Tiel would rather eat his poop than veggies

[SarahKate]

Title pretty much says it all. My tiel is a seed junkie and I'm working on getting him to try veggies and fruits. I have given him peas, carrots, apples, cauliflower, and celery so far. He instead pecks at the dried poop in his cage instead of eating his veggies..he hasn't eaten any in 2 days.

Any tips? I have tried cutting them all up in different sizes and even scraping them, but no go.

I'm growing some sprouts for him to try tomorrow..I hope he will eat those.

 

[LeaKP]

The change has to be gradual. My little gcc was the same and now, 6 months later after gradually introducing pellets, fruits, and veggies, I'm happy to say he is a reformed bird! Gradually replace seed with pellets and fresh foods. Takes time!

 

[strudel]

When I was looking into this, I read advice to chop it fine (ie in the food processor). Serve the seed on top of the chop. The idea is that when picking at the seed, they'll get some of the chop and hopefully like it.

My weiros (tiels) aren't really that keen on veggies compared to my others.

 

[SarahKate]

When I was looking into this, I read advice to chop it fine (ie in the food processor). Serve the seed on top of the chop. The idea is that when picking at the seed, they'll get some of the chop and hopefully like it.

My weiros (tiels) aren't really that keen on veggies compared to my others.

I'll try that : )

 

[Christinenc2000]

My Macaw was on a all seed diet when I got him. He would eat fruit but not veggies. If he see's me eat anything he wants some. Also likes them raw and in chunks that he can hold

 

[weco]

SarahKate, Strudel & others whose birds seem to have an affinity for their dried poop, look up coprophagy or coprophagia, it's not as uncommon as you might think, but it usually has to do with diet and a nutritional deficiency. In the case of newly acquired birds, you probably need to look at their diet history......there are a couple of recent threads I've posted to, so an archive search should bring them up for you.....

Good luck.....

 

[strudel]

Oh, my birds don't eat their poo, I was looking up how to get them onto fresh food after they'd been raised on seed only.

 

[SarahKate]

Update: While I do catch him "cleaning his cage for me" occasionally, I noticed hes at least sampling his veggies. I THINK hes eating carrots. And I caught him with a giant shred of brussel sprouts hanging out of his mouth once. It freaked me out because I didn't know what it was at first haha. So we have a bit of improvement here. On top of it he seems to have grown more attached to me. He screams whenever I leave his sight lol.

The thing strudel said about shredding the veggies, then sprinkling his seeds on top of it seems to be working : )

 

[Dopey]

Great! Keep up the good work.

 

[strudel]

Well, that didn't take long Good boy!

I found the link to one article I read when I was looking up how to get them eating chop. This is the author who says if you chop it all up so it always looks the same, you can change the content and the birds won't notice (something along those lines, don't shoot me if I've misquoted her)

Feeding the Companion Parrot by Pamela Clark