Harrison’s Bird Foods – Why Feed Harrisons?

Harrison’s Bird Foods is a family of certified organic, formulated diets that were created by avian veterinarians and top avian nutritionists with the health of your bird in mind.

Dr. Greg Harrison, the main developer of Harrison’s Bird Foods, is a certified avian specialist with over 35 years experience in bird care. He transformed his all-bird practice into an avian wellness clinic incorporating preventive medicine through proper nutrition using Harrison’s Bird Foods. Your bird deserves the same great nutrition.

Harrison’s is manufactured in the USA and sold throughout the world. We, at HBF-UK are based in the UK and distribute Harrison’s Bird Foods both within the UK and to most countries in Europe.

Whether you have a cockatoo or a cockatiel then Harrison’s has a food for you.

Nutritionally complete and balanced

Provides all the nutrients your bird needs and eliminates selective feeding.

Certified organic

Certified to contain no artificial ingredients which may harm your birds

Recommended by leading avian vets

Why Harrison's?

Combat avian disease by fighting malnutrition

Over 80% of avian disease is thought to be linked to malnutrition. Many diets contain food items of the wrong type, resulting in a lack of essential nutrients or, equally importantly, an excess of potentially harmful ones. Even offering a mix of foods can be flawed as many birds have the habit of buffet feeding, and will pick certain items from the bowl and not get the full range of foods necessary to get a nutritional balance.

This nutritional imbalance may cause minor ailments, but can also bring about fatal diseases. Birds fed on an inadequate diet may survive, but they certainly will not thrive.

There are a number of formulated diets on the market, so why choose Harrison’s? What makes Harrison’s Foods stand out from the others?

By drawing on the combined expertise of veterinarians, nutritionists and aviculturists, Harrison’s have produced a premium range of scientifically formulated diets that provide pet birds with the levels of macro- and micro-nutrients they require for good health. Manufactured using a low-temperature extrusion process, the food’s natural qualities are preserved and digestibility is improved.

Harrison’s Bird Foods are made with premium-quality, human-grade cereals and are certified* organic. By using organically sourced ingredients, Harrison’s have eliminated the risk of pet parrots ingesting exogenous toxins often associated with the growing, storage and manufacturing processes. As they are organic, potentially harmful herbicides, pesticides, preservatives and synthetic colourings are eliminated from the Harrison’s Bird Food range.

As Harrison’s Bird foods are nutritionally complete they eliminate the need for supplementation and avoid the problems that result from ‘buffet feeding’.

Harrison’s Bird Foods are used and recommended by leading avian vets both UK and worldwide, as they believe they are the best diets for pet birds.

Which food should I be using?

All Harrison’s Bird Foods are formulated to provide pet birds with the nutrition needed for good health. The necessary levels of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals are all provided and there is no need for the use of additional supplements.

There are two main types of diet: High Potency and Adult Lifetime. The formulations differ slightly in nutritional content – mainly the fat and protein levels (influencing the calorific value) – making them appropriate for use in a variety of different nutritional and clinical situations. These are outlined below.

Thereafter, the principal difference between the Harrison’s foods is the size of the nugget. Which size you choose is down to the preference of your bird and how they usually eat their food. The foods most commonly fed to each type of bird are shown below, but this is just a guide – if a bird prefers a different size of piece to ‘the norm’ then feed them this as they will still receive the same balanced nutritional benefit.

The Harrison’s range also includes treats and hand-feeding foods for all pet birds. For a full analysis of the ingredients and nutritional content please visit our product pages.

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

Adult Lifetime Diets

• 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).

Size of Piece

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.

Bird Bread: A mix based on Harrison’s Bird Foods which you can use to bake your birds ‘ a cake’/’bread’. Available in three 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.

Pepper Lifetime Coarse: The Adult Lifetime Formula with added chilli peppers. Some birds love the spicy flavour and it can be served as a staple diet, as a healthy treat or as a conversion food.

Hand Feeding

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 in the Hand feeding section.