HELP!!!!

[conure123]

Hello I have a conure who for context i’ve hand raised and have had him for about 6 months now . He has been eating the fruit zupreem pellets for the longest time and all of a sudden a few days ago he stopped eating . This is very scary to me . He is still eating his daily fruits and vegetables and acting like normal . He’s flying , Playing with his bird friend, everything normal although I do find him to be more affectionate towards me . Please someone help me why isn’t he eating his pellets . I also occasionally give him about a teaspoon of little seeds and he really likes those .I offered some of those to him this week and he gobbles them down . I feel his crop and it’s empty . Please help

 

[I❤️Birds]

I would try pretending to eat the pellets and then offer them to your parrot to make them more interested or sprinkling them over the veggies or sprinkle seeds into the pellets. If that doesn’t work, I would recommend seeing a vet. Also, the fruit pellets are very bad for parrots. They are full of sugar and artificial dyes. I would recommend Harrison’s or tops pellets or the natural zupreem( but they still aren’t the best). Obviously, get your parrot eating again first. I hope these help you!!!!!

 

[hiriki]

Seconded on the anti-zupreem fruit blend sentiment above. The best pellet, imo, is a pellet your bird will eat, so if it's between zupreem fruit blend or seed mix it is what it is, but you're in a situation where your conure is now rejecting these pellets anyway, so now may be a good time to investigate a dye free alternative. Harrison's and Lafeber are my vet's go-to brands... not a single bird in my flock has ever been willing to touch Harrison's though, so we're a Lafeber household.

Either way you need to transition slowly if you decide to switch, a hard cutover to a new pellet could cause some tummy discomfort. You might try crushing the pellets into a powder and sprinkling it over the seeds and veggies so you know your bird is getting the nutrients. You can crush zupreem and whatever brand you might decide to switch to and mix them together and then sprinkle over veggies... slowly decrease the amount of zupreem until it's all the new stuff... and then slowly introduce larger pellets into the mix and see if your bird will eat them now that they're used to the taste.

Regardless, you should probably start monitoring weight weekly if you're not already. Maybe even more often than weekly since he's not eating so you want to be on top of things. Be ready to take him to the vet ASAP if you notice a weight drop. If it's been a while since his last wellness check, personally I'd get him to the vet anyway, best case scenario you've got your wellness out of the way for the year and worst case the vet is able to diagnose and treat whatever your boy is dealing with.

Best of luck!!!

 

[conure123]

I also oca

Seconded on the anti-zupreem fruit blend sentiment above. The best pellet, imo, is a pellet your bird will eat, so if it's between zupreem fruit blend or seed mix it is what it is, but you're in a situation where your conure is now rejecting these pellets anyway, so now may be a good time to investigate a dye free alternative. Harrison's and Lafeber are my vet's go-to brands... not a single bird in my flock has ever been willing to touch Harrison's though, so we're a Lafeber household.

Either way you need to transition slowly if you decide to switch, a hard cutover to a new pellet could cause some tummy discomfort. You might try crushing the pellets into a powder and sprinkling it over the seeds and veggies so you know your bird is getting the nutrients. You can crush zupreem and whatever brand you might decide to switch to and mix them together and then sprinkle over veggies... slowly decrease the amount of zupreem until it's all the new stuff... and then slowly introduce larger pellets into the mix and see if your bird will eat them now that they're used to the taste.

Regardless, you should probably start monitoring weight weekly if you're not already. Maybe even more often than weekly since he's not eating so you want to be on top of things. Be ready to take him to the vet ASAP if you notice a weight drop. If it's been a while since his last wellness check, personally I'd get him to the vet anyway, best case scenario you've got your wellness out of the way for the year and worst case the vet is able to diagnose and treat whatever your boy is dealing with.

Best of luck!!!

Thank you so much i will try this tomorrow . Which type of harrison’s or lafer do i feed him? I looked online but there’s all different ones .

 

[hiriki]

I also oca

Thank you so much i will try this tomorrow . Which type of harrison’s or lafer do i feed him? I looked online but there’s all different ones .

For Harrisons--they have a transitioning guide on their website. The flavor blend doesn't matter so much, it's whatever your birds will eat assuming they don't have allergies, but you want to start with high potency for 6 months and then switch to maintenance.

