Pellets/seed

[keetmom]

I was told that my birds should be eating pellets not seed. I have a 1 yr old Quaker that I adopted recently who had eaten seeds her whole life and a new baby budgie. I can't get either of them to eat the zupreem fruity pellets that I bought! The baby budgie throws them out of dish all over my living room floor! The Quaker just won't go to her dish. Should I just get a new bag of seed that does NOT have sunflower seeds? I don't want to waste more $ than I have on the two bags of pellets I already bought if they are not going to eat it. Any Help?

 

[keetmom]

Any opinions?

 

[suebee]

mix the seeds with the pellets, but don't over fill the bowl, if they empty bowl as soon as you've put it in, wait till the next meal time (if you have seeds left) and fill bowl a little bit again, keep doing this and after awhile, they should start eating or at least try the pellets

or you can moisten the pellets with a little juice,

they may not know the pellets are food

this can take some time, and it is trial and error, and maybe another method will work better with your birds, just keep trying, it took me a while to get nut to eat her pellets and this bowl outside her cage works the best for us


i feed nut harrisons adult fine, she will only eat them in a bowl that is outside of her cage, if i put the pellets into her fruit an veg, they get picked out or thrown out, infact in her cage and she does this?? she will even pick it out of mashed potatoe. i think she eats them as they are in easy reach when she is out of the cage, and she has had all the good stuff at the start of the day

lafebers do seeds with pellets in the balls, nuts other dry food and the balls are great for putting into toys etc so she can forage

 

[patterson]

Hey well mine are all on pellets. It took mine bout two weeks to start eating pellets try taking the food out of the cage at nite. Then offer the pellets in moring for hour then take them out and offer fruit or cooked stuff then offer pellets again that evening.

It takes time and slot of pellets get wasted but that's all part of making the switch. Since our alexandrine has been on the pellets he's slot more alert and his feathers are great looking. But once u switch make sure u don't run out of pellets and give seed or u will have to make the switch all over again. But it could take less than 2 weeks each bird is different .

 

[patterson]

Have patience I thought mine didn't like the pellets which are very expensive too. But they cnt get enough of them now stick at it it will happen let him see u eating them and make a fuss etc he soon learn

 

[Pedro]

I still feed my parrots a small parrot seed mix, i also add a few pellets. Not sure to this day if they are actually eating them or just crunching them up.

Parrots do eat various seeds in the wild & i have read they do benefit from the oils in some of the seeds if given in small amounts.

If your birds are having sprouted seeds with a wide range of fruit & vegetables along with a bit of protein. A small amount of dry seed isn't going to hurt your birds as long as you don't fill his bowl up. I recommend a good quality seed mix with about 10 sunflower seed daily.

Each pair of my parrots get about 1/2 cup of seed every 3 days, I don't refill their bowl untill all the little seeds have been eaten. But they get their sprouts/fruits & veggies daily.

My 3 quakers won't eat pellets at all even though i give them a small amount on their dry seed. But they will eat all their fruit & veg & sprouts every day. Once seed is sprouted it turns unhealthy fats into protein which are very healthy to give your birds. Along with some raw nuts.

I think all my birds look in great feather & are healthy just with the diet they are already on. I honestly don't think that pellets are the be all & end all of a parrots diet. I am not saying pellets are not good just that i don't like using them when i can give my birds a healthy well balanced diet without using them as a staple diet. I mainly use them as treats if they eat them.

 

[patterson]

Yea it's really up to what want do I prefer pellets and others prefer different diets mine get pellet and loads of other stuff in a day 3 types fruit each day with as many veg I cn put and boiled eggs one or twice week. Just find out which Is best diet.