I'm confused by a lot of positive reviews from owners of different species

I was shopping at Petco and saw
Tropican Lifetime Formula Granules for Cockatiels (pellets) that had good reviews in the internet and was on sale. So I decided to give it a try. It has no artificial colors and has a pretty intense smell (no clue what smells this way)
http://www.petco.com/product/129188/Tro ... Cockatiels
But, the problem is... my birds don't eat it. I hope they will munch on it at least a little bit. Would it help to mix it with seeds for the beginning? This way they would have to eat seeds and hopefully would have a chance to try the new granules.
How does the nutritional side of it look?

I have ordered Pretty Bird pellets that my birds pretty much love (the amount consumed isn't large, but they all would come and munch on them)

I was thinking to order ZuPreem FruitBlend but I didn't. I remember it has sugar. What do you guys think about this pellets? DO your birds like it a lot?

Right now we are finishing a bag of Roudybush pellets, I mix them with seeds and I actually think that my birds do eat the pellets, because when I blow hulls, I can see that amount in the bowl gradually reduced, including pellets. I didn't buy a new bag, even though I probably should have.

I also ordered classic Nutriberries for parakeets (coz it was cheaper than for tiels) but I can't say we have a huge success with them even though birds seem to be interested (remember my thread "Nutriberries are wasted"? ) this will probably be the last attempt.

My flock doesn't like Tropican, and I hate the way it smells. The smell is actually from natural fruit oils, but it manages to smell fake. You might want to return it to the store and get something else. Petco has Mazuri pellets, which is a good brand, and my birds accepted it right away.

The sugar in the Zupreem Fruitblend isn't significant, and they take everything into account when they formulate the nutritional balance. Naturally we would all prefer pellets without sugar, but if a little sugar makes the bird like the pellet then it's worth it.

My pellet article has charts at the bottom showing the nutritional content of several major brands: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/i ... llets.html They're all good, and IMO the most important factor in deciding which one to buy is whether your bird will eat it or not. The brands to avoid are basically any organic pellet other than Harrisons, because Harrisons is the only organic pellet that's formulated to be nutritionally complete. The other organic brands are missing some important nutrients.

that's interesting. I wonder why. thanks Carolyn
IS there any difference between cockatiel NUtriberries and those for budgies?

I called Foster and Smith to cancel the order I placed yesterday. I am ordering tonight again with 20% off (am I a horrible person? LOL)

The major brands are formulated by professional nutritionists. Most of the organic brands were not professionally formulated so they don't have the same level of knowledge behind them.

I think the main difference between budgie and cockatiel nutriberries is just simply the size of the ball.

I mean - is size of the ball essential or not?

What size of FruitBlend do people buy for tiels? I remember we had them for medium birds but they had problems to eat it. If I try, I want to try for small birds. Does it make sense?

The size of the ball doesn't matter. They make a cockatiel sized fruit blend but I'm not sure if they call it cockatiel size or something else.

it says for medium birds: cockatiels, etc.
I thought a lot of people prefer FruitBlend intended "for small birds: parakeets, etc"
true?

My own birds definitely prefer the parakeet-sized Fruit Blend. I think it's because the shapes are roughly the size of millet? But I occasionally bird-sit a cockatiel who loves the cockatiel-sized shapes.

My guys like cockatiel size better