Pellet shortage ??

[texsize]

About 7 months ago I started getting my food sent auto ship through Chew.com
I got tired of making multiple trips to the pet shop and finding that they were out of what I needed.

This is the second month that Chew is out of stock of the Browns tropical pellets.
This month was the first time they were also out of Zupreem nut blend pellets.
I had to get seed with sunflower seed in it cuz the pet shops near me don't sell the California blend I use that doesn't have sunflower seeds.

Soooo I was wondering if anyone else out there in parrot land is having trouble getting there birds favorite pellets ?
Zupreem says it's made in USA. They can't use the excuse it's sitting off the coast in a container ship.

 

[Skarila]

While you are right that the goods aren't siting overseas in a container ship, there can be a few reasons to why are the pellets being shipped late. One could be the manufacture delay, other the actual shipping delay. Delays of deliveries within USA? Very plausible. As someone who works in postal logistics, we always had biggest issue within USA, especially at end of year time. Items flying to USA - no problem, done within days, but once it arrives there, lord, Covid made it much worse than expected. Everyone started ordering stuff home, lots of restrictions and people (workers) getting sick... It was a big punch to USPS I believe. It wasn't easy for anyone, I tell you!

I wanted to order some Harrison's pellets last week from a German site (to be shipped within EU), and the supplier has let us know that there was a delay in the delivery directly from the manufacturer, and the delay will be perhaps half a month/one month. They're out of stock for like half of the usual Pellets. They even started opening the 11kg ones and make small batches of 1-2kg to see, but by the high price as the demand is so high now. Luckily I still have enough feed for next few months.

Another thing what I read is that zupreem I think will raise up their prices of their pellets, so people started stocking up before the price goes up, this could also be a reason why you got unlucky and it was out of stock before your autoship came into action! Also, because Christmas is coming, and the postal services usually get overwhelmed in November/December, also it is possible many people order beforehand so that they do not end up waiting for the pellets longer than needed.

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this in US - I can say that even in EU it is similar with the delays.

 

[fiddlejen]

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this in US - I can say that even in EU it is similar with the delays.

As far as the Harrison's, I couldn't find the ones I wanted thru Amazon at all, where I've previously gotten them. However, I ordered direct from Harrison's (price works about the same anyhow; Harrison's directly, charges shipping; Amazon "free" shipping but higher start price), and I got tracking number, due to arrive Friday. BUT i tend to it assume wasn't available thru Amazon due to less being available in general.

 

[Skarila]

As far as the Harrison's, I couldn't find the ones I wanted thru Amazon at all, where I've previously gotten them. However, I ordered direct from Harrison's (price works about the same anyhow; Harrison's directly, charges shipping; Amazon "free" shipping but higher start price), and I got tracking number, due to arrive Friday. BUT i tend to it assume wasn't available thru Amazon due to less being available in general.

Getting Harrison's in Europe is almost double the price because of the overseas shipping being covered. In US you guys get the small bag for 10 usd - in Europe for the exactly the same thing we pay 15 EUR - equal to 18 usd per bag. and oh, +7 usd (6 eur) shipping since I have to order from another country. Cannot say I'm not jealous about that! And with the usual salaries in Eastern Europe - that food is expensive. Roudybush is half the price and easier to get but apparently the supplier told us that it is very possible they won't be able to supply it in the future, which is such a shame.

Because of Covid, the shipping costs got so high, and every year it just gets higher. I wonder where's the limit!

 

[SailBoat]

Aaaa, the joys of covid, ever increasing costs of fuel, and shortage of works has resulted in the current mess. With things becoming ever worst, as the Holidays near, order now and hope that it is delivered in January or February.

Like face masks, once the general public gets a feeling that supply is limited, they will order and buy whatever they can, which will only make things worst!!

FYI: Ordering frozen food has become hit or miss as the available supply of 'dry ice' is limited as it is use to ship covid vaccination medication.

Welcome to the wonders of the New World!!

 

[imouse1]

I wanted to give some hope. Unannounced and not listed on their website, Petco had medium bird Zupreem. I had to get the Sir some antibacterial spray because he knicked his knuckle and happened to look. You might want to just walk into a store and see if they have any. =( I bought the last bags of nut, fruit, and veggies. The only natural they had was for the giant birdie babies. IDK what you're local shipment schedule is but outs is Tuesdays for non- food chattel and then food on Wednesday. Maybe it came with the food. Good luck!

