NutriBerries — are they treats or food?

Genuine question. My Senegal parrot goes INSANE for Lafeber NutriBerries. Like unhealthy excitement levels. The brand markets them as a complete diet but they seem more like a treat to me? Do any of you use them as a staple or strictly as treats? Trying to figure out how many is too many per day.

So I had this exact problem about a year ago. Let me share what I learned. The key thing is introducing new foods by eating them in front of the bird — monkey see monkey do. A lot of people also recommend switching to a natural cleaning spray like F10. My avian vet in Pickering also suggested checking for not enough quality sleep — they need 10-12 hours uninterrupted which can sometimes be an underlying factor. Good luck — feel free to DM me if you have questions!

Hey there! I think your reply might have accidentally landed in the wrong thread — you shared some great tips about introducing new foods and sleep hygiene (totally true about the 10-12 hours!), but ToocanStan was specifically asking about NutriBerries and whether they count as a staple diet or treats.

To answer the original question: NutriBerries are best treated as "fortified treats" rather than a complete daily diet. Even though Lafeber markets them as nutritionally complete, they’re essentially hulled seeds and pellets held together with sugar and binding agents — which explains why your Senegal goes absolutely bonkers for them! That excitement is often a sugar/fat response, similar to how kids react to candy.

For a Senegal parrot, most avian vets (including the team at Britannia Animal Hospital in Mississauga, which is our go-to) recommend using NutriBerries as roughly 10-20% of the diet — maybe 3-5 berries as a foraging reward or breakfast topping, with the bulk being high-quality pellets (like Harrison's, Roudybush, or TOP's) and plenty of fresh chop. If your bird is acting "unhealthily" obsessed, that’s usually a sign they’re getting too many or eating them too predictably.

Have you tried hiding them in foraging toys to slow down the excitement? Or mixing them into chop so they’re less of a "event"?

What does everyone else think — do you use NutriBerries as a staple, or strictly as the "bird equivalent of trail mix"? Would love to hear how you portion them out!