# walmart brand seed mixes good/bad



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

What's everyones opinion on the walmart brand seed mixes I think its kaytee forti~diet and wild harvest? Just seen them today when I picked up treat sticks and cage cleaner


----------



## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

I get the parakeet kind from wild harvest bc the cockatiel mix is crap. But the parakeet is all seed mix and I've been using it for a long time. 

My guys also get pellets, nutriberries, herb salad, and veggies too so I'm happy with the wild harvest. There aren't fillers in the parakeet/canary bag and I like it.


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I try to stay away from walmart pet foods. Most of it seems low quality to me..sunflower seeds looked too icky to me to buy any of the brand.

I order my seed online in bulk..but I'm feeding 4 birds. Petco has a decent Healthy Selects Cockatiel Mix.


----------



## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

Hi Tweety,

I also notice that Walmart has a small pet food section that includes bird food but I don't trust Walmart enough to get food there for my princess Sunny because who knows where they get their imports from to keep costs down!?  But when I saw your post, I finally decided to do some research once and for all for both our sakes and guess what---my suspicions have been confirmed. May I proudly present my findings below: 

*Wild Harvest:*
If you are referring to the Wild Harvest Cockatiel Diet, one customer wrote in a review that "it had way too many sunflower seeds" and gave it a 1 out of 5. Judging from the photo, I absolutely agree---it has, indeed, waaaaay too many sunflower seeds. I don't know if this is the kind that meaggiedear is describing to be "crap"?  If you are referring to the Wild Harvest Super Premium Cockatiel Food Blend, no one has written a review for it yet under the Walmart website(www.walmart.com). However, the description for both types of food are almost exactly the same---_a tantalizing blend of cockatiels' favorite grains, bite-sized fruits, crunchy nuts, wholesome vegetables and delicious seeds and fortified with vitamins and minerals_---with the only difference being that the Wild Harvest Cockatiel Diet is also fortified with amino acids. So I don't really understand the difference between the two. 

However, the real problem I found with this brand is not just too many sunflower seeds, but the fact that *they are one of the companies that buys their pet foods from China so that costs can be kept down*. A few years ago, birds and small animal treats for sending to the US from China were stopped because they tested positive for melamine contamination. *Wild Harvest was one of the companies that had to do a recall---on a fruit and honey treat for cockatiels.* Another company was Ecotrition. (Read all about it here. http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-news/latest-bird-news/bird-treat-recall-08.aspx) Now, would you still consider buying food from Wild Harvest? * I won't touch their stuff with a 10-foot pole!*

*Kaytee:*
I don't know anything about this brand as I never developed a trust for their products although I see it in pet stores quite frequently. I haven't come across any bad reviews for their products (maybe there are if I look some more but I just did a quick search ). However, I did find that Kaytee had to do TWO recalls this year, one in April and one in May. In April they had to recall the Kaytee Baby Bird and Baby Macaw Feeding Formula because of high levels of vitamin D, and in May, the Kaytee Forti-Diet Pro Health for Mouse, Rat and Hamster due to Salmonella. (Read about it here: http://www.petsitusa.com/blog/?p=4995) *Based on their recent track record, again, I would not touch their stuff with a 10-foot pole and I recommend you don't either!* 

So there we go. If you are looking for good brands, I personally recommend Harrison's as that is what Sunny is on.  And for the seed mix, she's on the Hagen's Gourmet Cockatiel Seed Mix. I get her honey sticks and millet from Living World which is a brand I trust. I heard that Zupreem is good too and Sunny was on Zupreem before Harrison's. I also like to get the birdie popcorn from Lafeber's. From experience I think these are reputable brands, and other people on the forum may put in their two cents. 

One last thought I want to pass onto you---a piece of wisdom from Sunny's grandpa, my father, which has served me well over the years: If you want the job done right, ALWAYS go to an expert, not some jack-of-all-trades who claims to "do it on the side", because a jack of all trades is a master of none. In other words, go to a good, reputable pet store for pet food, not a mega shopping centre like Walmart that sells everything from kitchen utensils to electronics. Walmart keeps its costs down by importing from "certain places" so that they can boast the lowest prices for their wares.


