The Specialists
in Bird Nutrition |
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Q: |
Can Tom give a lecture in my
area? |
| A: |
Tom has given lectures to college
students, bird clubs, veterinarians, and other
organized events. Currently he does not charge a
lecture fee but does request that the
organization provides for travel and lodging. To
get more information or to see if he is
available to speak for your event, contact the
office at (800) 326-1726. |
| |
| Q: |
Do birds need grit in their
diets when they are fed Roudybush
products? |
| A: |
No, birds do not need grit in
their diets when they are fed Roudybush
products. |
| |
| Q: |
Do birds need cuttlebone when
being fed Roudybush products? |
| A: |
We do not recommend offering
cuttlebone to birds that are being fed Roudybush
pellets. Our diets are formulated with mineral
and vitamin requirements in mind. Birds offered
cuttlebone in addition to Roudybush pellets may
actually reach toxic levels of certain nutrients
such as calcium. If you are worried about the
growth of your bird’s beak or nails, there are
many toys, perches, and branches available in
the market that not only help keep your bird
stimulated, but also help keep the beak and
toenails to an appropriate length. |
| |
| Q: |
Can I feed more than just
Roudybush? (seeds, fruits, veggies, nuts,
etc) |
| A: |
Birds eat to meet their energy
requirements. It is safe to offer fresh fruits
and vegetables as treats because they are low in
energy, so your bird will continue to eat the
pellets. Foods such as seeds and nuts are much
higher in energy and can lower the bird’s
consumption of pellets. Therefore, if you wish
to provide treats to bond with your bird or as
an environmental enrichment, it is better to
offer foods like fresh fruit and vegetables and
limit the amount of seeds and nuts. |
| |
| Q: |
What is the difference between
pelleted and extruded diets? |
| A: |
The main difference is the
process. Pelleting is gentler and cooler and
requires less energy. |
| |
| Q: |
What is the most effective
conversion method? |
| A: |
This is a difficult question to
answer. Birds are highly individualistic. What
may work for one bird might not work for
another. Sometimes it is best to try a method
that you feel most comfortable with. If that
doesn’t work, you can put your bird back on its
old diet for a week, and then try again or try a
different method. It is even possible to try two
methods at once. People have been successful
using a combination of the instinctual and
gradual methods by placing a bowl of Roudybush
high in the cage, and placing a bowl of
Roudybush and the familiar diet mixed together
in a lower bowl. See the conversion page on this
website for more information. |
| |
| Q: |
When should I stop hand
feeding and switch to pellets? |
| A: |
You should not stop hand feeding
and switch to pellets. You should offer pellets
long before your chick is ready to wean and
allow the chick to become familiar with pellets
and begin to eat them. Chicks will eat pellets
long before they are ready to wean, but not
enough to meet their needs. Eventually you will
be able to reduce hand feeding and observe
whether your bird maintains its body weight. If
the bird looses weight, it is not ready to give
up the hand feeding. If it maintains its weight,
you can stop hand feeding. If your bird looses
weight when you stop hand feeding, resume hand
feeding for a few days or a week and try again.
Normal birds will eventually maintain their body
weights without hand feeding. If your bird does
not wean in a reasonable amount of time see an
avian veterinarian. |
| |
| Q: |
How Does Nutrition affect Iron
Storage Disease? |
| A: |
There is some controversy about
this. Tom Roudybush believes that the main
factor in iron storage disease is stress, which
causes the absorption of excess iron. There may
be sensitive species that have low tolerance for
iron in the diet and need a low iron diet to
avoid this disease, but most birds that are not
under unusual stress do not acquire iron storage
disease even though they are fed iron levels
several times higher then their
requirement. |
| |
| Q: |
Is it dangerous for my dog to
eat the food that falls from the
cage? |
| A: |
Roudybush diets are not
inherently dangerous for dogs, but there are
some considerations you may want to review.
First, where did the feed fall? If it fell in
something dangerous, you may want to keep your
dog out of there. Second, Roudybush diets are
not formulated for dogs, which have specific
nutrient requirements that differ from birds.
Too much Roudybush in the diet of your dog may
upset the balance of nutrients your dog would
get from a properly formulated dog food. So, a
little Roudybush for dogs is Ok, but as the main
source of nutrition, it is probably a bad
idea. |
| |
| Q: |
Can ducks or chickens eat
Roudybush? |
| A: |
There is no real problem here
except for sustained egg production in some
breeds of chickens or ducks that have been bred
for production of large numbers of eggs without
a break. For these birds, additional calcium may
be needed. Keep in mind that the same principles
apply to these birds as apply to psittacines.
