Amazon parrot rejecting pellets? Try Harrison's Bird Foods

Two pellet brands rejected outright is genuinely one of the more frustrating situations in parrot keeping — especially with an Amazon, who are notoriously opinionated and have often been on seeds long enough that anything unfamiliar gets treated as a threat. Before I suggest a third option, I want to make sure I'm pointing you somewhere that has a real chance of working. What did the two rejected brands look like — were they the same shape and colour, or quite different? And what does your bird's current diet actually consist of day to day?

That's a really clear picture, and it tells me something useful. Zupreem Natural and Kaytee Exact are both relatively sweet and have a fairly uniform texture — and if he's ignoring both, it's likely a combination of the smell, the texture, and seven years of seed conditioning talking. The 'pick around them' behaviour is classic: he's not scared of them, he's just decided they're not food. That's actually workable. The brand I'd move to next is Harrison's High Potency Coarse. It's cold-pressed, organic, and has a distinctly different smell and texture from anything in the Zupreem or Kaytee range — earthy rather than sweet. A lot of seed-to-pellet transitions that failed on other brands succeed on Harrison's specifically because it reads as more food-like to birds who distrust processed pellets. The coarse size is right for an Amazon.

Yes — mixing into seed is actually one of the less effective methods, because it lets him sort indefinitely and reinforces ignoring the pellets. The approach that tends to work better with stubborn Amazons is a two-bowl system: seeds in one bowl as usual, Harrison's in a completely separate bowl alongside it. No pressure, no removal of seeds yet. You're just getting the pellets into his environment as a fixture. After a week or two, once he's curious but unbothered, you start slightly reducing the seed volume and making the Harrison's bowl the same size. The goal is to shift the ratio gradually over four to six weeks rather than forcing a switch. Some birds also respond well to seeing you eat the pellets — Amazons are highly social eaters and mimicry works in your favour here.

Good question — High Potency is actually Harrison's formula for birds under nutritional stress, weaning birds, or those transitioning off a seed-heavy diet, which fits your situation exactly. Once he's been on it for about six months and you're confident the transition has held, you'd move him to Harrison's Adult Lifetime Coarse, which is the maintenance formula. But for right now, during the transition, High Potency is exactly where you want to start. It compensates for the nutritional gaps that seven years on seed will have created, which is a real consideration with Amazons.

That's a solid plan. Give it at least three weeks before you draw any conclusions — patience is genuinely the variable that determines whether this works. If he starts showing any interest in the Harrison's bowl at all, even just standing near it, that's a good sign. One last thing: keep the fruit and veg going throughout, it's not competing with the pellets and it's nutritionally valuable. Good luck — seven-year-old Amazons can absolutely make this switch, it just takes longer than anyone tells you.