Can’t feed pellets anymore

[Rosie92]

Hi guys,

I just want a bit of advice for my stubborn Senegal. I got him from another home, the own didn’t want him anymore for whatever reason. He was 6 year old when he came to me and a seed addict. He’s only ever eaten seed. I’ve had him two years now and I’ve tried the entire 2 years to get him converted. I’ve tried every method on here and YouTube. Everything. I’ve even tried slowly converting over two months with seed and pellets and he won’t do it. He would rather starve then eat pellets. I’ve had every pellet you can imagine. I’ve tried good and bad brands, I’ve been desperate and just wanted him to stick to one. Even the ones higher in sugar he won’t touch.

The only thing he will eat is nutri Berry balls. It’s the only thing. I give him veg daily and occasionally fruit which he enjoys. For his base diet I just don’t know what to do. I’m thinking of just going on a decent seed. I’ve ran out of ideas and I’ve read every forum on here suggesting things. He’s driving me crazy haha

Thanks for you help.

 

[LaManuka]

Hello Rosie92, welcome to the Forums!

Can I suggest you try grinding up the pellets to a powder in a mortar and pestle and sprinkling it over your Sennie's seeds? I once had a mature age cockatiel who point blank refused to even recognise pellets as food. I tried every recommendation from my most excellent vet, online and by the pellet manufacturer and she pretty much would have preferred to starve to death rather than eat them. Her fellow cockatiel would happily munch away on his pellets but she was having none of it. Finally what worked for me was grinding pellets into powder and sprinkling it over her seeds to get her accustomed to the taste. Within days she converted over and ate them like she had been doing so all her life! It's worth a try

 

[Rosie92]

Hello Rosie92, welcome to the Forums!

Can I suggest you try grinding up the pellets to a powder in a mortar and pestle and sprinkling it over your Sennie's seeds? I once had a mature age cockatiel who point blank refused to even recognise pellets as food. I tried every recommendation from my most excellent vet, online and by the pellet manufacturer and she pretty much would have preferred to starve to death rather than eat them. Her fellow cockatiel would happily munch away on his pellets but she was having none of it. Finally what worked for me was grinding pellets into powder and sprinkling it over her seeds to get her accustomed to the taste. Within days she converted over and ate them like she had been doing so all her life! It's worth a try

Hi! Thanks for suggestion. I’ve tried and he won’t eat anything. He just starves himself until I change the food. He’s so difficult and won’t even try anything new lol. He tries once, realises it’s different and goes on hunger strike

 

[LaManuka]

Well, he is a very stubborn chap then, isn't he?! Perhaps you could try introducing just a tiny bit of powdered pellets and increasing the amount VERY gradually over time? Or try a different brand - if you're using coloured pellets switch to plain ones or vice versa? I hope some of our other members will have some more useful and creative suggestions for you to try if he's already wise to this trick!

 

[T00tsyd]

Hello Rosie92, welcome to the Forums!

Can I suggest you try grinding up the pellets to a powder in a mortar and pestle and sprinkling it over your Sennie's seeds? I once had a mature age cockatiel who point blank refused to even recognise pellets as food. I tried every recommendation from my most excellent vet, online and by the pellet manufacturer and she pretty much would have preferred to starve to death rather than eat them. Her fellow cockatiel would happily munch away on his pellets but she was having none of it. Finally what worked for me was grinding pellets into powder and sprinkling it over her seeds to get her accustomed to the taste. Within days she converted over and ate them like she had been doing so all her life! It's worth a try

Hi! Thanks for suggestion. I’ve tried and he won’t eat anything. He just starves himself until I change the food. He’s so difficult and won’t even try anything new lol. He tries once, realises it’s different and goes on hunger strike

It's only a thought but will he give up fruit or something he would kill for if pellet powder was sprinkled very lightly on it? I guess you need to find the one thing he would never miss out on, a real favourite. I was just thinking that hiding it the juicy fruit might be a way in. I must admit I converted Syd by mixing it very slowly in his seeds but then he was younger and easier to influence perhaps.

Is he praise orientated? I wonder if you praised him to the hilt for just looking at it to start with and then gradually with-hold the praise until he tried it. A slow process for sure.

