should feed dish always be available

[gig]

I give my red belly a mix of pellets and some good seed mix (volkman or higgins). I have been leaving it in his cage all the time-cleaning it out and freshening as needed. I also put a skewer of fresh fruit in the cage in the afternoon but he hasn't shown any interest in this yet.(he's only been with me 3 days)
Should i be feeding him differently?:i will put veggies on the skewer too. Should i be taking his pellet /seeds out when i offer the fresh food?

 

[stephend]

I leave the pellets and seeds in all day, and change them every morning. I will suggest that you sepperate the pellets and seeds. I got the advice from the vet and Bob and Delilah both eat their pellets without a problem. Before I got the advice from the vet Bob would only touch her pellets to get them away from her seeds.

 

[cdog]

I have two separate bowls, one for pellet/seed and one for fruits and veggies. I leave the seeds/pellets in all day and just put the fruits/veggies in the other bowl and they eat both.
If he has only been with you for three days then just wait it out, eventually he will get curious about the fruit and veggies.

 

[MikeyTN]

Depending on which one of our bird, certain ones we do remove pellets when feeding fruits and veggies and certain ones we leave pellets in all day and separate dish for fruits and veggies. We've noticed if we don't remove the pellets, they won't touch the fruits or veggies at all. But if pellets was remove, they go after the fruits and veggies, then we replace it with pellets after they're done. So it varies....The way I transfer Java the U2 into eating pellets was a pretty simple process. I leave the pellets in a dish on it's own and offer seeds during evening time and during the day he gets fruits and veggies. So he started investigating the pellets and start eating them. That's when I yank the seeds all together. I've tried all kinds of methods before, different methods works for different birds....

 

[kc_y0]

I have to take out the seeds/pellets when I give Audrey her fruit/veg as she wont touch it when there are seeds about lol!

 

[roxynoodle]

I do use one bowl for pellets which I leave in all day, and another for fresh foods. I give them some fruit at lunch and then clean it later, and they get veggies and other things at dinner, and then I clean it again. I do remove pellets at night because if any mice have come into the house I don't want them to go into the bird cages. I try to come very close to how many pellets they will eat in a day to keep them fresh (especially the organic Harrison's), and the few that are left at the end of the day I put into a plastic container and take them out in the morning for the wild birds. That way they are always getting fresh pellets. Perhaps not as much a concern in the winter when it's dry and cold, but it's already very warm and humid outside, although not quite warm enough that I'm running the AC yet.

 

[gig]

Thanks for all the feedback. I am going to try all the different scenarios and see which method gets the best response from Bowie. Today I made him a chopped hardboiled egg and put some chopped greens in it. I did sprinkle a tiny bit of seed on it to get him interested. I think he ate a little as there was egg on his beak! Still hasn't touched the fruit skewer:smile031: !