 

[Laurasea]

I had to go to every pet store in my area ( 5) to get supplies...stuff was missing, or few items on shelf.
Hopefully all gets sorted out soon

 

[kme3388]

I have not ran into shortages where I am. I also buy the zupreem nut flavored pellets. It’s the only pellet I’ve been able to get my conure to eat. It would be a huge setback to have my conure go back to a seed diet. I hope the shortage in your area doesn’t become an issue everywhere. I’m sorry that this issue occurred.

 

[chris-md]

It’s the only pellet I’ve been able to get my conure to eat. It would be a huge setback to have my conure go back to a seed diet. .

No need for that. Just start serving chop instead! Better than either pellets or seed diets

 

[texsize]

I did get some nut blend through Amazon.
the local Petsmart was out when I went.

 

[imouse1]

No need for that. Just start serving chop instead! Better than either pellets or seed diets

Everything I've read says it needs to be 40%-60% pellets?

 

[Skarila]

Everything I've read says it needs to be 40%-60% pellets?

Depending on the species/type of bird but yeah, even my avian vet says not to serve veggies (chop) only! A well balanced diet between pellets, some seeds and chop is perfect. Mine easily switches between seeds and pellets though, he often steals some seed from our budgie's cage. I mean, it's his favourite junk food, I understand him fully, I'm the same with pizza and hamburgers, don't even think of offering me pure veggies over my nice fatty pizza or lasagne...

 

[imouse1]

Depending on the species/type of bird but yeah, even my avian vet says not to serve veggies (chop) only! A well balanced diet between pellets, some seeds and chop is perfect. Mine easily switches between seeds and pellets though, he often steals some seed from our budgie's cage. I mean, it's his favourite junk food, I understand him fully, I'm the same with pizza and hamburgers, don't even think of offering me pure veggies over my nice fatty pizza or lasagne...

I thought I was losing my mind there for a second lol. I couldn't imagine how much and often they'd have to eat just to keep up the vitamins and minerals since the chop will continue to take those out as it ages in the refrigerator (of anyone will harken back to nutrition taught in 5th grade in the last 50 years). And I'd rather the Sir have a reliable diet than him depending in me getting to the farmers every day, since the fruit and vegetables are only delivered weekly where I live. With everything people are saying about the PFAS and their use in plastics, I'm worried about giving him too many frozen veggies, too, much less making that his exclusive diet. The things that have the protein are the things they shouldn't eat too much of... =( I got scared there for a second I'd already messed him up

 

[Skarila]

I thought I was losing my mind there for a second lol. I couldn't imagine how much and often they'd have to eat just to keep up the vitamins and minerals since the chop will continue to take those out as it ages in the refrigerator (of anyone will harken back to nutrition taught in 5th grade in the last 50 years). And I'd rather the Sir have a reliable diet than him depending in me getting to the farmers every day, since the fruit and vegetables are only delivered weekly where I live. With everything people are saying about the PFAS and their use in plastics, I'm worried about giving him too many frozen veggies, too, much less making that his exclusive diet. The things that have the protein are the things they shouldn't eat too much of... =( I got scared there for a second I'd already messed him up

Protein is not bad, and actually should be upped a bit during moulting (offer some cooked legumes like beans or chickpeas). Don't worry, I'm sure you're doing great

 

[chris-md]

As an Ekkie owner I’ve gotten this lecture from my vet multiple times. “Must include pellets!” At best, it only tells half the story, at worst on a species level it can be dangerous and based on outdated information.

Whether Ekkie or conure or macaw, Essentially the recommendation comes on the assumption that most people don’t know what they’re doing, which is fair. They assume you’ll feed a restricted diet of just a few veggies, resulting in vitamin deficiency. “Feed him frozen veg medley, he’ll be fine”, essentially. Otherwise stated, they fear you won’t feed a nutritionally well rounded diet. In which case the vets aren’t wrong!

when you feed a diverse diet, you begin to cover all your bases. In addition to his regular chop (which contains at least 15 different ingredients encompassing all different colors and different plant parts), Parker gets sprouts. His current sprout mix contains approximately 30 different plant species.

Between all 40-50 ingredients, plus the occasional jaunt outside, his nutritional bases are covered…

as long as you feed diversity, you’ll cover all nutritional bases. And remember, I’m recommending this to you as a stop gap measure in case pellets do become scarce - not as a permanent change (though as a permanent change it’d be great too!). Especially if it’s a short term bridge, vitamin deficiency really isn’t an issue and you’re perfectly fine to feed just chop until your preferred pellet is back in stock.

