One of the advantages of a small group like this is that we can go off on a massive digression and no one minds. It's easy to bring the discussion back on topic too.

Thats what i love about this forum!

Tielfan..... your knowledge is amazing....
Keep it coming... even at my age I'm still trying to learn....

So what is the optimum fat/protein content?

Agreed! But no matter how small, a forum must be active to be atractive!

Now what was the topic again?

this is the topic

The answer to that question is "it depends". Birds that are more active will need more fat than birds that are less active. Birds that are breeding or molting need more protein than birds that aren't doing these things. Most pellets are formulated to meet the ordinary needs of pet birds, so that's a reasonable guideline.

Harrisons is the only organic pellet that's formulated to be nutritionally complete, and they're also the only pellet I know that has a regular formula (called adult lifetime) and a high potency formula. The nutritional content of the high potency is pretty similar to their handfeeding formula. It's great for breeding birds IMO but has too much of everything for ordinary needs. Unfortunately Harrisons must not taste as good as some of the other pellets since it's harder to get birds to eat it, but many birds have learned to appreciate it.

I offer my birds several different brands of pellets so that if one goes out of business there will still be others that they're willing to eat. They get lots of veggies, seeds and other healthy foods too.

Informative...

do I need to provide any "egg food"?

When not breeding with my birds I give them egg food 2 days in a week (depending on my workscheduele, but with intervals anywhere from 2 to 4 days)
When I have chicks I give it on a daily basis.

Do you need to provide it. No you don't need to. But it does help up the protein intake.