seeds vs. pellets

[cdog]

So I was thinking, pellets have a bunch of synthetic vitamins and minerals and preservatives. So wouldn't a good mix of seeds, dried fruits and veggies, grains, and fresh fruits and veggies, and nuts be better? They don't have any extra additives and stuff so wouldn't that be healthier?
Opinions, comments, please share.

 

[MikeyTN]

The thing is with seeds is that it makes them fat! Pellets is more of a balanced diet that keeps their weight a bit more staple. I feed a mixture but for my bigger birds they get pellets only along with fruits and veggies. Nuts as treats occasionally. Years ago when my birds were recovering from a virus, they couldn't gain their weight back from eating pellets, fruits, and veggies. Even with all the excess handfeeding I was doing, it helps but they're not gaining any weight back what so ever. Then I started giving them seeds again, that's when they start putting back on some weight. So I've been giving them a mixture ever since. So I don't feel seeds is all that bad like some people portray them to be. BUT an all seed diet would be considered bad because most birds don't get the proper exercise they need within your home. Seeds makes them very fat and causes health issues same like people. When I mix the seeds I do remove most of the sunflower seeds from the mix.

 

[oled]

synthetic vitamins and minerals....hm...

It is possible to compose a good and balanced food for perrot also using seeds, thats ecatly what pelletsmanufactors do. But it is a lot of work and you have to know a lot about how to compose in a right way.

I dont have the time and want to spend a lot of time with Ville and not to make food so I trust the manufactors knowning what they are doing,, hm...

 

[Featheredsamurai]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

 

[Enjru]

Pellets are homogenized (all blended up evenly) so there is NO chance that your parrot can only pick out the sunflower seed component and refuse to eat the kelp component.

Even if you were to provide a completely nutritionally balanced selection of seeds, vegetables, fruits, nuts, clays, minerals, etc, etc, your parrot will most likely pick out only the bits (eg, sunflower seeds) it likes to eat, and fling away the other stuff that it doesn't like.

 

[lexx510]

I just wanted to mention that not ALL pellets contain synthetic vitamins and minerals, preservatives, etc. I think I've mentioned it in another thread, but check out Top Organics Pellets - they are all natural and only cost a fraction of Harrison's.

 

[lexx510]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

Harrison's are not 100% organic and they DO contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. Just check their ingredients - nearly half are supplements or synthetic vitamins.
Harrison's Adult Lifetime:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ingredients: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hull-less Barley, *Ground Hulled Grey Millet, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, *Ground Rice, *Chia Seed, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin E Supplement, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Sea Salt, *Sunflower Oil, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, * Algae Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, *Vegetable Oil.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT[/FONT]

 

[Amber]

I recently moved from a pellet and seed mix (Note, my seed mix is made myself on the guide of my vet and NOT a traditional seed mix) supplemented with fruit and veg and all those goodies. Alex gets a lot of exercise and free flight through my house now that we have our own place, and while not thin, we have had problems in the past with keeping weight on him (a kind of carry on from our weaning issues, he simply does not eat enough), so I dropped the pellets out as per my avian vets advice. I do like pellets, as does my vet, but they are just not providing the energy and fats my bird needs.

Like I have said though, this is on vet advice and my seed mix is more like one of those ‘treat’ mixes with pawpaw and banana and seeds and nuts and all those good things. Alex is also not (usually, he does have his moments) a picky eater so he actually eats all, or almost all of it, and does not just binge on sunflower or the like. You can do a 100% balanced diet with a dry food/seed mix and fruit and veg, but only if you have the time and effort to give, and more importantly if your bird will actually eat it all indiscriminately.



My mothers cockatiels and my jenday previously were on tropican. It’s a pretty good pellet! I would use it again for sure.

