Lafeber Premium Daily Diet

[Stuart whiting]

No worries Stuart.

There are a ton of products out there and weeding through them at times is a challenge.

There is one type of pellet soak that has come over from Europe to the states.... it makes claims to replace germinated seed and prevent black spot..neither claims I buy based on the ingredients since nothing can replace sprouted/chitted seed and black spot is a liver bleed typically caused by internal parasites or bacteria.I avoided that particular product.

Want to clarify... as far as fruits and vegetable served in captivity. some of what is given is not common for certain finches to find or eat on their own in their native lands. Not sure how many finches search out cucumbers, cabbage, kale, broccoli, carrots romaine, etc.

And yes egg replaces bugs.... again it is not what they would eat in the wild the way it is/we serve in captivity.

Dogs and cats are fed kibble, no one blinks an eye at that.... but good kibble has been designed to meet the nutritional and health needs of dogs and cats.

Can see where yer coming from Cindy,

The vegetables was mainly meant that the birds would possibly more so eat any of the seeding heads IE broccoli etc

I've often seen linnets, goldfinches and greenfinches out on our local vegetable fields literally at the back of my house and also baring in mind Cindy that I did specialise in breeding and exhibiting British finches for over 30 odd years and kept the very same birds that I see every day flying about all around me over the fields etc

Yea the soak pellets you mention I've been in discussions with for about the last 1 year on a British finch forum,

This particular pellet is known as PEARL, some luv it and some hate it,
I've actually tried it last year and can onestly say that it's total pants

Another pellet formula that Went into the bin,

This will never duplicate soaked seed

[cindy]

No worries Stuart.

There are a ton of products out there and weeding through them at times is a challenge.

There is one type of pellet soak that has come over from Europe to the states.... it makes claims to replace germinated seed and prevent black spot..neither claims I buy based on the ingredients since nothing can replace sprouted/chitted seed and black spot is a liver bleed typically caused by internal parasites or bacteria.I avoided that particular product.

Want to clarify... as far as fruits and vegetable served in captivity. some of what is given is not common for certain finches to find or eat on their own in their native lands. Not sure how many finches search out cucumbers, cabbage, kale, broccoli, carrots romaine, etc.

And yes egg replaces bugs.... again it is not what they would eat in the wild the way it is/we serve in captivity.

Dogs and cats are fed kibble, no one blinks an eye at that.... but good kibble has been designed to meet the nutritional and health needs of dogs and cats.

Can see where yer coming from Cindy,

The vegetables was mainly meant that the birds would possibly more so eat any of the seeding heads IE broccoli etc

I've often seen linnets, goldfinches and greenfinches out on our local vegetable fields literally at the back of my house

Yea the soak pellets you mention I've been in discussions with for about the last 1 year on a British finch forum,

This particular pellet is known as PEARL, some luv it and some hate it,
I've actually tried it last year and can onestly say that it's total pants

Another pellet formulas that Went into the bin,

This will never duplicate soaked seed

What pellets do you have over there...wonder if they are here in the states

[Stuart whiting]

cindy

As far as I'm aware of the PEARL and that is about it,

Can't really say I've seen any others over here, certainly not in any of our seed mixes,

oh just realised except for one, I m sure there's pellets in the KAYTEE range that we've got here,

Must admit that this range isn't particularly popular with many specialist breeders, it's more so sold for pet parrots etc IE like at pets smart, pets at home stores,
Similar stores to to what you have, I personally don't use these stores as most of the items are not for the professional market and I have definitely not used the KAYTEE range, I believe this maybe an American based product, not 100% sure but wouldn't surprise me.

We do have loads and loads of other pellets but are for the fishing trade IE, trout and halibut pellets etc

[cindy]

I am not a fan of KayTee, no one here eats that brand.... I also use Roudybush's formula. KayTee was one of the first formulas I remember being available here, prior we had to create our own.

[Stuart whiting]

cindy

Yea the KAYTEE range I've just looked again at some of their range and looked at the cockatiel rainbow pks as an example and when enlarged the pic to my horror the whole pkt consisted of just multiple colour pellets

Not one bit of seed in this pkt and they call it daily premium feed,

Surely there having a laugh, how can any parakeet live just on that,

I've always knew that KAYTEE products had the pellets in the mixes but this cockatiel mix is ridiculous, God only knows what there other products are like, to be onest I don't even realy have the interest to look,

After seeing this is hardly surprising why I feel like I do as regards to the pellet talk, doesn't really leave a lot for the vote of confidence

[cindy]

This is Roudybush Nibbles size. It is tiny like a seed. The finches and grasskeet as well as my GCConure all manage this. The Java out of all the finches eat the most of it. Roudybush push is all natural and provides different sizes and formulas for different stages, special needs and species

[Stuart whiting]

This is Roudybush Nibbles size. It is tiny like a seed. The finches and grasskeet as well as my GCConure all manage this. The Java out of all the finches eat the most of it. Roudybush push is all natural and provides different sizes and formulas for different stages, special needs and species

Mmm....looks interesting Cindy, I'm just wandering how it would fair with the small waxbills and wheather they'd actually benefit anything from this

As 9 out of 10 waxbills rear predominantly on soaked / sprouted seeds and small live food and a few waxbills have also reared on egg food

[cindy]

At the time I had waxbills I was using either Lafebers or Zupreem for finches, my collection was tiny at the time. I do not have waxbills right now. I do mostly the Australian species and javas. I have a pair of grens also. I do grind the Roudybush and add it to dried eggfoods and make lour-less bird bread out of it, main ingredients are roudybush and eggs. Birds all eat it.

[cindy]

Roudybush bird bread

[Sheather]

I fed Roudybush as a staple for a while but I have too many birds again now to offer it as the main diet and am using more seed now. My birds of all species readily take the Roudybush and it seems palatable. I also occasionally feed a colored pellet to my cockatiels, Zupreem brand, I don't think it's as good for them but it's vitamin enriched and they absolutely love it so it's a treat.

[cindy]

depending how many birds you have and how fast you go through it I order roudybush every 6 weeks via their breeder program.... you have to meet the weight limit of 200 lbs of product per order and it can be any products in combination. The bags are discounted almost half off roughly $39 per 25 lb bags. Works well if you split orders with fellow breeders.

[cindy]

I fed Roudybush as a staple for a while but I have too many birds again now to offer it as the main diet and am using more seed now. My birds of all species readily take the Roudybush and it seems palatable. I also occasionally feed a colored pellet to my cockatiels, Zupreem brand, I don't think it's as good for them but it's vitamin enriched and they absolutely love it so it's a treat.

If using it as a treat occasionally, still use a complete vitamin mineral supplement. To be effective pellets need to be about 50 to 80% of the diet.

[Stuart whiting]

Roudybush bird bread

Mmm...yum, looks like what we call flap jack and I luv eating flap jack

Looks very appetising

[ac12]

I have a 25 pound box headed my way.

[artgecko]

I've been trying to feed my birds a quality seed mix, some greens, soak seed, and some pellets (roudybush crumbles and Lafabre "nutriberries" crumbled) since I got them. Neither my canaries or budgies will touch the crumbles / crumbled pellets. Do you guys' birds prefer a small pellet vs. the crumble texture? Do you soak them? Mine just don't seem interested. :/ I still use a mineral / vitamin supplement 1-2x a week because I'm paranoid that they aren't getting the nutrients they need.