Best pellets to feed Ring Neck Parrot? (UK MARKET)

[BlueBird95]

Hi There folks.

I've Just obtained a beautiful little blue IRN called Bleu & looking for diet advice

The pet shop I got him from had him on a 100% seed diet with some greens (or so they say ) . From reading up online its pretty clear that him having as much seed isn't good for him so ofcourse I'd like to wean him off having seed as much and switch to pellets & greens and maybe just use the seed now and again as a treat or to put his foraging toys. As it sits.. I'm feeding him a bowl of the seed they fed him on everyday until I get his pellets and ofcourse providing him with another bowl with chopped veg (green beans, cucumber, spinach, carrot & broccoli) and then taking it away from him after an hour or 2. (not the seed - has has access to his seed & water 24/7). I only take the veggy away from him after a few hours before it turns bad. Fortunately he seems to be eating a bit of everything.

Yesterday I witnessed him nibbling away at every bowl i gave him at some point . Seed & Veg . Plus not to mention his favourite little treat seems to be red apple at the moment that i give him in moderation (mostly at the end of the day a treat for being such a good boy)

to cut to the chase. I haven't got him pellets yet because I cant seem to get them in person and its pretty clear i'll have to order online now . I don't know if its a regional thing where I stay in Scotland but it appears that almost every pet shop I go into and ask tells me they're sold out .... 3 days now i have went into every local pet shop and they all point me to an empty space on the shelf where the pellets once were

The issue I'm having though is the sheer amount of Pellets available on the internet and what ones to choose. Upon researching a little online (youtube) it scared me how many pellets are out there for these birds that have bad ingredients such as peanut & sunflower oil ect.. it seems that the ones that do have good reviews on youtube seem to only be available in places like America. Everytime I found a video of a reputable brand that seemed like a good option for him it turned out to be unavailable in the United Kingdom (surprise surprise).

I'm now spending hours familiarising myself with the ingredients that are deemed not suitable for birds and going through every brands ingredient list shooting them out only the best for my little boy ofcourse... but its becoming a longer task than it really should be handy to know, but long haha.

if someone with expeirence could just point me in the direction of a few good brands to look at I'd much appreciate it.

advice on what pellets are available on the UK market that are good for small parrots especially ring necks please let me know. ones that ideally don't contain any ingredient that is regarded bad for birds.

also opinions on wither or not it us advised to feed your parrot the same pellets over and over would be appreciated. I heard a few people where saying on the reviews that they give their IRN's variable food options by switching up brands daily or seasonally and not always feeding it the same stuff as its rare that they would continuously have access the same food source everyday in the wild. It also is suggested that by doing this makes the bird a less fussy eater

all opinions/advice welcomed!

Cheers!

 

[LaManuka]

Hi There folks.

I've Just obtained a beautiful little blue IRN called Bleu & looking for diet advice

The pet shop I got him from had him on a 100% seed diet with some greens (or so they say ) . From reading up online its pretty clear that him having as much seed isn't good for him so ofcourse I'd like to wean him off having seed as much and switch to pellets & greens and maybe just use the seed now and again as a treat or to put his foraging toys. As it sits.. I'm feeding him a bowl of the seed they fed him on everyday until I get his pellets and ofcourse providing him with another bowl with chopped veg (green beans, cucumber, spinach, carrot & broccoli) and then taking it away from him after an hour or 2. (not the seed - has has access to his seed & water 24/7). I only take the veggy away from him after a few hours before it turns bad. Fortunately he seems to be eating a bit of everything.