 

[noodles123]

put pellets and the nutriberries in there... Mine wouldn't to anything but waste them for like the first 1.5 years. keep exposing them over and over (even if they just waste stuff). i do believe nutri-berries are considered acceptable as the main meals for some type of birds..w/ fresh produce etc incorporated

they aren't as bad a plain seed..if you can get some veg in there, you'll probably be okay.. dont stop trying w/ pellets but...

https://lafeber.com/pet-birds/nutri-berries-vs-standard-avian-diets/ <---I know it's their product, but that site is generally reputable in terms of other avian info.

ingredients arent THAT different from many pellets depending on the type...Granted, I am not sure how senegals diets compare to the needs of a tiel, parakeet, conure or cockatoo/macaw, but those are the birds mentioned specifically on the feed ratio lists.

 

[Laurasea]

If he eats nutriberries, ( designed to be nutritional) seeds , and a good amount of differnt veggies and leafy greens, a few fruits and nuts. I think you are doing great.

Pellets are made out if seeds s d corn and wheat and peanut, or very cheap to grow yucky soy. The benefits are the balanced vitamins, minerals, fiber, . But you can get that from natural vegetables to. look at ekkie tgey aren't fed pellets due to their unique.

But vitamin D would come from time spent outside, shade is fine, just not behind glass.

But your nutriberries have vitamin D .

Seed eaters that don't spend time outside, are not getting vitamin D . And vitamin D is not found in food, except milk. Yogurt, maybe fish( cant remember, )

Seed eaters that don't eat veggies also don't get vitamin A, amoung others.

 

[wrench13]

Yeah, Nutriberries are not in themselves terrible. Salty gets 1 or 2 daily for breakfast. That and some pellets and a walnut crunched up. He has FINALLY started to eat pellets (after presenting them for years) later on in the day (his dry food is out all day for snacking). Lunch is fruit or fresh veggies and dinner is chop and either a piece of Avicake or Nutriberry crushed up and mixed in.

 

[fiddlejen]

Nutriberries actually include pellets in them. So your bird's beak is slowly getting used to the taste of those Lefeber pellets. Even if he's just eating around them. From their description as I understand, the seeds / bits themselves in those nutriberries are supposed to be coated with nutrients as well, so he's getting vitamins from the nutriberries even when he picks around the pellets. So you Might want to try getting Lefeber pellets (which they call "Premium Daily Diet for [size bird]." Add a little bit of those pellets to his food dish daily, or use whatever method (ie grinding to a powder etc). Just consider them a garnish which will go to waste. Eventually he is likely to start eating some of them.

Another thought: add a separate small food dish to his cage. Put the pellets-only in that dish, instead of in-with his food.

Not everyone believes birds should eat all or mainly pellets. Personally I don't believe that simply because mine woN't.

My Sunny enjoys her pellets as (1) a snack and (2) as a Dip for her Orange Peppers. (Yes really. I clip her orange-bell-pepper-slices near her pellet-dish. She then puts pelllets on eat bite of she takes of the orange pepper.) She will eat one or two bits of pellet if they're in her food dish, but that is not her preference.

My budgies absolutely refuse to eat pellets from their Own food dishes. For their first year or so, they refused pellets absolutely. HOWEVER Calliope-budgie is a Chewer and will demolish anything. Walls, paint, etc. So one day I ground up some lefeber pellets, added water and an egg, and double-baked it to get it very hard & dry (like biscotti). (Also I added some seeds in there, kinda like nuts in a cookie.) Clipped these to the cage walls. Sure enough Calliope-budgie went-to-town. Jefferson-budgie followed suit. Pretty soon they were happily willing to actually Eat pellets.... ONLY... NOT from their own food dishes. They will go to Sunny's cage and eat HER pellets. They will eat pellets from the dish on the playtop. But, they still refuse to eat pellets from their OWN food dishes.

Personally I think this is good enough. They all eat good seedmixes, they all eat veggies (clipped to cage walls), and they all SNACK on pellets if offered separately. I'm reasonably confident they are getting sufficient vitamins. And if not, well, they are happy, and I cannot make them eat what they will not eat.

I think this is probably where you are with your bird. So, Id recommend just giving her a good seemix, and continuing to make pellets available. Why distress yourself and your bird by trying to enforce a full switchover? Pellets can have drawbacks too. Especially since the bird is eating veggies, right? And there are vitamins in the nutriberries.

There is a really good seedmix called Goldenfeast. My Sunny does not like it because it has pecans which she does not like. Currently I'm giving her Higgins Sunburst for Conures. It has a nice variety including a small amount of pellets. I know she is eating some of those pellets since they are turning her poos the same colors. However when I glance into the dish, it LOOKS like she did not eat them, the pellets are still there.