 

[Amber]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

Harrison's are not 100% organic and they DO contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. Just check their ingredients - nearly half are supplements or synthetic vitamins.
Harrison's Adult Lifetime:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ingredients: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hull-less Barley, *Ground Hulled Grey Millet, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, *Ground Rice, *Chia Seed, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin E Supplement, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Sea Salt, *Sunflower Oil, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, * Algae Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, *Vegetable Oil.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT[/FONT]

In addition, what I have highlighted in purple is low nutrition filler ingredients to bulk out the mix. The pink (peanuts) also raises concerns. Are they sterile? Otherwise, they may carry fungal spores that can affect our birds unless the feed is sterilised somehow. Peanuts are vectors of lots of lung infecting spores. To be honest I wouldn't be too concerned about the red vit and mins (its the equivalent of us taking a daily vitamin) normally, but in face of the recent Kaytees recall (Katees is a pretty bad food brand IMHO anyway, I've said that before and I'll say it again. Full of sugar and fillers. Treats from them are ok, but their pellets are nothing good.) you can see how easy it is for vit and min dosages to be messed up and become a problem. With natural ingredients contaminated V&M or overdoses are hard to achieve.

Feed your flock looks more then acceptable, but I would insist on seeing a nutritional analysis (Ie, % protein, fat, vits, etc) before feeding it as a complete food in order to ensure it meets their nutritional needs.

Thats another reason I like Tropican, while not 100% natural, it's one of the few feeds with actual testing behind it as to how effective it is. Our birds nutritional needs are still not 100% fully understood, so get all the research on your feed and its effectiveness you can. Most companies (Kaytees, looking at you again) very rarely test, and even rarer still try to improve their feed to make it more effective.

A side note, ingredients are listed from highest to lowest concentration. So if your first ingredient is say, ground corn, the bulk of your feed is likely to be filler corn.

The other problem with pellets is you have no idea if the ingredients used in making them are fit for consumption. One would like to think the companies would care, but the reality is low quality 'non human grade' grains etc are what is bought and ground up into many of these things because it is cheaper. You can't see it, so you never know. Could be mouldy old seeds in there for all you know!

It pays to research. If your going to feed a processed feed (and hey, most are a good thing!) just be aware.

 

[Joeyx]

if you have a good seed mix that your bird(s) eat up, then that's good. i'd actually like that
but i just can't seem to get any bird to eat everything from a seed mix. it's almost always
just sunflower seeds, so i'll just stick to pellets.

 

[lexx510]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

Harrison's are not 100% organic and they DO contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. Just check their ingredients - nearly half are supplements or synthetic vitamins.
Harrison's Adult Lifetime:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ingredients: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hull-less Barley, *Ground Hulled Grey Millet, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, *Ground Rice, *Chia Seed, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin E Supplement, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Sea Salt, *Sunflower Oil, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, * Algae Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, *Vegetable Oil.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT[/FONT]

In addition, what I have highlighted in purple is low nutrition filler ingredients to bulk out the mix. The pink (peanuts) also raises concerns. Are they sterile? Otherwise, they may carry fungal spores that can affect our birds unless the feed is sterilised somehow. Peanuts are vectors of lots of lung infecting spores. To be honest I wouldn't be too concerned about the red vit and mins (its the equivalent of us taking a daily vitamin) normally, but in face of the recent Kaytees recall (Katees is a pretty bad food brand IMHO anyway, I've said that before and I'll say it again. Full of sugar and fillers. Treats from them are ok, but their pellets are nothing good.) you can see how easy it is for vit and min dosages to be messed up and become a problem. With natural ingredients contaminated V&M or overdoses are hard to achieve.

Feed your flock looks more then acceptable, but I would insist on seeing a nutritional analysis (Ie, % protein, fat, vits, etc) before feeding it as a complete food in order to ensure it meets their nutritional needs.

Thats another reason I like Tropican, while not 100% natural, it's one of the few feeds with actual testing behind it as to how effective it is. Our birds nutritional needs are still not 100% fully understood, so get all the research on your feed and its effectiveness you can. Most companies (Kaytees, looking at you again) very rarely test, and even rarer still try to improve their feed to make it more effective.

A side note, ingredients are listed from highest to lowest concentration. So if your first ingredient is say, ground corn, the bulk of your feed is likely to be filler corn.

