Kaytee Fusion Daily Diet for Parrots Review

My first and (truth be told) favorite parrot is a 5 year old Eclectus hen who I adopted a couple of years ago from the local avian rescue.  I had no idea about proper parrot care back then and thought that I would only have to give her a bowl of seed to eat each day.  Boy was I wrong on that one!  Almost three years later, I cook more for the birds than I do for the humans in the house and I am very picky about what I give to them.  I bought a bag of Kaytee Fusion Daily Diet for Parrots a couple of months ago when I needed something to give my ekkie in a pinch.  It got the job done but it isn't something that I would suggest as the basis of any Eclectus diet.

Kaytee Fusion contains lots of corn, seeds (sunflower, safflower, pumpkin), dried fruits (papaya, raisins, bananas, peppers), nuts (peanuts, almonds, filberts, pistachios), dried egg, split peas, corn flakes, and a bunch of vitamin/mineral supplements in the form of colored and uncolored pellets that look like Cheerios.  The bag suggests feeding 1/2 cup to "parrots" (Amazon, Eclectus, African Grey, and Pionus) while offering 1 full cup to cockatoos and macaws.  I find it somewhat disturbing that there is no mention of also incorporating fresh vegetables, fruits, and other foods into a parrot's diet.  They are designed to survive on fresh foods and nuts! No one is giving them pellets, pumpkin seeds, or corn flakes in the rainforest. 

I used this food with my Eclectus parrot and she eagerly dove into the bowl because it was loaded up with sunflower seeds.  She picked out every single one and then moved on to the pumpkin seeds.  Once she had picked out all of the seeds from this mix, she ignored her dry food bowl until I dumped it out and refilled it with fresh Fusion i.e. sunflower and pumpkin seeds.  She then repeated the whole process.  I never saw her with the nuts but I'm sure she picked out the almonds too since she's a big fan of them. 

My big issue with this food is the fact that it contains so many artificial colors and fortified pellets.  Ekkies are notorious for having sensitivities to colors and supplements yet Kaytee suggests that Fusion Daily Diet for Parrots is a great and complete diet for them.  Heck, they even put a picture of an Eclectus hen on the front of the bag.  I have used this product off and on over the past couple of months when I was out of my bird's usual food.  Because she only picks out the seeds, she hasn't had any problems with the artificial ingredients.  I would caution any ekkie owner against using this product regularly and especially as a base diet without lots of fresh foods.

I paid about $12 at PetSmart for a 4 pound bag of Kaytee Fusion Daily Diet for Parrots.  I thought the price was very reasonable.  I wouldn't ever use it regularly since it has inappropriate ingredients for one of my parrots but it does work in a pinch.  My girl gets lots of fresh greens, vegetables, fruits, rice, beans, and hardboiled egg in her daily diet.  She only picks out the seeds from this product since she has little need for anything else it contains.