Lovie harrison's weaning

[Joeyx]

harrison's got a lot of pellet types and i just wanted to make sure about a few
things. since i'm still weaning Cloud, he's been eating zupreem natural pellets
all along. now after seeing the vet is stocking up on harrison's again, i want to
wean him on that. should i be giving him high potency, or is adult lifetime ok
for him? temporarily i mean, since in my excitement i forgot to get him his
own high potency bag, lol. afterwards when he's older, should i still feed him
high potency or should i start giving him adult lifetime? i know greys need high
potency, but what about lovies?

also for when he's older, would it be alright if i fed him both zupreem and
harrison's, alternating between them every week or so, or should i just stick to
harrison's?

 

[Joeyx]

no oooone? ;(

i need to know by tomorrow so i can go get some more pellets.

 

[Mayden]

High potency fine/superfine for the first 6 months, then you can switch to 'adult lifetime' fine/superfine (not sure whicih lovies would prefer.

 

[Mayden]

There was my quick responce anyway;

I put Merlin straight on adult lifetime, but you're supposed to do high potency first, I'd go with high potency, there isn't a difference in price so you're not losing out on anything really . if you wanted to swap out the foods then i think that's fine, or you could give harrissons during the day and zupreem later on or something. harrissons is quite boring looking, so your lovie might appreciate the change. but on an actual food front, no, stick to harrissons, it's good stuff!

6months on high potency, then on adult lifetime afterwards will be fine.

 

[msminnamouse]

Adult Lifetime (Fine is usually a good size for them) is preferable for them, unless you're going to be... breeding them. I wouldn't feed High Potency because lovebirds are prone to high bile acids and hormonal issues which I wouldn't encourage by giving a diet richer than necessary in fats and proteins. In fact, I feed Roudybush Low Fat Maintenance and see better results than when I was feeding Harrisons.

Mixing together different kinds of pellets is great. Any variety that you can add to their diet is a good idea. You might want to feed Harrisons and then mix in another pellet rich in veggies and fruit.

And although Harrisons says that you're supposed to do High Potency first before weaning them onto any Harrisons formula, I don't see any reason at all for it besides buying another unnecessary product that you don't need. I didn't bother with doing that and many other people haven't as well and there haven't been any problems recorded.

The only reason I can think of for their suggestion to do that is if you've been feeding a diet rich in seeds and the High Potency formula is step down in the fats and protein from a seed diet so you can get the bird's body used to a different formula with even lower amounts of fat and protein.

 

[Joeyx]

thanks for the reply. i've been mixing harrison's adult lifetime and zupreem natural pellets
for Cloud, and he eats them just fine. i've noticed however that he's eating less zupreem
lately, so i guess i'll stick with harrison's for a while. as for the size, i think super fine
would be better because with fine i've noticed they have a hard time trying to cut them
into smaller pieces, and a lot of it just flies out onto the floor of the cage or outside.

then again, i don't think my vet had any super fine but yeah either way, i can still crush
the fine if the size is annoying him.

 

[Spiritbird]

My vet suggested to keep Rosie on Harrisons HP for her lifetime to meet her reqirements and that is what I am doing. she eats them like a little piggy. I do see the reason for mixing two different kinds of pellets but it should not hurt.

 

[msminnamouse]

That's interesting. I'm not saying my vet knows more than your's or anything but I am curious about two things. If your vet avian certified and do you regularly check bile acids?