Ask any Ekkie owner and you’ll get a nutritional lecture. We HAVE to be experts in fresh food preparation. It’s a species requirement since pellets can be harmful to ekkies

also, Blanche your chop then freeze it. defrost only what you need at a time. You enhance nutrition with blanching (and prepare it for freezing), AND don’t lose nutrition to sitting around the fridge.

 

[kme3388]

As an Ekkie owner I’ve gotten this lecture from my vet multiple times. “Must include pellets!” At best, it only tells half the story, at worst on a species level it can be dangerous and based on outdated information.

Whether Ekkie or conure or macaw, Essentially the recommendation comes on the assumption that most people don’t know what they’re doing, which is fair. They assume you’ll feed a restricted diet of just a few veggies, resulting in vitamin deficiency. “Feed him frozen veg medley, he’ll be fine”, essentially. Otherwise stated, they fear you won’t feed a nutritionally well rounded diet. In which case the vets aren’t wrong!

when you feed a diverse diet, you begin to cover all your bases. In addition to his regular chop (which contains at least 15 different ingredients encompassing all different colors and different plant parts), Parker gets sprouts. His current sprout mix contains approximately 30 different plant species.

Between all 40-50 ingredients, plus the occasional jaunt outside, his nutritional bases are covered…

as long as you feed diversity, you’ll cover all nutritional bases. And remember, I’m recommending this to you as a stop gap measure in case pellets do become scarce - not as a permanent change (though as a permanent change it’d be great too!). Especially if it’s a short term bridge, vitamin deficiency really isn’t an issue and you’re perfectly fine to feed just chop until your preferred pellet is back in stock.

Ask any Ekkie owner and you’ll get a nutritional lecture. We HAVE to be experts in fresh food preparation. It’s a species requirement since pellets can be harmful to ekkies

also, Blanche your chop then freeze it. defrost only what you need at a time. You enhance nutrition with blanching (and prepare it for freezing), AND don’t lose nutrition to sitting around the fridge.

I am new to the ekkie world. I'm certainly not an expert, and I'm learning as I go. My ekkie eats roudybush careline formula apd. Its a perscription pellet. Its very digestable from what I've gathered. I'm supposed to be giving him veggies that have been dehydrated so they are crunchy to not trigger hormones. This isn't going well at all.

 

[chris-md]

I am new to the ekkie world. I'm certainly not an expert, and I'm learning as I go. My ekkie eats roudybush careline formula apd. Its a perscription pellet. Its very digestable from what I've gathered. I'm supposed to be giving him veggies that have been dehydrated so they are crunchy to not trigger hormones. This isn't going well at all.

Uh boy…where to start with helping you out:

1) roudybush pellets in general are bad. They are fortified, and that’s bad for ekkies. they shouldn’t have anything fortified with added vitamins, minerals, or artificial dyes

“Digestible” isn’t a concern for ekkies. They are actually super digesters, which sets them apart in their dietary requirements, and precisely why you shouldn’t feed them enriched and fortified foods. Unless there’s more to the story than what you’re sharing, For “digestibility” question alone you are being scammed by being convinced prescription food is the o my way to go. If you don’t need it for a very specific diagnosed health issue, don’t waste your money.

2) dehydrated food is not great, it destroys much of the nutrients and concentrates sugars to exacerbate hormones. Fresh food alone will not trigger hormones!! It’s WHAT you feed it and how you prepare it. Nothing that resembles warm mush, and feed minimal fruits.

You’re avoiding 2 hormonal triggers here:

a. Warm mushy food (emphasis on warm AND mushy) has consistency of regurgitation, which is a sexual act. Eating regurgitation? Cue Marvin Gaye! Typical chop recipes aren’t served warm enough to trigger hormones, and isn’t exactly mushy. Cool quasi-mush just isn’t the same mood enhancer.

b. Sugar….HUGE trigger. Foods high in sugar especially will undoubtedly trigger hormones. Any type of fruit - fructose - can do it. We had a participant a couple years ago whose male eclectus was going through puberty. Just two grapes alone would send him into an uncontrolled hormonal frenzy. She had to get very disciplined about removing The Ekkie fresh food diet is largely veg and grain with the occasional (don’t buy into the oft repeated “fresh fruit and veg” refrain). Restrict fruits. Dehydrated fruits are worse, big sugar bombs = cue Marvin Gaye. Even high protein or high fat diets can do this. Just give them low calorie diets really, loads of low calorie stuff like leafy greens, lots of pulses (lentils, chickpeas, etc), broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

3) Unrelated to fresh, but enriched pellets can occasionally cause hormonal behavior as well. Nutrient (en)rich = land of plenty = cue Marvin Gaye. Also, if you read the side of many pellet bags, they are made of primarily soy and corn, also hormone enhancers. Many pellets also have SUCROSE added- yes, added table sugar - to make the pellets ore appealing. See section above about sugar triggering hormones.