The other problem with pellets is you have no idea if the ingredients used in making them are fit for consumption. One would like to think the companies would care, but the reality is low quality 'non human grade' grains etc are what is bought and ground up into many of these things because it is cheaper. You can't see it, so you never know. Could be mouldy old seeds in there for all you know!

It pays to research. If your going to feed a processed feed (and hey, most are a good thing!) just be aware.

Very well said, Amber! As always

 

[Featheredsamurai]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

Harrison's are not 100% organic and they DO contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. Just check their ingredients - nearly half are supplements or synthetic vitamins.
Harrison's Adult Lifetime:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ingredients: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hull-less Barley, *Ground Hulled Grey Millet, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, *Ground Rice, *Chia Seed, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin E Supplement, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Sea Salt, *Sunflower Oil, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, * Algae Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, *Vegetable Oil.
*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT[/FONT]

In addition, what I have highlighted in purple is low nutrition filler ingredients to bulk out the mix. The pink (peanuts) also raises concerns. Are they sterile? Otherwise, they may carry fungal spores that can affect our birds unless the feed is sterilised somehow. Peanuts are vectors of lots of lung infecting spores. To be honest I wouldn't be too concerned about the red vit and mins (its the equivalent of us taking a daily vitamin) normally, but in face of the recent Kaytees recall (Katees is a pretty bad food brand IMHO anyway, I've said that before and I'll say it again. Full of sugar and fillers. Treats from them are ok, but their pellets are nothing good.) you can see how easy it is for vit and min dosages to be messed up and become a problem. With natural ingredients contaminated V&M or overdoses are hard to achieve.

Feed your flock looks more then acceptable, but I would insist on seeing a nutritional analysis (Ie, % protein, fat, vits, etc) before feeding it as a complete food in order to ensure it meets their nutritional needs.

Thats another reason I like Tropican, while not 100% natural, it's one of the few feeds with actual testing behind it as to how effective it is. Our birds nutritional needs are still not 100% fully understood, so get all the research on your feed and its effectiveness you can. Most companies (Kaytees, looking at you again) very rarely test, and even rarer still try to improve their feed to make it more effective.

A side note, ingredients are listed from highest to lowest concentration. So if your first ingredient is say, ground corn, the bulk of your feed is likely to be filler corn.

The other problem with pellets is you have no idea if the ingredients used in making them are fit for consumption. One would like to think the companies would care, but the reality is low quality 'non human grade' grains etc are what is bought and ground up into many of these things because it is cheaper. You can't see it, so you never know. Could be mouldy old seeds in there for all you know!

It pays to research. If your going to feed a processed feed (and hey, most are a good thing!) just be aware.

That was bad of me, I checked feed your flock and assumed Harrison's would be the same.

In response to the blue highlight.
No pellet is a complete diet, the good brands will tell you that on the package. The pellets should be supplemented with healthy vegetables, fruits, and some grains.

 

[cdog]

I have been trying to get my breeding pair on pellets but they just wont eat them. Does anybody have advice on how to get them on pellets? Right now I have a mix I created it is lafeber pellets, zupreem natural, and kaytee rainbow. I have three bowls of the mix in their cage, one bowl of seed mix, and one big bowl for fresh fruits and veggies. I have tried mixing the pellets into their seeds but they still just eat around them, plus the seed mix they have has pellets in it already but they wont eat those either. The only reason I tried kaytee rainbow is because the egg food mix I give them when they are breeding has yellow pellets in them that Sully eats, but those are the only pellets he eats.
Advice please.

 

[oled]

I just wanted to mention that not ALL pellets contain synthetic vitamins and minerals, preservatives, etc. I think I've mentioned it in another thread, but check out Top Organics Pellets - they are all natural and only cost a fraction of Harrison's.

what is synthetic minerals?

 

[oled]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

Harrison's are not 100% organic and they DO contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. Just check their ingredients - nearly half are supplements or synthetic vitamins.
Harrison's Adult Lifetime:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ingredients: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hull-less Barley, *Ground Hulled Grey Millet, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, *Ground Rice, *Chia Seed, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin E Supplement, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Sea Salt, *Sunflower Oil, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, * Algae Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, *Vegetable Oil. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT[/FONT]

Supplement dont meen synthetic, it meens extra added. You can extract vitamine from fruit etc but it dont men that it is synthetic. Synthetic meens that you make something out of something else

 

[Amber]

Thanks Lexx, been a while since I've been on here (and on my usual pellet rant!)

