Please Help !!!!!!

[MeAndMyG2]

Hello friends:
I have a 3 year old G2 that is a picky eater and will not eat any pellets I offer him. I have tried Harrison's, Roudybush, Zupreem and Hagen. He hates birdie bread and I am scared he will lose weight. Currently he weighs between 300-310 grams, but what can do to get him to eat better. I have him eating Goldenfeast right now, but they really only make the high quality seeds which some are good, but not all of them (ie: sun flower seeds).

I did go out today and bought a bag of TOPs, which I have heard good reviews on, but he just looked at me like I was crazy and threw the pellets across the floor. I'm also thinking I will go out and get a small bag of Harrison's just so I have an alternative. I have a feeling my guy is gonna make this hard!

Does any of you have any suggestions? I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks Vee

 

[Birdlover11]

My birds were seed maniacs, just like yours. They were at the pet shop a seed and millet only diet. I came here for help and a very nice user told me way that worked within a month. You need a 100 % apple juice ONLY and pellets . For every 2 spoons of pellets you put in a cap full of apple juice. Sprinkle a little bit of seeds at the top. If your pellets have preservatives you could leave it in for a day. If it doesn't you have to change it 2 times a day so no fungus can develope. Keep doing it until your cockatoo can eat normally and you don't need to put seeds at the top. Then you could put just in normally.

 

[Birdlover11]

Oh, and the type of pellets I give to my budgies are Lafeber's . Maybe you could try that ?

 

[LivLaughLov]

Hello friends:
I have a 3 year old G2 that is a picky eater and will not eat any pellets I offer him. I have tried Harrison's, Roudybush, Zupreem and Hagen. He hates birdie bread and I am scared he will lose weight. Currently he weighs between 300-310 grams, but what can do to get him to eat better. I have him eating Goldenfeast right now, but they really only make the high quality seeds which some are good, but not all of them (ie: sun flower seeds).

I did go out today and bought a bag of TOPs, which I have heard good reviews on, but he just looked at me like I was crazy and threw the pellets across the floor. I'm also thinking I will go out and get a small bag of Harrison's just so I have an alternative. I have a feeling my guy is gonna make this hard!

Wow! I have a help post almost exactly like yours! My 5 month old Galah will not take ANYTHING except seeds from her bowl or my hand! Here's what I have right now: Zupreem veggie, Harrison's High Potency and TOPS Organic Crumpets. (The newest!) Today I ordered Zupreem Fruit pellets and Roudybush!!! Neither of which will send me samples. Yesterday I made corn muffins for her filled with fresh pineapple and Harrison's. No nothing. But my dogs begged for it and loved it. :/ This morning I made fresh oatmeal for her. Refused. I tried feeding her cooked veggies that I was eating this evening off my finger. She ran and hid. LOL! But she will take baby food sweet potato puffs from my hand. I made her mash in veggies and fruit, I have offered her big pieces cooked and fresh. I tried the juice method, which is awesome and worked for my Quakers in two weeks but she won't even try it.
At least she is not having a big tantrum again. That was awe inspiring! I'll keep an eye on your posts to see if you find anything.

Laurie & Rowan

 

[HalfInsane]

I think LivLaugLov covered a good array of ways to offer pellets. Sounds like you both have stubborn birds!

My old lovebird was a seed addict. I also tried pretty much everything under the sun to make her eat pellets. Wouldn't touch 'em. But she always wanted whatever I was eating. So finally, I poured myself a bowl of pellets, and ate a few myself while proclaiming in the most theatrical voice I could how they were The Most Delicious Thing Ever (yes, I am crazy. Yes, I could have just pretended to eat the pellets... call me dedicated. Lol). But you know what, it actually worked!

Birds love to share our food, and they love theatrics. Just something else to try.

 

[crimson]

that's funny Halfinsane...good for you.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

It took 6 months to get Rosie off seeds, I just mixed them in with her food. After a while I started giving her less seeds and one of the fiesta hanging seed boxes so she had to work harder to get the seeds and started eating more pellets.

 

[Dharmawaits]

I think LivLaugLov covered a good array of ways to offer pellets. Sounds like you both have stubborn birds!

