Not sure where to start

[Akraya]

Hi guys!
So I own two conures and I moved back home at the start of the year where my family's cockatiel lives. He was bought for my brother and we've now had him for 9 years, unsure of his age, not going to give his lifes story but now no one handles him or cleans his cage and I'm feeling sorry and wanting to help him out while I'm here.

He refuses to come out of his cage by himself and he sits on one perch and only moves to eat and drink. Been on a seed only diet. He tries to bite but I guess has never worked out how to cause any harm! Disinterested in toys, except his little mirror. Once he's out of the cage he's happy to sit with people.

Guess I'm just after some advice where to start, wondering if there's much of a difference between conure and cockatiel diet? How do you go about introducing new foods to an old bird who's only ever eaten seeds? Just want him to be a happy bird =)

 

[friedsoup]

Ok first off if you make these changes will your family keep it up or will they consider it too much work? Because taking all the time to make change and it isn't kept up will hurt the birds health and physci . The second part of your question has a easy answer yes if you've trained birds before you can train this one he may never be as playful as a youngster who was taught early but you can improve his life. oh and don't worry if he decideds to bite he will get the job done. (lol) Have a good think and do what you can and come back and post your questions.

 

[Stahhhscream]

From my experience with cockatiels, they tend not to bite hard unless they are VERY scared or aggressive. My first tiel would give little bites when she was annoyed, or wanted head scritches, but only bit me hard once when she was stressed from travel. The one I got yesterday is a bit freaked, so she has bitten me pretty hard.

A lot of people I have spoken to agree that cockatiels (and others like parakeets) do benefit from seed and should never be switched entirely over to pellets. Providing that it is a decent seed mix, of course. But I guess there is scientific evidence for both sides of the seed/pellet argument. My tiel enjoyed shredded lettuce (big leaves are too scary), eggs, oatmeal and boiled carrots. Maybe try some small fresh foods first in a cup next to the seed. I don't know any brands off hand (I am sure others will), but you can get premade fresh food stuffs at pet stores that your family may like using, because it will only require a minimum amount of effort on their part.

My bird was always curious about what I was eating when she was out of the cage with me, so maybe see if he is more willing to try to eat when sitting with people and exploring or something.

 

[Didomum]

I raised many birds for many years on seed no problem yes old school I might be but so most of my birds. If your family had him 9 years they must have been doing something right. If you want to do pellets I would start of mixing small amount in the seed to let the bird get use to it slowly. Standard fresh vegigies are always a good place to start.