----------



## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I buy the Kaytee natural seed from our feed store in bulk for my birds and love it as it is just plain seeds with no additive. The forti-diet has a lot of fillers, so I would go with the parakeet wild harvest seed and you can get sunflower seeds separately and add them yourself if you want.


----------



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

Thanks everyone.. I was gonna buy treat sticks from them but they were yucky bc I didn't wanna drive to next town to pet store bc of storms... I personally feed dr foster and smith seed mix and zupreem pellets and my birds love it I'm feeding 5 cockatiels and 2 keets right now... I don't no how people feel about the foster and smith brand but it seems to be a clean food also I buy 25 lbs at a time and they send it to me in 5 5lb bags so it stays fresh thanks for the info.....


----------



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

I failed to mention that my husband made it very clear to me that it was cheaper and I looked at him and said do u like your steaks..my birds will eat good food or you don't get your steaks he kinda backed off then... he loves his steaks my birds and everyother creature I have eats good so were a big happy family lol


----------



## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

I feed walmart brand seeds to my guys and so far I've had luck with it. Not the healthiest for them, but I'm also on a limited income and I supplement their diet with Zupreem fruit blend diet. The other pet stores sell Hagen brand seeds and I like the fact the walmart brand seed I get also comes with pellets.


----------



## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

one thing to keep in mind, isnt just brands at walmart, but how often they sell and are restocked. a petstore sells faster in general. bird seed at a general store can be sat there for who knows how long and it generally loses any quality it had from sitting for a long time.


my source... my friend who used to stock such stores, says certain brands sat for a LONG time and she never had to restock them in her time there. you can assume some other mixes are the same... Hartz is one that my friend specifically said never sold.


also thing with fillers, is most birds will not eat them. it basically adds weight to the bag to make you buy more more often because you run out of it faster as the bird only eats the seed not the fillers....


----------



## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Sadly the Lafeber products don't sell at my local pet store because people buy the cheap stuff.  I once bought a tub of Nutriberries there only to discover that it was more than a year past expiration and smelled moldy! When I took it back to the store, they tried to fight me on giving me a refund. So stupid and needlessly dangerous. Always a good idea to check dates.


----------



## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

enigma731 said:


> Sadly the Lafeber products don't sell at my local pet store because people buy the cheap stuff.  I once bought a tub of Nutriberries there only to discover that it was more than a year past expiration and smelled moldy! When I took it back to the store, they tried to fight me on giving me a refund. So stupid and needlessly dangerous. Always a good idea to check dates.


Well said! Well said! Someone in my local parrot club lost his entire flock to moldy seed. They kept getting sick and ended up starving themselves to death. 

And what DallyTsuka said about fillers. I don't get the large parrot seed brand at walmart even as treats because it's filled with crapola.


----------



## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

Good point dally. I like that my Walmart keeps a very limited stock of their bird seed bc they don't like to let it sit. The other Walmart in my town does stock pile so I avoid buying from there. 

And yes Annie. That's the "crap" I was referring to. The actual seed mix specified for tiels is absolutely horrendous. It's like 90% sunflower seeds and 5% fillers and 5% seed. So I prefer to mix in the sunflower seeds myself with the budgie mix bc it doesn't have filler crap.


----------



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

*y*

I think I will keep feeding what I'm feeding for now my feed has pellets in it too but I also give them the zupreem pellets in a different dish I got a free sample from roudybush and tried giving them that instead of zupreem and they won't touch it... they get apples twice a week millet once a week and greens and some whole grain rice took a while to get them to eat it but they do now.. there brats


----------



## budgieandtiel (Jul 24, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> That's the "crap" I was referring to. The actual seed mix specified for tiels is absolutely horrendous. It's like 90% sunflower seeds and 5% fillers and 5% seed. So I prefer to mix in the sunflower seeds myself with the budgie mix bc it doesn't have filler crap.