My old lovebird was a seed addict. I also tried pretty much everything under the sun to make her eat pellets. Wouldn't touch 'em. But she always wanted whatever I was eating. So finally, I poured myself a bowl of pellets, and ate a few myself while proclaiming in the most theatrical voice I could how they were The Most Delicious Thing Ever (yes, I am crazy. Yes, I could have just pretended to eat the pellets... call me dedicated. Lol). But you know what, it actually worked!

Birds love to share our food, and they love theatrics. Just something else to try.

Ha! Love it! What we do for those crazy birds

 

[Mare Miller]

I have two cockatoos, a U2 and a Goffin's. Neither, will touch pellets. Every morning, I put a handful of oatmeal in a bowl, add about 12 pellets, ground up in a spice grinder, (aka coffee grinder), cover with water, 1/2 inch above mixture in bowl, nuke for 1 minute. I add a pinch of brown sugar and a pinch of butter, stir and allow to cool. My birds love it!
It's amazing how finicky they can be, one week they LOVE corn, the next, they won't touch it!

 

[Thingamagigs]

Halfinsane had the right idea

People have a tendency to feed by leaving out food for their bird, like you might do with a dog and dry kibble. From a birdies point of view, thats boring and unnatural.

Parrots, especially cockatoos, make feeding a social event. They all gather and hoot and carry on and have play fights while foraging and digging. If you are offering your bird food out of a bowl that sits there all day they wont be impressed ... so the only way you will con them into eating is if you put tasty tasty sunflowers in front of them (eat a sunflower, then eat one of the bird pellets and tell me which you would prefer ). Just as children would prefer to eat nothing but candy.

Once upon a time, I fed my birds the same way (fill up a bowl or two of food, leave it in the cage) and had an impossible time converting my Galah to pellets. I was in the exact situation... trying to follow everyones non-sense advice It didn't work.
So I left forums and gave up on pellets. I then observed wild birds eating... and it clicked. It wasn't what I was feeding that was the problem, it was how I was feeding. As soon as I began to make feeding a social event, he started eating whatever I put in front of him!

So to that end... I offer only pellets and nothing but pellets inside the cage. No ifs, no buts. When they are hungry, they eat it. Every day I cook them up their social meal, which they eat outside of their cage. It consists of a portion of sprouted seed, fresh fruit and veg, pellets, apple cider vinegar and various protein sources - a little bit of meat (fish, chicken or kangaroo) or egg (most often egg). I put fresh food out twice a day.

They all still go straight for the sunflower seeds Have you eaten sunflower seeds before? They are delicious! No wonder they eat them first. But then they always eat their fill of the other foods as well. If you dont have time to make feeding a social event (which if you have a cockatoo you reeeally should) then you could try placing stuff in foraging toys.

 

[MikeyTN]

There's different ways in converting them to eat pellets, BUT you MUST stick to one kind, don't keep on switching around. Pick one and stay with it! I've tried different ways to switch and they all worked for me and I have two picky Cockatoos as well. But I was able to switch them in a very short period. I've tried the mixing method, seeds and pellets by doing 50/50 mix then 75 pellet and 25 seeds. During any period if I see them eat pellets, I remove the dish and give 100% pellets. Then I went with the multi-bowl method. One bowl I kept pellets in there ALL day and I give fruits and veggies in the morning and feed minimal seeds at night. I was able to switch him in one week to eat pellets, he's a U2. You must be consistent, don't give up just because you don't think he likes it. I feed all my parrots Zupreem pellets except the ekkies since it's not good for them....

 

[MeAndMyG2]

Thank you everyone for all of your comments!

Your friend Vee

 

[MonicaMc]

Some other suggestions that I put together can be found in this thread...

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html


Hope you are able to figure out something that works for you!

 

[Remy]

I guess I've been lucky. I haven't had a 'too though. With Puck and Darcy, I just stuck a bowl of Harrison's in the cage (no seeds), and they ate them.

 

[MikeyTN]

The ones that I find that are harder to convert are Cockatoos, Senegals can be a pain too...I didn't have too hard of a time with conures and some other types.....