Copper, some pellets are. Their are others I have come across claiming to be 'complete feeds' but with no testing behind them I won't go into that here as it is unverifiable. However Tropican (Hagens) is in fact designed to be use as either a complete feed, or a supplement feed. In addition if you jump onto the tropican site you can see the result of (ethical!) years of testing on over 200 birds including using it successfully as a complete feed with breeding and non breeding birds, ie, their claims actually have basis and the food is known to work in action and is advertised as being able to be used as a complete feed with fruit and treats only given in small amounts to prevent 'food boredom'. NOT my ideal choice of feed procedure (ethically, because who wants to eat the same thing day in day out?) but nutritionally it is actually sound. (Sorry to keep using them as the example, but since I have fed their food, I am familiar with them and their product so it is an easy reference ) Dr Harvey's I believe also has similar testing protocol in place and their feed is actually tested and its benefits measurable. I also like Harvey's because if a forum member here who rang them for info and got handed over to Harvey himself for answers. They really stand behind their food.

 

[lexx510]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

Harrison's are not 100% organic and they DO contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. Just check their ingredients - nearly half are supplements or synthetic vitamins.
Harrison's Adult Lifetime:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ingredients: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hull-less Barley, *Ground Hulled Grey Millet, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, *Ground Rice, *Chia Seed, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin E Supplement, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Sea Salt, *Sunflower Oil, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, * Algae Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, *Vegetable Oil. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT[/FONT]

Supplement dont meen synthetic, it meens extra added. You can extract vitamine from fruit etc but it dont men that it is synthetic. Synthetic meens that you make something out of something else

Yes, you can extract vitamins from fruits but it is rather expensive. Most "added" vitamins are synthetic or extracted from poor sources. The problem is that it is difficult for our bodies to absorb/break down these forms of vitamins.

Here's one article which sums up my point quite nicely.

Many people take vitamins to fill the gap when they know they're not really eating right and may not be getting all the nutrients their bodies need from their diets. Unfortunately, the majority of vitamin supplements and multivitamins available for purchase in markets and pharmacies are synthetic, not natural. Your body may not be able to use them, and they often contain substances you might not be aware of.
Purpose of Synthesizing
Manufacturers find it prohibitively expensive to produce natural vitamins. Creating a natural vitamin involves growing and cultivating them. Without additives, they might have a much shorter shelf life and might not sell before their expiration date. Synthetic vitamins are manufactured substances that are similar to natural vitamins, derived from chemicals, notably petroleum, or segments of natural vitamins.

What Synthetic Vitamins Are Made Of
Synthetic vitamin C is usually just ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is a component of vitamin C, along with tyrosine and bioflavonoids. If you purchase synthetic vitamin C, you're not really getting vitamin C, but ascorbic acid, which is manufactured from corn sugar when used in vitamins. Similarly, manufacturers create synthetic B vitamins from coal tar, or petroleum. Alpha tocopherol is usually marketed as vitamin E, but it makes up only one part of natural vitamin E. Folic acid is similar to folate, but it's not the real deal. Your body can't always process mere portions of natural vitamins or chemical "clones" because it relies on all the properties contained in natural vitamins to completely metabolize them.
Mineral Content
Because minerals don't come from live plant sources, those contained in synthetic multivitamins don't undergo the same manufacturing process as the vitamin components do. However, isolated synthetic vitamins not purchased in multivitamin form, such as one marketed as vitamin A, may contain no trace minerals at all. If they don't, your body must draw upon its own mineral stores in order to process them. Whole foods offer both vitamins and minerals, so this doesn't happen. Synthetic multivitamins sometimes also contain trace minerals in quantities over and above what your body needs, and your body does not require great quantities. Unless you're suffering a deficiency in one of them, they might do you more harm than good.