I'm going to just put in that I bought some kaytee seeds and it's more effort than it's worth. I opted for the larger bag, so that we wouldn't have to go out as often to get more, but we've filled 2 ziploc bags with sunflower seeds so far <_<

I think I'll be planting a lot of this lot, and as soon as it runs out, I'll be buying the next batch of food based on what I've read on the forum.


----------



## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

tweety2012 said:


> I failed to mention that my husband made it very clear to me that it was cheaper and I looked at him and said do u like your steaks..my birds will eat good food or you don't get your steaks he kinda backed off then... he loves his steaks my birds and everyother creature I have eats good so were a big happy family lol


You can also throw this at your husband because it is true----If you get cheapo bird food from Walmart to save a few bucks, they will eventually end up getting sick from malnourishment or, worse, contaminated food, which may lead to thousands of dollars in vet bills, not to mention stress and pain for you and suffering for the birds.  So even if your finances are somewhat limited (like most of us in this world, unless you're the type who has your own house on your own island in the Carribean, in which case you should invite us all to come stay with you ), it is better to spend a few extra bucks per month to get quality bird food so that in won't end up having to spend thousands on vet bills later, all because you wanted to save about 20 bucks per year. And tell him if you do end up having to pay vet bills then it is coming out of his steak fund. :lol: That should guarantee his complete support of you getting quality bird food for your babies.


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

vampiric_conure said:


> I feed walmart brand...I like the fact the walmart brand seed I get also comes with pellets.


The pellets in those seed mixes are fillers. They have no nutritional value..so they are wasting your money, and if the birds are eating it then it is also wasting space in their gut for more nutritionally complete foods.


----------



## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

I read that to test the freshness of your seed mix you should try sprouting some of it. If it doesn't sprout, it's old and has little nutritional value. 

And I'm always amazed how hard it is to find "good" seed mixes. Almost all of our local pet stores only carry seeds with lots of fillers. So, I've been buying my seed online.


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

This is what happens to a bird who eats crappy seed:

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=27740
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=29560

I know the first is a long thread..so I will summarize it. Krissi was a 13 year old cockatiel who had been eating a seed mix with fillers in it all her life (looked similar to this-http://theyellowdognetwork.com/test...rdpages/cockatiel/info_large/cc_cockatiel.jpg). When she came to me she was ridiculously thin..so thin that I scared myself into taking all the options that the vet gave me. After paying multiple high vet bills for her we found that there was nothing immediately wrong with her. No metal poisoning, no respiratory disease..nothing. Just malnutrition. She stayed with us for about 3 months before she died of natural causes. Our cockatiels are able to live into their late 20's with good care and nutrition. Krissi lived less than half of her intended life because of a poor diet.

In the end, I had changed her diet to a good seed mix and nutriberries and tried her with pellets and veggies. I provided FSL for her and it worked miracles. The week before she died, she started eating pellets. She never did touch veggies for me. I spent over $700 to try to figure out what was wrong with her and to try to save her. 

Her necropsy revealed an enlarged heart, fatty liver, swollen spleen, and a malformed egg in her oviduct. All of it was likely from poor diet.

And Allie has suffered the same problem, plus overbreeding. Food isn't just food..it is the line between a healthy and a horribly malnourished bird.


----------



## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

sunnysmom said:


> And I'm always amazed how hard it is to find "good" seed mixes. Almost all of our local pet stores only carry seeds with lots of fillers. So, I've been buying my seed online.


Hey sunnysmom, have you tried the Hagen Gourmet Cockatiel Mix? This is the seed mix that Sunny is on and I trust this brand. Gotta make sure all our Sunnies are getting the best diet...


----------



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

Oh believe me after a 500 vet bill for my australian shepherd I believe he understands... I will stick with what I'm feeding until something better come up...I have also thought about mixing my own seed but I'm afraid if I do then the seed will go bad before I feed it all my petmy6 pet chickens sure do enjoy the excess leftover cockatiel and keet seed and the millet sprays lol if I lived in a carribean country u could all come stay with me but I live in backwoods tennessee u don't wanna live here I promise


----------



## green parakeet (Oct 20, 2011)

vampiric_conure said:


> And what DallyTsuka said about fillers. I don't get the large parrot seed brand at walmart even as treats because it's filled with crapola.


