How to make him eat fresh food? only likes dried stuff...

[Zazusmommy]

Hi all!

I took my 1yr old Sennie today for his first vet visit. He is currently eating Dr Harvey's colossal cockatiel with a dehydrated veggie mix. He said Zazu should only get seeds as a treat, and suggested the Zupreem foods. No offense to those who like pellets but I would never give my bird processed foods, and after reading the ingredients even less: ground corn, soybeam meal, ground wheat, wheat germ meal, sugar? no thank you, I can do much better than that! anyway we agreed that if I eat healthy enough, which I do, he can eat fresh foods all the time.

My only problem is that he wont eat things that are wet, only dehydrated or freeze dried, once in a blue moon he'll get curious enough and pick at the veggies/fruits I'm eating. This means a LOT of work for me: dehydrating every single thing he eats, plus he wastes much more food when its dehydrated. I dont know what else to do other that just offer it every day and hope that eventually he'll start eating it. PLEASE HELP!!! :11:

NOTE: I have done lots of research on my parrot's nutrition AND taken college classes on general animal nutrition and Avian nutrition, Im not an exotics vet (yet ) but I know my fair amount, please save the harsh comments...

 

[suebee]

lol i know how you feel about the pellets, an nut won't eat them as she never see's us eating them! (i've tasted one an its bland!) but she does to stop going hungry at times

anyway, stop with this getting food how zaz expects it! lol like any child, lead by example, they won't go hungry, so every time you eat, share some with zaz, he'll soon get the idea!

nut is very suborn, an holding out for the possible, better foods but on the whole she has a very varied diet (with seeds) but she is flighted an has a good fly about daily

 

[Mamanda]

Just keep offering it. My cockatiel turned his beak up at it for months. Then one day he realized it was tastey.

 

[Zazusmommy]

thanks for your comments!
I made a mix of carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, green and snap peas, green beans, bell pepper, apples, zucchini. I gave him some this morning over a small amount of the seed mix and now that am home from work it seem like he picked most of it out, might have taken a bite or two. the dehydrated food bowl seemed to be his favorite of the day, and of course the organic raw cashews were all gone.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Sometimes it over whelms them to see a bunch of different things all at once. With my galah I only did a couple things at once and she was more willing to try them, now she's a pretty good eater

 

[Spiritbird]

Try slightly cooking some of the vegies and see if they like them more that way. My bird prefers cook vegies. Also try offering small amts. of only one or two types of vegies and not a banquet.

 

[roxynoodle]

My birds like cooked veggies as well. I steam them in the microwave. At first Merlin seemed to not like how I prepared them, but she's eating them now.

As for pellets, Harrison's are organic if that feels better to you than Zupreem. I did have to eat pellets to get my conures on them, lol!

If for one reason only, a good reason to get them on pellets would be if you were in the hospital or on vacation, it would be a lot easier on the pet sitter. At least you would know the bird was getting it's nutrition while you were gone.

 

[Mitchell]

Save harsh comments after you bash all pellets! Lol! You haven't researched much if you've grouped them all with sugar and labeled them all bad. I've been feeding Roudybush for 15 years and never once have had a sick bird nor a plucker. I'm very close friends with a director of the AFA and they've fed their birds the same thing (Roudybush)for almost 20 years with all great results. They contain no colorings or sugars, so all pellets are not created equal. Most seed mixtures can cause them to be selective according to taste, and of course they will always choose the good and fattening seeds and cull the rest to the cage floor. Good pellets assure your bird is getting a balanced diet with vitamins. It boils down to results, and I've seen a great amount through personal experience and research. As for veggies, I've had a bird that was on pellets that would never touch a veggie and he was 14yo when I lost him in a divorce. So some never take to them, but I do promote veggies though, I give them to mine daily but I strongly disagree with your opinion with pellets. "no offense" Lol!

 

[amysaviary]

Not even going to talk about the pellets but to say I am with Mitchell and the others!
You can cook muffins or breeds and put veggies in them, I find this a good way to trick them in to eatting them. All my guys love veggies cooked, raw, dried anything! My guys will eat anything! LOL Also might want to look in to buying the "Heathly Bird Cookbook" has a lot of great info in it. Not just a cookbook it has a nutritional guide also!

 

[roxynoodle]

I snuck orange veggies into birdie bread using baby food carrots or sweet potatoes. It was easy to mix into the batter. My BCC would not eat orange veggies on her own. You could even crush up the pellets in there as well.

As for brands of pellets, I have different birds eating different ones. I don't really care as long as they eat them. My conure is on Zupreem because it was the only one my other conure would try. Pete is on Harrison's because I saw him eating some, so it was easy to convert him to that. Merlin is on Harrison's because that is what she ate in her former home. I figure whatever pellet your bird likes is better than a seed diet. Yes, I have bags of bird food all over the place at the moment, but eventually I will run out and Pete and Merlin will at least be eating the same thing. Merlin's former owner graciously mailed me a huge bag of pellets and I already had 2 sitting here that I had bought for Pete.

My vet doesn't seem to have any problem with any of the foods I'm feeding them.

 

[upcgirl]

Max, my sennie, likes sweet potatoes and broccoli cooked. However, she prefers most of her vegetables raw. You may have to experiment a little.

When I first brought Max home, I didn't know exactly what fresh veggies she was exposed to. I knew she was on a pelleted diet, but as far as veggies and fruits, I was not sure.

So, I would cut up a bell pepper and an apple. I would eat a few pieces of each in front of her. That got her attention. She would sit on her perch and rock back and forth, stretching her neck to see what I had. Then I would let her have some and continue to eat a few pieces in front of her. She seems to really like that.

When my Amazon was alive, we would eat dinner together. I would cook my dinner, and as I was cooking, I would get him some fresh food. Then I would put it in his cage, where he would eat. And when he saw me sit down to eat, he would then go down to his bowl and we would eat dinner together.

 

[MollyGreenCheeks]

I decided that when I brought Molly into my life that I would sample whatever food I feed her. Initially when she was brought home she was on Zupreem colored stuff and I thought it was nasty and dry. Additionally I read a lot of negatives about the colored pellets. After sampling several other pellets I settled on Roudybush. Oh and BTW, If all I had to eat for a week was Roudybush, I would survive. It really is not bad LOL and after two weeks of turnover time Molly loves it! Also, every morning I feed her fresh cooked vegges and throught the week she gets a few other special cooked treats.

 

[madatter]

When I got Billy he wouldnt eat anything but pizza and fries, i bought a muffin mix from the store, used pure orange juice instead off milk to mix it then added loads off chopped veg and ground up pellets. I chopped it into 1" squares and froze it, at first i use to warm it up but he cant wait for it now so he eats it straight from the freezer, he is more active and his feathers look in a better condition even after just over a month.


If you do buy ready mix have a quick look at the contents before buying.