Switching Foods with a Stubborn Conure

[Trillium]

At the vets advice, I'm trying to switch my blue crowned conure, Oscar, from Zupreem fruity pellets to Harrisons High Potency. Oscar is definitely sight-oriented and has been on the colorful food since he was old enough to eat solids. When he eats his Zupreem, he's methodical. Purples first, oranges, then reds, etc etc. Well the Harrison's pellets just don't scream "pick me up and eat me!" so I need some help.

I've tried fruit juice on the pellets, I've tried eating them in front of him (that usually gets him every time.... no luck.).

He really loves bread, which he gets very sparingly as I don't like to give him too much fortified people food, and I read somewhere that I can bake these pellets into little breads. Does anyone have a bird-friendly bread recipe?

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated! The vet said, that the faster I get him on this food, the healthier he will be.

 

[Rio Mom]

When I got my harrisons and roudybush, I offered some to River in my hand when I had him out playing. He tried it right away, maybe he thought it was a treat? Or maybe I just got lucky and have a bird who loves eating everything lol.

I don't know a recipe for making bread from the pellets, but Harrisons does sell a birdie bread mix.

 

[Trillium]

Well I did try to offer it like a treat; while holding him and one little pellet from my hand. I probably should have tried that **before** I put some in his food dish because he was wise to the "deception". :09:

Thanks for the info on the bread mix. I checked it out on the Harrisons website. That's one awfully expensive little bag o' bread mix! I'll buy it if I have to, but I hope he doesn't get totally hooked on the bread and not the pellets! >.<

 

[Rio Mom]

Just found this recipe

Parrot Recipes BIRDY BREAD

oodles of other recipes too!

 

[Trillium]

Just found this recipe

Parrot Recipes BIRDY BREAD

oodles of other recipes too!

You're my hero. I'm taking my day out tomorrow to make some birdy bread and try to coax him to eat it. His wing twitches were joined by a leg tic tonight and I really need to get him on the right track fast before I get sick with anxiety. :smile005:

 

[Rio Mom]

Just found this recipe

Parrot Recipes BIRDY BREAD

oodles of other recipes too!

You're my hero. I'm taking my day out tomorrow to make some birdy bread and try to coax him to eat it. His wing twitches were joined by a leg tic tonight and I really need to get him on the right track fast before I get sick with anxiety. :smile005:

I hope he's doing better soon!

 

[Trillium]

3 recipes later, and he's still stubbornly not eating them! I've tried bread, cookies and more bread (usually, he's a bread fanatic). Mush, "smoothies", you name it. He's eating everything but what I want him to eat, meaning all his old food. When I take away his old food, he will not eat at all, just drink. And considering he's having nutrition problems and is in a full moult, I don't want to withhold nutrients from him entirely.

I tried demonstrating by feeding my sister the breads and cookies and I've tried feeding him from my lips. He takes the goodies from my lips, rips them up and tosses them. I even tracked down all the crumbs and put them back together to see if there was even a little bit missing, and there isn't.

 

[suebee]

have you tried the power treats that harrisons do?? nut is more likely to eat them, then her super fine

i've switched to the zupreem an she just crunches them up!!! grrrr

as a cheat, have you though of putting food dye onto the harrisons??

i don;t hold out much hope lol cos i tried the fruit juice, baking, mixing into mash an all to no avail!!!

but i have noticed that when nut is out of her cage and cannot be bothered to go into her cage, she will eat some of the pellets in the bowl thats on top of her cage!

good luck lol i've tasted pellets an they taste ewww an dry, you can give your bird boiled egg white for extra protein and the shell for the calcium, and other foods to increase what you think he needs??

 

[henpecked]

I'm not suggesting one pellet is better than another, but be fore warned that vet have some financial gain in recommending the harrison pellets, they get them cheaper than any one else .I'd put your vet on the spot and ask "so your say that i'm harning him by feeding this other pellet?"Yes some pellets are better than others but they are implying the pellet that he eats is bad.Is it?

 

[brianlinkles]

I'm not suggesting one pellet is better than another, but be fore warned that vet have some financial gain in recommending the harrison pellets, they get them cheaper than any one else .I'd put your vet on the spot and ask "so your say that i'm harning him by feeding this other pellet?"Yes some pellets are better than others but they are implying the pellet that he eats is bad.Is it?

Again, I am a newbie and I am just trying my best to ask lots of questions and read up on everything I can find. I do know that the bird breeder in town (wonderful family owned business/bird farm) does not like Harrison's at all. He said that it was similar to feeding an all seed diet. I don't know anything else except that he was adamant that he would not feed this. I do know that there is a vet in town that is quite "money driven" he pushes the Harrisons! I'm not saying that I even know if this is true or false it just makes a little sense that the vet is getting something out of it.

 

[suebee]

with harrisons there was less waste, with the zupreem lots of waste

pellets are ment to have everything our birds need, but looking at it from amount consumed point of view, there is no way nut gets all she needs from the pellets, simply as she really does not eat them that much, 1 desert spoon harrisons a day with some left over, an what ever amount of zupreem crunched up an wasted, she prob eats a few pellets of the zupreem aday. so common sense dictates that other foods need to be offered to round off nutrictional intake per day

 

[MominNC]

Hiya everyone. Thank you for this post. I am having the same trouble with Holly my Alexandrine. Two days after I got her home we went off to the vet for a checkup. His first question was what is she eating. I provided him a complete menu since I keep a running tally of daily foods. He said I need to switch her off eating seed mix with berries because it is high fat content and can lead to fatty liver disease which will reduce her lifespan and quality of life. I'm new to parrots, only had cockatiels in my distant past and have two budgies in addition to the new parrot. I trusted the vets advice in putting Holly on Roudybush maintenance pellets in medium size. First I added pellets atop the seed mix and for added interest I dropped five pieces of my dogs food into the bowl as well. She tossed the dog food aside and did initially eat the pellets because they were different and new. So I thought hey I just might have a win here! So I've reduced the ration size of seed mix in it's own bowl and added a second bowl nearly full of the pellets. She's out smarting me by ignoring the pellets and eating chiefly the seed I suppose because it is familar. I'm guessing I need to remove the second bowl of pellets and mix pellets to seed to tantalize her into switching. I am betting it's going to take work and patience on my part to persevere through this transition.

 

[Trillium]

I'm really not sure what my vet has to gain from putting Oscar on Harrison's considering I don't buy it through the vet. I buy it at an independent avian supply store pretty far from the vets.