fiddlejen
Well-known member
- Mar 28, 2019
- 1,232
- Media
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- 1,156
- Parrots
- Sunny the Sun Conure (sept '18, gotcha 3/'19). Mr Jefferson Budgie & Mrs Calliope Budgie (albino) (nov'18 & jan'19). Summer 2021 Baby Budgies: Riker (Green); Patchouli, Keye, & Tiny (blue greywings).
So, pellets. I decided to try yet another kind - Lefeber. Sunny likes it! Well she liked Harrison's too. But she seemed kinda excited about the Lebefer parakeet pellets.
The reason I decided to try Lefebers, they come in big buckets. The budgies wont eat the Harrison's at all, no way nohow. Ive tried pretty much every method.
But then I thought up one more. Only I needed a larger quantity of pellets for it.
I posted elsewhere about Calliope's obsessive chewing. Can't have cuttlebones because she pulverizes it within a day. I know she has been the ringleader in the paint-chewing attempts.
Sooo… I took a bunch of Lefeber pellets and ground them up finely. (Used high-power Bullet blender.) Then mixed the powder with water until play-dough consistency. Shaped them by hand into vaguely different shapes, so I can test which will be easier to clip into their cage. Cooked them in a low-temp oven a few hours until they were rock-hard.
And the result? YES! Yes! They love chewing them! I've watched Calliope, and most the time she just scapes it away (yeah cage bottom is full of pellet-dust), but every so many scrapes she will stop to eat a bite. Jefferson also scrapes And Eats from the pellet-sticks. YAY!!.
Calliope still removes all non-seed-items from the "seed" dishes. BUT. There are two "Pellet" dishes, which they had been Ignoring. Until... recently I have witnessed them each, separately, EATING Lefebers directdly from the pellet dishes!
Finally! Success!
I doubt I will ever get them fully converted. But this way I know, my budgies who often pick thru their seed mixes and eat only the millet, at least they are getting some of the nutrition they need. Yay!!
The reason I decided to try Lefebers, they come in big buckets. The budgies wont eat the Harrison's at all, no way nohow. Ive tried pretty much every method.
But then I thought up one more. Only I needed a larger quantity of pellets for it.
I posted elsewhere about Calliope's obsessive chewing. Can't have cuttlebones because she pulverizes it within a day. I know she has been the ringleader in the paint-chewing attempts.
Sooo… I took a bunch of Lefeber pellets and ground them up finely. (Used high-power Bullet blender.) Then mixed the powder with water until play-dough consistency. Shaped them by hand into vaguely different shapes, so I can test which will be easier to clip into their cage. Cooked them in a low-temp oven a few hours until they were rock-hard.
And the result? YES! Yes! They love chewing them! I've watched Calliope, and most the time she just scapes it away (yeah cage bottom is full of pellet-dust), but every so many scrapes she will stop to eat a bite. Jefferson also scrapes And Eats from the pellet-sticks. YAY!!.
Calliope still removes all non-seed-items from the "seed" dishes. BUT. There are two "Pellet" dishes, which they had been Ignoring. Until... recently I have witnessed them each, separately, EATING Lefebers directdly from the pellet dishes!
Finally! Success!
I doubt I will ever get them fully converted. But this way I know, my budgies who often pick thru their seed mixes and eat only the millet, at least they are getting some of the nutrition they need. Yay!!
