Diet of only seeds

[dereknc]

First off, I'm a new bird owner and I still have a lot to learn. I try to educate myself on my birds, but now and then I have a question that I just can't find the answer to.

I recently purchased an 11 month old Sun Conure from a nice lady who lives close to me. He's an extremely fat bird, and apparently has always been on a diet that consists completely of bird seed/sun flower seeds. I know that I can't just transition him off of these overnight, but he's not keen to the Roudybush pellets that I feed to my quaker. I have mixed the two together, but he just refuses to even try the pellets. I read somewhere that mixing a little fruit juice in may help. I was going to try that, until I found that Roudybush has a California blend that includes some fruits and things, and I know for a fact that he loves fresh fruits. I purchased that through Amazon and it should be here tomorrow. Any advice on how to transition him over? I've only had him for three days now, but other than this eating issue, he's a really good bird.

Thanks in advance for all of the help!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Welcome to the forum.

I think I found the perfect article for you and your new friend.
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

 

[dereknc]

JerseyWendy...

Thank you so much for that link! I am reading it right now and it's given me a lot of ideas (and hope)! Thanks again!

 

[kellie]

Does he eat out of your hand? Sun conures are usually pretty curious. My little guy had been on an all seed diet as well. I cold turkey switched him to rousy bush and held he pellet out to him in my fingers. He eventually got curious and tried it. He loves them now!

 

[Birdlover11]

I tried fruit juice with the pellets for my two budgies and it worked . I think you should mix the seed with pellets but they could pick out the seed.

 

[SoCalWendy]

You can try Harrison's, birds generally transition easier on it. I'd buy a 1lb of the Harrison's - fine.

If you do try Harrison's talk to the store and ask which one they suggest he should be on because their is maintenance and hi potency. Hi potency is higher in fat and you say your bird is overweight.

 

[dereknc]

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. College classes take a large bit of my time at the moment. I just wanted to let everyone know that, using the suggestions here, Sunny successfully transitioned from a diet of pure seeds to Roudybush. What worked was a combination of seeds and Roudybush, along with a small amount of Apple Juice. I also found out that he's not 11 months, as we had been told. I took a look at his vet paperwork and learned that he's a year and a half, so he's a little more stuck in his ways. He's also rather timid, but feels 100% at ease on my shoulder.

 

[Nikole182]

Welcome to the forum.

I think I found the perfect article for you and your new friend.
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

Very thankful for this article. My conures are such picky eaters when it comes to their bird food. I bought them a blend from this exotic bird store in my area which wasn't cheap might I add without sunflower seeds and they just spilled it all out of their bowl and refused to eat. They went almost 2 days without eating that's how stubborn they are so I gave up... I will definitely try these tricks!

 

[Annageckos]

I feed my GCC TOPS crumbles. When I first started her on them I left some dry in a bowl all the time and some with a bit of juice that I changed daily. At first she didn't eat either, but maybe two or three weeks after that she was devouring them dry. She loves the TOPS crumbles and always goes for them first. She also gets a bit of seed and fresh fruit/veggie/pasta/grain mix every day. I picked the brand I did because I liked their ingredient list better then the others, and i can get it locally.

 

[SoCalWendy]

I feed my GCC TOPS crumbles. When I first started her on them I left some dry in a bowl all the time and some with a bit of juice that I changed daily. At first she didn't eat either, but maybe two or three weeks after that she was devouring them dry. She loves the TOPS crumbles and always goes for them first. She also gets a bit of seed and fresh fruit/veggie/pasta/grain mix every day. I picked the brand I did because I liked their ingredient list better then the others, and i can get it locally.

I wanted to try TOPS but I can't get it locally, and I refuse to pay the shipping. I like Harrison's and my birds are doing well on it.