So the treats are filled with this? http://crapola.us/1_individual_bags/1_crapola_12oz_bag.html 


(back on topic) Once i walked in a large chain store like walmart looking for fish food. There was cockatiel seed right by the fish food and there were hundreds of beetles in every bag. :wacko:


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

LOL why would anyone name their product that??


----------



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o544/tiel1202/c6270275.jpg 

Does this look like quality seed?


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

No, it has LOTS of fillers. Look for something that looks *plain* like this (with a little less sunflower):

http://www.prattspets.com/feedweb/cockatiel3.jpg


----------



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

off to searching for a new feed i go... I thought so much of this feed until now thanks...I would like to mix my own feed...but its hard to find single seeds here


----------



## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

http://www.petland.ca/bird/bird-food/hagen-gourmet-cockatiel-mix.html

This is the seed mix Sunny is on.


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

That's not a bad seed mix Annie, but how much of the fruit and extra stuff does Sunny actually eat? I like the fact that it has Tropican pellets in it..but the fruit part may be wasting your money. And I wouldn't purchase it from Petland because it's been proven that they sell puppy mill puppies. But that part is up to you.


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

My birds are eating Jones' seed mix, but it has too much sunflower seed so I will start mixing the 2 below together after I run out.

http://www.jones-seed.com/p-27-300-all-natural-cockatiel-blend.aspx
http://www.jones-seed.com/p-112-00001-white-proso-millet.aspx

And I might mix this in too on occassion:
http://www.jones-seed.com/p-105-1004-birds-choice174.aspx

OR I might just change seed mixes all together. I haven't decided yet.


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I just found this, and will probably begin doing this myself. 

http://m.voices.yahoo.com/recipe-junk-free-home-mixed-cockatiel-conure-food-11095794.html


----------



## tweety2012 (Jul 29, 2012)

I was just looking at that website and i think im gonna order one from them at 5llbs at first


----------



## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

It has too much sunflower seed IMO...it is the 2nd ingredient there so it has a lot. I constantly feel the need to pick a lot of the sunflower seeds out of the mix. 

Susanne (srtiels) recommends Higgins cockatiel seed, I tried it once and I think I got the older season's batch because I wasn't extremely impressed:
http://www.foryourbird.com/page/foryourbird/CTGY/higscock


----------



## Annie (Nov 20, 2009)

bjknight93 said:


> That's not a bad seed mix Annie, but how much of the fruit and extra stuff does Sunny actually eat? I like the fact that it has Tropican pellets in it..but the fruit part may be wasting your money. And I wouldn't purchase it from Petland because it's been proven that they sell puppy mill puppies. But that part is up to you.


Oh don't worry, I don't get it from Petland but from pet stores in Toronto (usually the one called PJ's Pet Centre---which, I also heard, also sell puppies from mills...maybe it's time I check out another pet store).

I don't know how much of the fruit from this mix is actually eaten by Sunny, but Sunny doesn't eat a lot of extra stuff because she's so picky! The only veg she eats is broccoli. I tried to give her so many other veggies and fruits. She would not touch them. As treats she gets millet, honey seed sticks, nutriberry popcorn....but I try to make sure that she has already eaten the healthy food first (the Harrison's bird food) before letting her indulge in millet and seeds so that she won't fill up on seeds first and have no room for the "real" food. Is there anything I should do differently?


----------



## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Sometimes feed stores have good bird seed. We used to have a store here that had nice pet-quality bird seed in bulk bins so you could get any quantity you want.

Vendors at local bird marts/fairs sometimes have good seed at low prices. There's a feed store in Phoenix that specializes in high-quality bird seed at a great price, and twice a year they come to Tucson to sell it at the bird mart. I buy a 6-month supply of basic keet mix and other seeds that I know my birds will eat, and make my own mix. I keep most of it in the freezer so it stays fresh. http://www.millerfeed.net/


----------