Read more: What Are Synthetic Vitamins & Minerals? | LIVESTRONG.COM

Read more: What Are Synthetic Vitamins & Minerals? | LIVESTRONG.COM

Here's another great insert about minerals:

Most supplements also contain minerals which as you saw above are required for optimal health. It is fairly easy to understand that the body has to have these minerals in a form that it can use. We know that iron is needed, but putting a chunk of the metal in you mouth is not very pleasant and it doesn't really help much.

Minerals are found in three states:

Metallic (Inorganic) This is basically ground up rock. Not water soluble and the body only absorbs about 8%.

Chelated – this is complicated – basically the minerals are “firmly attached” or coated by an amino acid. When seen on supplements, this is a industrialized chemical process which is usually not effective. The idea is to make the mineral water soluble thereby it is able to be adsorbed easier. The increase of effectiveness is generally not considered to be very good except by manufacturers of supplements.

Hydrophilic – These are minerals which have entered a living plant thru the root system. These are water soluble and are about 200 to 2000 times smaller, allowing the body to absorb almost 100%.

It is easy to see that again live whole food based nutrition is most efficient and effective.

Live Whole Foods or Isolated Synthetic Multi Vitamins

Please don't just take my word for it. I encourage you to do the research and decide for yourself. Google scholar has several research articles available for viewing with studies pertaining to the matter.

 

[Amber]

Harrison's are not 100% organic and they DO contain synthetic vitamins and minerals. Just check their ingredients - nearly half are supplements or synthetic vitamins.
Harrison's Adult Lifetime:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ingredients: [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Ground Yellow Corn, *Ground Hull-less Barley, *Ground Hulled Grey Millet, *Ground Soybeans, *Ground Shelled Peanuts, *Ground Shelled Sunflower Seeds, *Ground Lentils, *Ground Green Peas, *Ground Toasted Oat Groats, *Ground Alfalfa, *Ground Rice, *Chia Seed, Calcium Carbonate, Montmorillonite Clay, Vitamin E Supplement, Ground Dried Sea Kelp, Sea Salt, *Sunflower Oil, Natural Mixed Tocopherols, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract, * Algae Meal, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, D-Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Zinc Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Carbonate, *Vegetable Oil. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*CERTIFIED ORGANIC INGREDIENT[/FONT]

Supplement dont meen synthetic, it meens extra added. You can extract vitamine from fruit etc but it dont men that it is synthetic. Synthetic meens that you make something out of something else

Yes, you can extract vitamins from fruits but it is rather expensive. Most "added" vitamins are synthetic or extracted from poor sources. The problem is that it is difficult for our bodies to absorb/break down these forms of vitamins.

Here's one article which sums up my point quite nicely.

Many people take vitamins to fill the gap when they know they're not really eating right and may not be getting all the nutrients their bodies need from their diets. Unfortunately, the majority of vitamin supplements and multivitamins available for purchase in markets and pharmacies are synthetic, not natural. Your body may not be able to use them, and they often contain substances you might not be aware of.
Purpose of Synthesizing
Manufacturers find it prohibitively expensive to produce natural vitamins. Creating a natural vitamin involves growing and cultivating them. Without additives, they might have a much shorter shelf life and might not sell before their expiration date. Synthetic vitamins are manufactured substances that are similar to natural vitamins, derived from chemicals, notably petroleum, or segments of natural vitamins.

What Synthetic Vitamins Are Made Of
Synthetic vitamin C is usually just ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is a component of vitamin C, along with tyrosine and bioflavonoids. If you purchase synthetic vitamin C, you're not really getting vitamin C, but ascorbic acid, which is manufactured from corn sugar when used in vitamins. Similarly, manufacturers create synthetic B vitamins from coal tar, or petroleum. Alpha tocopherol is usually marketed as vitamin E, but it makes up only one part of natural vitamin E. Folic acid is similar to folate, but it's not the real deal. Your body can't always process mere portions of natural vitamins or chemical "clones" because it relies on all the properties contained in natural vitamins to completely metabolize them.
Mineral Content
Because minerals don't come from live plant sources, those contained in synthetic multivitamins don't undergo the same manufacturing process as the vitamin components do. However, isolated synthetic vitamins not purchased in multivitamin form, such as one marketed as vitamin A, may contain no trace minerals at all. If they don't, your body must draw upon its own mineral stores in order to process them. Whole foods offer both vitamins and minerals, so this doesn't happen. Synthetic multivitamins sometimes also contain trace minerals in quantities over and above what your body needs, and your body does not require great quantities. Unless you're suffering a deficiency in one of them, they might do you more harm than good.