Yesterday I witnessed him nibbling away at every bowl i gave him at some point . Seed & Veg . Plus not to mention his favourite little treat seems to be red apple at the moment that i give him in moderation (mostly at the end of the day a treat for being such a good boy)

to cut to the chase. I haven't got him pellets yet because I cant seem to get them in person and its pretty clear i'll have to order online now . I don't know if its a regional thing where I stay in Scotland but it appears that almost every pet shop I go into and ask tells me they're sold out .... 3 days now i have went into every local pet shop and they all point me to an empty space on the shelf where the pellets once were

The issue I'm having though is the sheer amount of Pellets available on the internet and what ones to choose. Upon researching a little online (youtube) it scared me how many pellets are out there for these birds that have bad ingredients such as peanut & sunflower oil ect.. it seems that the ones that do have good reviews on youtube seem to only be available in places like America. Everytime I found a video of a reputable brand that seemed like a good option for him it turned out to be unavailable in the United Kingdom (surprise surprise).

I'm now spending hours familiarising myself with the ingredients that are deemed not suitable for birds and going through every brands ingredient list shooting them out only the best for my little boy ofcourse... but its becoming a longer task than it really should be handy to know, but long haha.

if someone with expeirence could just point me in the direction of a few good brands to look at I'd much appreciate it.

advice on what pellets are available on the UK market that are good for small parrots especially ring necks please let me know. ones that ideally don't contain any ingredient that is regarded bad for birds.

also opinions on wither or not it us advised to feed your parrot the same pellets over and over would be appreciated. I heard a few people where saying on the reviews that they give their IRN's variable food options by switching up brands daily or seasonally and not always feeding it the same stuff as its rare that they would continuously have access the same food source everyday in the wild. It also is suggested that by doing this makes the bird a less fussy eater

all opinions/advice welcomed!

Cheers!

I'm a British expat living in Australia so I don't have as much knowledge as some of our UK members may have, but from what I can gather www.northernparrots.com is a pretty good site to look at in terms of sourcing pellets. I've recently switched my guys to TOPS (reasonably easy to find here in Oz), and Harrison's (can be a bit more problematic to find!), but my guys have taken to both very quickly. I get them the Harrison's Lifetime Fine pellets, they look like millet so my 'tiels and my princess parrot gobble them right up! I've switched to these brands because they have some of the best quality ingredients, and I like to give my flock a mix of both brands together because they have different ingredients so that way they get a bit more variety. You are obviously doing a fair bit of research as to what you feel is best for your IRN and there are a number of brands available at Northern Parrots, and hopefully some of our UK members will weigh in soon with what they feed, but in the meantime I hope this helps you

 

[BlueBird95]

I'm a British expat living in Australia so I don't have as much knowledge as some of our UK members may have, but from what I can gather www.northernparrots.com is a pretty good site to look at in terms of sourcing pellets. I've recently switched my guys to TOPS (reasonably easy to find here in Oz), and Harrison's (can be a bit more problematic to find!), but my guys have taken to both very quickly. I get them the Harrison's Lifetime Fine pellets, they look like millet so my 'tiels and my princess parrot gobble them right up! I've switched to these brands because they have some of the best quality ingredients, and I like to give my flock a mix of both brands together because they have different ingredients so that way they get a bit more variety. You are obviously doing a fair bit of research as to what you feel is best for your IRN and there are a number of brands available at Northern Parrots, and hopefully some of our UK members will weigh in soon with what they feed, but in the meantime I hope this helps you

thanks for the reply! I'm actually just back from local pet shop again. Still no pellets in however i did ask what ones they usually stock and they said Harrisons. So thats good to know!!

The only ones they had in the now are way too big for IRN they said however they are awaiting an order for the smaller pellets. will give it another day or 2 and if no sign of them ill probably order some of the harrisons and give bleu a try on them

 

[LaManuka]

thanks for the reply! I'm actually just back from local pet shop again. Still no pellets in however i did ask what ones they usually stock and they said Harrisons. So thats good to know!!

The only ones they had in the now are way too big for IRN they said however they are awaiting an order for the smaller pellets. will give it another day or 2 and if no sign of them ill probably order some of the harrisons and give bleu a try on them

Yeah I'm having trouble getting the Harrison's Fine over here, so I bought the coarse with a view to bashing it with a mallet and making the bits smaller. Haven't actually done it yet but as the "fine" won't apparently be available here for at least another month I guess I'll have to get bashing fairly soon!