Zupreem Fruit blend Pellets

[Colt]

Several years ago I had zebras, societies, and spice finches that all ate the pellets quite well. I still offered seed by mixing it into the pellets or offering a small cup late in the evening. But the birds I have currently would much rather pick all the seed out. There are all feeding chicks right now, and I'd love for the little ones to grow up with an appreciation for the pellets. It also cuts down on the amount of seed hulls my long haired dachshunds track all over the house.

Any ideas on how to make it more palatable for them?

I'm also offering Goldy's Insectivore Blend and Classic egg food, several types of millet still on the seed head, dried greens, the seed mixture, the pellets, and occasional meal worms. They also have a mineral supplement and cuttlebone available. Anything else I should be giving them?

And are there any other pellets that your finches prefer over the fruitblend? I have to have the local pet store special order it for me, but if Roudybush crumble or something else would work better I'm sure I could get that ordered as well.

[cindy]

I used Zupreem for years, prior to that I used Roudybush. Zupreem had changed their size and formulation to the their fruit blend (natural they ignored). Most of my birds liked the fruit but some species preferred certain colors.

I switched back to Roudybush Nibble size for finches (available at Petsupermarket and on line...All my birds eat this, I even soak it and add veggies for a different texture which is great for mind stimulation. I also love the hand feeding formula, very smooth and does not set up as others do.

[Colt]

Cindy - Did they just take to the pellets and start eating them on their own, or did you have to wean them onto them/present them in a certain way?

[cindy]

http://www.roudybush.com/index.cfm?fuse ... foodswitch

The above guide is how to transition them onto pellets. I do not use the method with the juice...juice often contains to much sugar.

Do not take the seed away completely, you can serve the pellets in a separate dish or put the pellets on top of the seed.

[Colt]

Thanks for the link Cindy. I've used a few methods listed there but I find they are more successful with hookbills. I'd be way too scared to pull their food and offer nothing but the pellets for two days especially considering they are all feeding chicks. They seem to have eaten more of the pellets today than yesterday. Almost all the bowls were empty this evening. Of course they could just be tossing the pellets in order to find the seed. But it doesn't look like there's any more than usual mixed into the walnut litter.

On a side note, is there any large difference in the quality of pellets between Zipreem and Roudybush? I always preferred Roudybush at the pet store for the hookbills because it was uniform in color and shape so they didn't pick out colors and leave the rest. We never had the finch crumble though so I've never tried it before.

And should I be offering anything else in addition to what I'm currently offering?

[cindy]

I prefer Roudybush to....it is softer and the birds prefer it. Fosters and Smith sells it in the Nibble size. There are two online bulk stores that sell it...I buy it though a breeder plan with a few friends, we order a total of over a minimum of 300lbs of product (includes formula, soaks pellets) every 6 weeks. The bags are discounted a bit this way.

If you do not need much you can order a little from Foster and Smith or from http://www.foryourbird.com/

I never take away their main staple of food to try something new....guess it was like a mom saying eat this before you can have that....not fond of that method. With hookbills it is recommend that they have all pellets, little or no seed (avian vet)...but with finches I asked her and due to their high metabolism they can have seed and pellets.

I personally was not thrilled when Zupreem changed the coloring in their fruit blend... the coloring bothered me so I went back to Roudybush. I do see a difference in my birds on Roudybush, if their seed dishes look full I may add a scoop of the pellets on top and everyone hookbills included go right to it.

I tried a sample od Dr. D's once for about two weeks, was not impressed and there are ingredients in it that I question as safe in a day to day basis, my birds did not do well on it. So back on the Roudybush. None of mine like Prettybird. Never tried Harrisons due to availability and cost. Never tried the Higgins Fruit pellets for my birds either...not sure they do a small size for finches, they do carry it for hookbills.

[Colt]

Thanks Cindy. It's always nice when someone with experience with the product chimes in. Like I said I've always preferred Roudybush to the other pellet brands I carried. All the store birds ate it unless they came in on something else and then I weaned them onto it. I'll try ordering the Nibble size and seeing if they like it any better.

[cindy]

The Crumble size is a little to big, you can try whirling it in a food processor a few times to break it up and add it to dried eggfood or over boiled grated egg. Even my owls love the Nibble size.

Another good pellet, it is more like a flake is the Lafeber for finch and canary. I add it to dried eggfoods, serve it in a separate dish for weaning young and parents that are feeding young. You can order large size containers directly from Lafebers, I found it was a bit more costly.

[Colt]

Yeah Lafaber's is good stuff but I agree much more costly. So the Nibble size is smaller than the Crumble? We only carried Mini, Small, Medium, and Large pellets in the Roudybush and the owner wouldn't order the Zupreem finch pellets for me. I had to get them somewhere else when I worked there. So I'm not familiar with the little sizes at all.

[cindy]

The sites I gave you carry the Nibble size...foryourbird.com and Dr Foster and Smith.