The "where to start" page of this PDF goes over that: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/HANDBOOK-2023-1.pdf

I happened upon this PDF when I was looking for the last one, this guide isn't specific to Harrison's but has a lot of good conversion tips to check out: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Quick-Tips.pdf

So to start you would want a high potency fine pellet. This is their "original" flavor in high potency fine: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/product/high-potency-fine/
They also have a pepper flavor, which uses I believe cayenne to give it kick: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/product/high-potency-pepper-fine/

Lafeber doesn't have the same high potency vs regular blend conundrum. They just offer one single maintenance blend. For a conure, I would recommend either cockatiel sized pellets or their "parrot" sized pellet. My birds are on the cockatiel sized, including a jenday conure and a GCC, but it really depends on the bird whether they like to hold the pellets and bite off tiny pieces or if they like to eat right from the bowl, so you can try both.

Cockatiel: https://lafeber.com/product/cockatiel-pellets/
Parrot: https://lafeber.com/product/parrot-pellets/

FYI, Lafeber also sells what they call Nutriberries, which I just call seed balls because that's what they are lol. Also avicakes. They're seeds and nuts that are formed into balls with a binding agent that is fortified with minerals and stuff! My birds have a great time eating them since they have to break it apart to get to their fave seeds. They're a great treat and can replace seed mixes entirely if you desire.

Parrot Nutri-Berries – Lafeber Company

lafeber.com

All of these products are on Amazon, Harrison's I don't think is on Chewy right now but Lafeber is.

 

[wrench13]

Friend Hiriki brought up a good point. Get a digital kitchen scale that reads out in grams, and get in the habit of weighing your parrots often. They hide illness really well - really well. So by the time you see outward signs of illness, like lethargy, or not eating, or anything, they are already pretty sick. But they can't hide weight loss. Keep a log of the weight. A drop of 3-5% should trigger a vet visit.

 

[pebbles1553]

try soak

Hello I have a conure who for context i’ve hand raised and have had him for about 6 months now . He has been eating the fruit zupreem pellets for the longest time and all of a sudden a few days ago he stopped eating . This is very scary to me . He is still eating his daily fruits and vegetables and acting like normal . He’s flying , Playing with his bird friend, everything normal although I do find him to be more affectionate towards me . Please someone help me why isn’t he eating his pellets . I also occasionally give him about a teaspoon of little seeds and he really likes those .I offered some of those to him this week and he gobbles them down . I feel his crop and it’s empty . Please help View attachment 57951

try soaking the pellets in warm water, they sometimes like them better. hope he eats!

 

[conure123]

For Harrisons--they have a transitioning guide on their website. The flavor blend doesn't matter so much, it's whatever your birds will eat assuming they don't have allergies, but you want to start with high potency for 6 months and then switch to maintenance.

The "where to start" page of this PDF goes over that: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/HANDBOOK-2023-1.pdf

I happened upon this PDF when I was looking for the last one, this guide isn't specific to Harrison's but has a lot of good conversion tips to check out: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Quick-Tips.pdf

So to start you would want a high potency fine pellet. This is their "original" flavor in high potency fine: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/product/high-potency-fine/
They also have a pepper flavor, which uses I believe cayenne to give it kick: https://www.harrisonsbirdfoods.com/product/high-potency-pepper-fine/

Lafeber doesn't have the same high potency vs regular blend conundrum. They just offer one single maintenance blend. For a conure, I would recommend either cockatiel sized pellets or their "parrot" sized pellet. My birds are on the cockatiel sized, including a jenday conure and a GCC, but it really depends on the bird whether they like to hold the pellets and bite off tiny pieces or if they like to eat right from the bowl, so you can try both.

Cockatiel: https://lafeber.com/product/cockatiel-pellets/
Parrot: https://lafeber.com/product/parrot-pellets/

FYI, Lafeber also sells what they call Nutriberries, which I just call seed balls because that's what they are lol. Also avicakes. They're seeds and nuts that are formed into balls with a binding agent that is fortified with minerals and stuff! My birds have a great time eating them since they have to break it apart to get to their fave seeds. They're a great treat and can replace seed mixes entirely if you desire.

Parrot Nutri-Berries – Lafeber Company

lafeber.com

All of these products are on Amazon, Harrison's I don't think is on Chewy right now but Lafeber is.

Thanks so much I’ve gotten him a new food and he’s back to eating again !

 

[conure123]

try soak

try soaking the pellets in warm water, they sometimes like them better. hope he eats!

Thanks so much he’s eating again!