Which food to choose

High Potency Diets

High Potency diets provide the correct balance of essential vitamins and minerals and have a slightly higher calorific value, making them more suitable for birds which:

• are converting from a seed based diet
• have higher metabolic rates and benefit from higher energy diets, e.g. African Grey, large macaws, or palm/moluccan cockatoos
• are still young and developing
• are moulting or have poor feathers
• are recovering from illness
• you wish to bring into breeding condition or are feeding young

The range also includes High Potency Pepper Fine, which can be fed as a main diet to birds on a High Potency diet.

Adult Lifetime Diets

Adult Lifetime diets provide the correct balance of essential vitamins and minerals and have a slightly lower calorific value, making them more suitable for birds which:

• have been eating High Potency for 6 months since conversion as this is a more appropriate long-term diet (excluding species benefitting from High Potency - see above)
• may be diabetic
• need help preventing chronic egg laying (typically cockatiels), or which are showing signs of undesired breeding behaviour
• have problems controlling their weight (e.g. Amazons, galahs).

The range also includes Pepper Lifetime Coarse, which can be fed as a main diet to birds on an Adult Lifetime diet.

Size of piece

You should feed whichever size of piece you think your bird will prefer, however most birds of the same size will eat in the same way, so in most instances the following information will be helpful...

Coarse

• Larger pieces that bigger parrots can pick up and eat from their feet.
•  e.g. Cockatoos, African Greys, Macaws, Amazons, Eclectus, Pionus... 

Fine

• Smaller pieces for smaller parrots who pick them up in their beak directly from the bowl.
• e.g. Senegals, Quakers, Parakeets, Cockatiels, Conures, Lories...
  

Superfine

• The smallest pieces, for small birds which peck directly from the bowl.
  
• e.g. Canaries, Budgies,  Finches, Doves...
  

Mash

• A ‘coarse’ powder. Suitable for all birds, it can be moistened, or sprinkled onto fruit or vegetables, or served dry to birds which peck directly from the bowl.

Other flavours and treats

Power Treats: A tasty, toasted treat with a sweeter, nuttier flavour, which acts as a good conversion tool, or can be served as a healthy treat. It contains sustainable organic Palm Fruit Oil which benefits the skin, feathers and immune system.

Pepper Lifetime Coarse: The Adult Lifetime Formula with added chilli peppers. Some birds love the spicy flavour and it can be served as a main diet to those birds on an Adult Lifetime diet, as a healthy treat to all birds, or as a conversion food for those switching to Harrison’s.

High Potency Pepper Fine: The High Potency Formula with added chilli peppers, in a size of piece most suited for smaller birds. It can be served to any birds which like the spicy flavour - as the main diet for those on a High Potency diet, as a healthy treat for all birds, or a conversion food for those switching to Harrison’s. 

Bird Bread: A mix based on Harrison’s Bird Foods which you can use to bake your birds ‘a cake’/’bread’. Available in two flavours, it is ideal as a conversion food, a healthy treat, for birds that enjoy human food, or as a way of introducing fruit and vegetables to your bird’s diet as these can be baked into the bread.

Hand feeding

Hand-rearing

This chart is a guideline of which of the Harrison's hand feeding foods would be best for you to use. More information on hand-rearing can be found on the Hand feeding page.

Foods to aid recovery and digestion

Recovery Formula is an ideal formula to use when hand-feeding in the following situations:

• For debilitated or injured birds. The high protein content aids the recovery in ‘critical care’ situations.
• A hand rearing food for small insectivorous birds with apparent inability to digest cornstarch.
  
• For medical and surgical patients recovering from pansystemic failure and as a dietary transition for recovering patients.
• In instances of anorexia with slowed gastrointestinal emptying time.

Fauna Flora is a blend of enzymes designed to aid digestion. It promotes food breakdown and nutrient absorption whilst acting as a probiotic.

It may be beneficial for:

• Sluggish digestion
• Intestinal bacterial and yeast overgrowth
• Avian Diabetes
• Sour Crop
• Improper nutrition
• Geriatric animals
• Adjunct to post-operative/convalescent digestion