Roudybush History                                   Back

                   

Tom Roudybush, owner and nutritionist of Roudybush, Inc., began manufacturing pellets, crumbles, and hand feeding formulas in 1985 after doing 16 years of nutritional research at the University of California, Davis. Mr. Roudybush studied various bird species, including 6 years of research on the nutritional requirements of pet birds. Most of the published nutritional research in pet birds has been generated by Mr. Roudybush. He began manufacturing his diets in response to repeated requests from aviculturists hearing his talks at meetings throughout the United States. The research flocks of cockatiels and Orange-winged Amazons at the University of California, Davis have been maintained on nothing but Roudybush diets since 1981; no other population of psittacines has been maintained on any other commercially available, formulated diet for such a long period of time.

Mr. Roudybush continues to be involved in nutritional research and is committed to learning more about the requirements of birds kept in captivity, applying that knowledge to his state-of-the-art diets for your birds, and contributing to avian nutritional research in general.

Roudybush, Inc. manufactures pelletized diets for breeding birds, pet birds, birds which have specialized nutritional needs due to certain disease processes such as liver disease, kidney disease, intestinal tract diseases, and obesity. Roudybush, Inc. also manufactures a medicated pellet for flock treatment of chlamydiosis. Dry powder formulas are available for lories, hand feeding pet birds and young squab. High quality ingredients and steam pelleting are used to ensure that potentially harmful organisms are not present in the finished products. Samples of every batch of feed are retained at the mill for quality assurance and random samples are tested quarterly for any evidence of contamination.

When you buy Roudybush products you can be assured that your birds are eating a high quality diet based on solid, sound nutritional information.

Benefits of Roudybush

For decades the standard diet for most birds kept in captivity has been a mixture of seeds and nuts. This diet was based on the assumption that that is what these birds ate in their natural environments. Over the past several years more information has become available from better observations of natural feeding patterns and controlled research performed in captivity. Nutritional deficiencies seen in birds kept on seed diets have been better characterized and documented, making it clear that these diets are harmful; however, many people continue to feed seed and nut diets, with or without other nutritional supplementation. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of giving a bird mineral blocks, cuttlebone, seed mixes with vitamin fortification, or vitamins in the drinking water all relies of the bird's willingness to choose the right things to eat in the proper amount. Most birds eat to obtain energy (calories) and they are going to choose the highest fat, highest calorie foods available. They will often do their best to avoid your best efforts to improve their nutrition. Another problem with supplements is that you can overdo them and cause toxicities with some nutrients, which is just as harmful as a deficiency.

Roudybush diets provide your birds with safe levels of nutrients known to be needed for good health. Your birds do not need any other supplements, so they cannot make poor choices. Not only does this provide your bird with the best possible nutrition; it saves you the trouble and expense of those supplements. Simply provide your bird with Roudybush pellets and fresh water. If you want to, you can still offer your birds healthy treats, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, for your own and your birds' enjoyment.

Birds fed Roudybush will molt into brightly colored, lustrous feathers. If your bird was on a marginal diet, you will notice your bird becoming more active and more resistant to infections. Over the years your birds will be much less likely to become obese, develop metabolic diseases like fatty liver syndrome, develop kidney disease, or suffer from chronic respiratory diseases.

There are other advantages of feeding Roudybush diets. The entire pellet is edible, as opposed to seed mixes where an inedible hull makes up 20-70% of the mix. Roudybush diets have consistent high quality and cleanliness. Seed mixes can become contaminated in the field before harvest or become contaminated in storage. Seed crops are harvested at one time of year and the seeds are stored until the next harvest. Seed quality and cleanliness are therefore variable. Once a bird is eating pellets it can be easily switched from one formulation to another. So if your birds start to raise chicks, need to be treated for chlamydiosis, or need to be put on a specialized diet, you can easily provide them with the diet they need.

Roudybush diets offer several advantages over other commercially available formulated diets. Pelletizing preserves more of the fiber in the diet than extrusion does, providing a diet that is healthier for your birds' intestinal tract. Some diets include molasses or sugar to improve the taste of the food. These ingredients are unnecessary and can promote infections; especially yeast infections, in birds. Roudybush products, other than the Lory Nectar, hummingbird nectars, and Squab Formula, do not contain these potentially harmful sugars. Natural colored Roudybush diets reduce waste as many birds will selectively eat only one color of a multi-colored product, they do not stain white feathers, and they allow you and your veterinarian to better evaluate your birds' droppings (urine, urates, and feces become abnormally colored by colored diets). Roudybush products contain preservatives, which have been determined to be safe for birds to maintain proper vitamin activity and wholesomeness. Most importantly, Roudybush diets have been formulated by a nutritionist with some of the most extensive experience and expertise in pet bird nutrition.