You and your boy would be very well served, I believe, to do some very intense research into eclectus diet and digestion.

 

[Laurasea]

Agree with Chris on everything

Make sure you have a digital kitchen scale and weigh your bird daily during diet changes, and weekly as best practice.

 

[kme3388]

Uh boy…where to start with helping you out:

1) roudybush pellets in general are bad. They are fortified, and that’s bad for ekkies. they shouldn’t have anything fortified with added vitamins, minerals, or artificial dyes

“Digestible” isn’t a concern for ekkies. They are actually super digesters, which sets them apart in their dietary requirements, and precisely why you shouldn’t feed them enriched and fortified foods. Unless there’s more to the story than what you’re sharing, For “digestibility” question alone you are being scammed by being convinced prescription food is the o my way to go. If you don’t need it for a very specific diagnosed health issue, don’t waste your money.

2) dehydrated food is not great, it destroys much of the nutrients and concentrates sugars to exacerbate hormones. Fresh food alone will not trigger hormones!! It’s WHAT you feed it and how you prepare it. Nothing that resembles warm mush, and feed minimal fruits.

You’re avoiding 2 hormonal triggers here:

a. Warm mushy food (emphasis on warm AND mushy) has consistency of regurgitation, which is a sexual act. Eating regurgitation? Cue Marvin Gaye! Typical chop recipes aren’t served warm enough to trigger hormones, and isn’t exactly mushy. Cool quasi-mush just isn’t the same mood enhancer.

b. Sugar….HUGE trigger. Foods high in sugar especially will undoubtedly trigger hormones. Any type of fruit - fructose - can do it. We had a participant a couple years ago whose male eclectus was going through puberty. Just two grapes alone would send him into an uncontrolled hormonal frenzy. She had to get very disciplined about removing The Ekkie fresh food diet is largely veg and grain with the occasional (don’t buy into the oft repeated “fresh fruit and veg” refrain). Restrict fruits. Dehydrated fruits are worse, big sugar bombs = cue Marvin Gaye. Even high protein or high fat diets can do this. Just give them low calorie diets really, loads of low calorie stuff like leafy greens, lots of pulses (lentils, chickpeas, etc), broccoli, cauliflower, etc.

3) Unrelated to fresh, but enriched pellets can occasionally cause hormonal behavior as well. Nutrient (en)rich = land of plenty = cue Marvin Gaye. Also, if you read the side of many pellet bags, they are made of primarily soy and corn, also hormone enhancers. Many pellets also have SUCROSE added- yes, added table sugar - to make the pellets ore appealing. See section above about sugar triggering hormones.

You and your boy would be very well served, I believe, to do some very intense research into eclectus diet and digestion.

The only medical issues I know of are boronavirus which I’m so confused about because I thought it killed birds, elevated labs (liver issues), broken wing, and he did have an overgrowth of bacteria growing on his skin that is found in feces. Ever seen an Ekkie have a temper tantrum? Mine now has them because he hates dehydrated veggies/fruits. He picks them out of birdie bread. I bought it to give him his medications. He eats around where the medication is. He won’t touch that. This bird is smart! Too smart for his own good.

 

[Skarila]

The only medical issues I know of are boronavirus which I’m so confused about because I thought it killed birds, elevated labs (liver issues), broken wing, and he did have an overgrowth of bacteria growing on his skin that is found in feces. Ever seen an Ekkie have a temper tantrum? Mine now has them because he hates dehydrated veggies/fruits. He picks them out of birdie bread. I bought it to give him his medications. He eats around where the medication is. He won’t touch that. This bird is smart! Too smart for his own good.

Wait wait, are you saying the bird is tested positive for bornavirus? Are you sure? While it won't kill your bird immediately, it doesn't mean the bird is not ill. Many birds have absolutely no symptoms but still carry the virus. However, if you got "prescribed" pellets for digestion, I cannot help myself but think the bird developed PDD, for which it is believed bornavirus causes it (shortly put - digestion issues). Birds do die from this, just it's a life long battle and there is no cure.

It caught me eye because if I remember right, you also have a conure, and well, bornavirus is hiiighly contagious...

I really hope I just miunderstood you ...