Feed maintenance diets to adult birds that are
not associated with chicks and that are not
laying many eggs (perhaps a dozen a year). Feed
breeder diets to birds that are growing or are
laying intermediate numbers of eggs (a clutch to
three clutches of eggs a year). Feed breeder
diets plus a calcium supplement to birds that
are laying a large number of eggs a
year. |
| |
| Q: |
Do you use Ethoxyquin in your
diets? |
| A: |
We have replaced ethoxyquin with
an all natural preservative in our Low-fat
Maintenance, Maintenance, Breeder and
High-energy Breeder pellets. The new
preservative is a combination of d-tocopherol (a
close relative of vitamin E), rosemary, and
citric acid. Alpha tocopherol has antioxidant
properties, but it is also biologically active
and larger concentrations needed as a
preservative may not be safe for birds. The
advantage of d-tocopherol is that it has
antioxidant properties but it has very little
biological activity, so risk of toxicity is
eliminated. Rosemary has natural antioxidant
properties. Citric acid binds to certain
minerals responsible for starting oxidation
reactions, preventing those reactions from
occuring. Roudybush is committed to providing
your birds with the best possible food. Any
changes we make to our formulations are
thoroughly researched and only made when the
data shows us there is a clear advantage.
|
| |
| Q: |
Is Ethoxyquin bad for my
bird? |
| A: |
There are many misconceptions and
fear about this preservative. Preservatives are
necessary to prolong the life of the fat-soluble
vitamins, A, D, E and K and prevent the
rancidity of fat in feed, keeping the feed
nutritious for your bird. Without an antioxidant
feed can become rancid or deficient in about
three months at room temperature and ethoxyquin
is one of the safest and most effective
antioxidants available. There are many rumors
and fears that ethoxyquin is toxic, poisonous,
causes liver disease, or causes tumors. Please
be aware of what resources you are gathering
this information from. No scientific studies of
any kind have been able to show ethoxyquin
causing any of these problems, and so far they
indicate that ethoxyquin is safe. |
| |
| Q: |
Roudybush food does not look
interesting or fun; won’t my bird get
bored |
| A: |
Pet birds are especially
intelligent animals and it is true that they
need environmental enrichment. However, the food
you are providing your bird is meant for
nutrition and we specifically do not add
“interesting” things such as colors, because
they can create other challenges for your bird.
Further if the food is the only interesting
thing in your bird’s cage it is most likely
“bored” anyway. The best advice we can offer is
to provide your bird with many different types
of toys and switch them out frequently. You can
even offer Roudybush pellets inside a puzzle toy
if you want to simulate your bird’s natural
forging behaviors. |
| |
| Q: |
My bird tends to grind up its
food. What should I do with fines it leaves in
its bowl? |
| A: |
Try sprinkling the fines over
your birds next serving of fresh fruit, or try
sprinkling them into some fruit juice or
applesauce for your bird. You can also use the
fines to bake birdie bread. Just mix up regular
corn bread from the box (which ever brand you
prefer) and add the fines or even whole pellets
of Roudybush, bake and serve. Your bird will
love it. You can also mix the fines with apple
juice and a little water, then press into cakes,
and bake until golden to make a birdie cookie.
|
| |
| Q: |
Repackaging: A Bad
Idea? |
| A: |
If you search the Internet you
will upon occasion see among the legitimate
sellers of Roudybush products a few companies
that buy our products in large packages and
repackage them into small packages. The main
advantage to the consumer is that these packages
may be a little cheaper than small packages
filled by Roudybush. There are reasons why they
might be cheaper and I would like to review some
of these reasons here. Repackagers frequently
have low overhead. Their facilities are commonly
uninspected garages or other buildings connected
to their aviaries or homes allowing food to be
exposed to bird feces or other contaminants.
Another “contaminant” commonly found in
repackaged food is an insect infestation. Labels
from repackagers are often simply pieces of
paper that are stuffed into cheap zip lock
polyethylene bags. Their labels often fail to
include legally required information, such as
their contact information and our “use by” date,
which is our lot number. The polyethylene bags
favored by many repackagers are fragile, pass
air through the plastic easily and often have no
seal except the zip lock, which anyone could
open and close without your knowledge. At
Roudybush we discourage the repackaging of our
products. The seeming advantage of a reduced
price is over shadowed by the risks and losses
in the repackaging process. We encourage you to
seek other ways to get our foods and protect
yourselves and your birds from these risks.
|
| | | | | | | |
|
QUESTIONS.gif){kind=spacer}