Read more: What Are Synthetic Vitamins & Minerals? | LIVESTRONG.COM

Read more: What Are Synthetic Vitamins & Minerals? | LIVESTRONG.COM

Here's another great insert about minerals:

Most supplements also contain minerals which as you saw above are required for optimal health. It is fairly easy to understand that the body has to have these minerals in a form that it can use. We know that iron is needed, but putting a chunk of the metal in you mouth is not very pleasant and it doesn't really help much.

Minerals are found in three states:

Metallic (Inorganic) This is basically ground up rock. Not water soluble and the body only absorbs about 8%.

Chelated – this is complicated – basically the minerals are “firmly attached” or coated by an amino acid. When seen on supplements, this is a industrialized chemical process which is usually not effective. The idea is to make the mineral water soluble thereby it is able to be adsorbed easier. The increase of effectiveness is generally not considered to be very good except by manufacturers of supplements.

Hydrophilic – These are minerals which have entered a living plant thru the root system. These are water soluble and are about 200 to 2000 times smaller, allowing the body to absorb almost 100%.

It is easy to see that again live whole food based nutrition is most efficient and effective.

Live Whole Foods or Isolated Synthetic Multi Vitamins

Please don't just take my word for it. I encourage you to do the research and decide for yourself. Google scholar has several research articles available for viewing with studies pertaining to the matter.

This is another good point. Many of those supplements are just "Vitamin X supplement" with no say if they are chelated or water soluble or just a hunk of the substance itself in an unusable form.

I've also mentioned before (As has Lex multiple times, and here again, explaining it better then I can ) but I will add an example about being careful with these non ingredient listed suppliments. One ingredient commonly used and listed only as "vitamin X supplement" or similar (cant remember the actual vitamin it is off the top of my head, will check that for you guys though) supplement is tartaric acid because it is cheap (mass byproduct of the wine industry). It is also, despite being "Generally recognised as safe" by the FDA it is a highly toxic substance to birds (And people! As little at 12g of tataric acid has causes human fatalities with death ranging from 12 hours to 5 days from ingestion) and toxicological manauals list it as 'highly toxic'. Not something you want your birds eating, and on a daily basis at that!

Another more recent example? The Kaytees vitamin scare.

Most of these things are good things, but you need to research each individual ingredient and make sure the feed checks out. Not everything will be 100% fab, but you need to ensure the feed is toxin free at the very least and especially that all the synthetics check out.

 

[oled]

As I see it we really dont know what pellet manufactors are adding to the pellets good or bad stuf, so for me it is about trust that they know what they are doing. For me seeds is not a option so I stick to Harrison and hope it is good. Of cause he get fruits and veg also

 

[MikeyTN]

The colored pellets aren't good, but natural colored pellets(not Zupreem) are fantastic. The only problem is they often have fillers in them.

Organic pellets like Harrison's and Feed Your Flock are amazing, they improve a birds health so much. They aren't synthetic and don't have added minerals or vitamins or fillers, it's all naturally there.

Here's the ingredients of Feed Your Flock.
Rice, hulled millet, barley, alfalfa leaf, sunflower seed hulled, sesame seeds unhulled, quinoa whole, buckwheat hulled, dandelion leaf powder, carrot powder, spinach leaf powder, purple dulse, kelp, rose hips powder, rose hips crushed, orange peel powder, lemon peel powder, rosemary whole leaf, cayenne ground, crushed red chili peppers, nettle leaf.

The coloring already been discussed in another thread that it was posted not harmful to birds! Feeding between zupreem and harrisons is a individual choice that many would disagree on.