Do cockatiels and budgies eat fruits?

[mrsvengeance]

Hi everyone, this is my first thread in this forum and I will make an introduction post soon enough, but first I need an answer to my problem..

A little background: I have 4 cockatiels and 2 budgies, all non-tamed, I don't know their ages (2 are propably over 10 year olds, the rest are younger) and they have lived their whole life with seed only diet with occasional lettuce and spinach. I know, I'm a horrible bird owner, but that's why I signed up to this forum.

Now, I've read tons of articles and threads and surfed the net about healthy diet for parrots, and just recently I made chop (from parrotnation.com) for them. Of course I didn't use all the ingredients as in the original chop (mostly because most of them aren't sold where I live) so I put there: kale, broccoli, dry oats, ground flax seed, frozen veggies, boiled quinoa and whole grain rice with multi-grains. It came out rather moist than dry because of the quinoa and rice, but I gave it to my birds and froze the rest in mini-grip bags.

Well, the result was obvious.. they are not eating it. I have tried sprinkling seeds on top of it, they have eaten the seeds but I don't see changes on the level of chop. I did see one of the budgies tasting it, but after realizing how it tasted, he left the bowl.

I didn't stop there, I took the old chop out every evening and replaced it with new chop in the mornings. Now after approx. 7 days they are still not eating it, and I know that it could take months for stubborn birds to eat new things, but I started wondering if cockatiels and budgies even like moist or wet food? Like fruits and boiled stuff, like pasta or noodles. Are they more into the fresh and dry stuff, veggies and crumbles?

I have succeeded in making them eat cucumber (a BIG hooray!) and it seems that one of the youngest cockatiel is even trying to eat pellets (zupreem budgie pellets). Others wont even touch the pellets.. but I'm working on it also.

Oh, also, I have noticed if the fresh stuff isn't green, they will avoid it like a plague. Yellow or red, it's a big no-no for them (tried red paprika and honeydew, guess how that ended up).

So, what do you think? Should I keep on making them chop or go for dry stuff? Any other tips would be super helpful too!

 

[TessieB]

Start with small changes and work your way up the food chain. My Cockatiels eat a variety of soft food-mixed veggies, apples and so forth. When converting newbies, I'll but the seed on the bottom of the bowl and put the new food on top. Not too much as some birds will shy away to the point of starvation. Each day I will add more of the target food until eventually the seed can't be seen (Of course I change my food out on a daily basis).

Eventhough the bird may simply toss the target food aside, he is putting the food in his beak. When the bird is confidently moving the target food around you can then decrease the amount of seed. Eventually, the food in the beak will be swallowed.

And it always help if the bird sees you eating a new food source-yes that means you have to add more veggies and fruit to your diet-but hey! You'll be healthier, too!

 

[mrsvengeance]

Thanks for the advice, I'll be trying that for sure. I'm still unsure whether I'm just wasting fresh goods or actually getting somewhere. Good news is that almost all of them are eating pellets (since I kind of took all the seeds away, but I'm putting them back in the morning, and away in the afternoon). I'm hoping they are more open minded to fresh stuff now that their diet isn't only about fatty seeds!

 

[jenphilly]

My daughter's tiels are the little piggies in the house, all 4 will eat almost anything you put in their bowl! They are by far the easiest to feed My budgie is much more picky, I've had luck with sprouts with Cam, but he turns his little beak up at all the chops and mashes that everyone else oinks out on.

If your guys are a little hesitant, try adding in some millet. I picked up a package of the millet buds, no stems and they come in handy when trying to get Cam to eat something. Or you can just snip off pieces from a stem too. Millet is literally like birdie crack, don't think many birds can say no!

Keep trying, all birds can be a pain to introduce to new foods. And when you find something they like, add it to everything new you try

 

[strudel]

I don't think my budgies ever went near the chop I offered. My weiros are adopted and only ever had seed. I got them to try the chop by giving them that and only handing out seed later in the day. When they didn't have the alternative they did give it a try, but it's not their favourite thing.

My budgies (or one of them anyway) LOVES curly endive. It's her favourite. She also likes strawberries (that one you can tell they've tried because of the red face ) I give them things on their fruit stick and they sometimes have it, sometimes not. They much prefer seed, they'd kill for a millet spray. I agree with jenphilly. If you put millet on top of something, they'd certainly give it a whirl rather than cower up the other end of the cage suspiciously avoiding the "hazard".

As jenphilly said, keep trying. Just offer stuff and don't worry whether they eat it or not. It's all good for the compost. Also, as well as trying different things, try different ways. My budgies seem to like hunks of stuff rather than chop in a bowl.

 

[Allee]

I have a flock of wild birds that wait like vultures for the parrot leftovers to be put into their feeders. There are a lot of leftovers, especially when you are trying to convince a parrot or several that a healthy diet is better for them. Keep trying all the tricks and keep offering, they will accept the new foods in their own time. My cockatiel is also a little pig, she eats everything I offer her. My parakeets get a taste of whatever the bigger birds are having and I'm surprised at how much they eat. They prefer seeds but they will pick at fresh fruits and vegetables and they have developed a real taste for pellets.

 

[aether-drifter]

As a rule, cockatiels are not big on fruit. It just isn't part of their natural diet.
They tend to prefer leafy greens and grass-like stalks. This has also been my experience with budgies, although I read about more budgies that enjoy fruit than cockatiels.

My tiels will not eat chop unless I mix it with some sort of cooked grain mash, or scrambled eggs.

 

[Colorguarder08]

Let them eat off your plate as they see you eating they will become curious and want to try it as well

 

[RavensGryf]

I would be careful when letting a bird eat off your food. Some normal bacteria found in the human mouth can cause illness in our birds. It's not necessarily going to happen, but it very well CAN.

 

[MonicaMc]

Most of my birds are perfectly fine eating moist foods. I no longer have budgies, but here are a few old pics I have of feeding mash to my birds.

 

[Terry57]

My budgies also love their chop mix, and one of their very favorite things is a stalk of kale shoved between the cage bars