the Zupreem label & found the ingredients ground corn, soybean meal, ground wheat, vegetable oil, wheat germ meal & the rest sounded like chemical concoctions. Can someone enlighten me???

I am a firm believer in Zupreem Fruit Flavored Pellets for finches.

I mix it with my seed mix. I use one ice tea scoop of pellets to two scoops seed. You can do 50-50 if you want.

When starting birds on pellets offer the seed searately and put a dish of pellets next to the seed dish. You will be able to tell if they are eating them better if not mixed in the seeds at first. you will also see a powder at the bottom of the dish, it means they are ating them. Some birds like certain colors, some of mine leave the green and yellow others love the red!

Once you are certain they like it mix it in the seed...give them time, if they have not had pellets before it may take a week or two before they go to it or they will take to it right away. The young offspring will wean well with pellets, most of mine love the pellets since that is what is offered when they fledge.

I feed my finch both the fruit Zupreem and seed in separate dishes....They get to choose which they want....I feel like I'm covering both bases by offering both....Birds seem to know what lacks in their diets and will eat accordingly if given the choice....

I would like a comment to my post on the ingredients for Zupreem which I listed in my post. Starts out with ground corn, etc. etc.

My avain vet recommends this product as well as most of the pellets on the market. I have had hookbills in the past that have had pellets as their only staple. Yearly blood draws showed good results health wise, they were not lacking in nutrition.

Some of our members feed only pellets, I use it along with seed. I also asked my vet about using it with seed, she said it was fine for finches, their metabolism rate is much higher than that of hookbills.

Corn as a main ingredient in dogfood is a concern but I believe with birds it should not be an issue. I have also used Roudybush Nibbles in the past with parrotlets and lovebirds, it has a different smell to it, sort of yeasty when wet. My smaller finches did not at it readily except for the shaft tails and BC zebras. I ground it finely and added it to dry eggfood mixes which they fed to their young.

The pellets have been formulated to fit birds nutritional needs plus giving them fresh greens, veggies rounds the diet off.

I have given pellets for almost 10 year, my birds feed it to their young and do extremely well on it. My owls love Zupreem, it is the first thing they go to when the dishes are put down.

Thank you Cindy .... made me feel a little better. You're right in your comment about dog food containing corn ... I'm so honed in on that. I would love to start using the Zupreem; bought a small bag for $7.99 at PetSmart, saw at another pet store the same product for $6.99 ... am going to my local bird fair today & will see what they offer it for.

I order mine in bulk get several 10 lb bags at a time from

http://www.foryourbird.com/page/foryourbird/CTGY/zucar

they so far are the cheapest and shipping is not bad and is prompt.

They only make the canary finch size in a small to 10lb bag. If you find it in a larger size they more than likely rebagged it...a practice I am not fond of.

Hopefully you will find someone at the fair that carried the ten lb size.

I had used Zupreem in the past, but found that the finch droppings were colored from it and made more of a mess to clean up. I switched and for several years have now used Lafeber's tiny pelleted finch Premium Daily Diet instead. Petsmarts carry it. I also feed a seed mix and fresh vegetables, in a seperate containers to this. My finches eat both seed and the pellets. Has anyone else used this brand and how do you like it?

Actually my birds don't seem to have an issue with discoloration at all, nothing staining. The benefits out weigh the cons. Mine would not go near Lafebers, it is expensive for the quanity and I also tried the Zupreem Natural for finches...that was a no go.

Color and smell has it's advantages with the fruit flavored pellets.

Bought a 3# bag of Zupreem fruit pellets for $7 at the bird fair yesterday.
(also bought a pair of canaries, $70 for both)

Then went to a home advertising Gouldians on Craig's List, got two Goulds for $65 each.
That's enough birds for now, huh??????????????

doing good

I feed my gouldian LaFeber's finch food (a fine pellet) and the societies and zebras Zupreem natural. I switched from the Zurpreem fruit flavored to natural to avoid the staining the fruit flavored ones did to the perches, and the colored poop made it sometimes hard to evaluate their poop for heath.

In the morning the gouldians get a dish with Zupreem natural pellets + seeds.

Breeding gouldians get seed all the time in addition to the pellets.