Veggies!?!

[RyCockatoo]

I was just wondering what veggies you guys feed? Chloe doesnt seem to like any of them! She will only eat fruit . She also does not eat her pellets. I mixed the seed mix in with the pellets and she just eats the seeds. So any ideas on how to get her to eat the pellets and also any ideas about the veggies would be great! Thanks!

 

[MickeysMom]

My best advise is just keep offering them.....it's all new to her, so it may take a little while.

Mickey still doesn't like veggies, but loves most fruits! He actually stole lettuce from my salad last night, and then threw it on the floor when he realized it was a veggie! He had a complete "yucky yucky bleh" look on his face!

As for the pellets, I did the same thing and he went for the seed too, gradually I added more pellets and less seed, so that he had to go through the pellets to get to the seed. He has mostly pellets now in the bowl, and he has started to eat them pretty regularly, although he will dig for seeds....

Slow and steady, she will eventually start trying things.

 

[RyCockatoo]

I hope so cause as of now it is just apples, pears, and seeds lol. Atleast she is getting some fruit in her, but still!

 

[MickeysMom]

Mickey loves warm oatmeal....I hide veggies in it, but he picks them out...lol. I am going to get some baby food veggies and try mixing them in.

 

[Joeyx]

i heard somewhere that if you mix pellets in with seeds, then they would completely
start ignoring them because they favor seeds more and start comparing pellets with
them.. leading to a waste of pellets. just try putting in pellets in one cup and give her
the usual fruits (with some veggies in between) until she tries them. you can also try
mixing the pellets with her fruits so she gets a taste of them too and the nutrients
they provide.

 

[MickeysMom]

Oh to begin with there definately was some waste of pellets, but as he got used to them being there, he started eating them too.

He still will search for seeds, but there are very few in the mix now, so he is eating the pellets. I think by next weekend he should be on straight pellets. The only reason I have taken this long with it, is that he was underweight even with an all seed diet( at his former home), and I didn't want him to drop any more weight by "forcing" the pellets on him.

 

[roxynoodle]

I did the slow conversion of pellets as well with all my birds. Anywhere from 10 days to nearly 3 weeks depending on the bird.

As for veggies try some different things. Small pieces mixed in with fruit maybe. Or try big pieces. Try steamed or raw until you get an idea of what she likes. Or do baby food mixed into oatmeal! It works!

 

[triordan]

my guy loves sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin...i mash one of those and add broccoli, beans, brussel sprouts, anything that i can sneak into it~ you could also try taking pellets and adding some apple/pineapple/cranberry juice and mash that~
Remington also likes scrambled eggs and oatmeal, its easy to sneak veggies in those too!

 

[MickeysMom]

I picked up baby food, and I hardly got the lid off the sweet potatoes before Mickey had his face in the jar eating them like they were candy! He ate till he couldn't hold anymore.....hopefully he likes the peas and other veggies just as much!

 

[roxynoodle]

I picked up baby food, and I hardly got the lid off the sweet potatoes before Mickey had his face in the jar eating them like they were candy! He ate till he couldn't hold anymore.....hopefully he likes the peas and other veggies just as much!

Oh, that's awesome! Based on what the labels say, it's very high in vitamin A. I was putting it into birdie bread to fool my Blue Crown conure. It was the only way I could figure out how to hide it. But, if he eats it directly, all the less work for you!

 

[MickeysMom]

He loves soft foods...oatmeal, occasionally yogurt, and now baby food. The vet seemed to think he was young, but now I'm kinda wondering how young? Like is he still remembering hand feeding young?

 

[roxynoodle]

Maybe so. My birds definitely don't, lol! I call them middle aged, but my vet classifies than as seniors.

 

[Roxy_9_2011]

I can probably beat everyone and every bird on this site as being the pickiest eater. So what I do, and for my conure is make a fruit smoothie and add veggies (just started doing this lol). So I am getting my needed veggies and fruit for the day and so is Roxy. I don't know if other people do that as well for their birds? In my smoothies are all fresh produce, ice, and yogurt. On the very first try Roxy liked the smoothie (anything she sees me eating she wants, which helped). Granted she doesn't eat a whole lot of it-less then than the size of a quarter. But she also is eating pellets a lot everyday so I am not too worried. Thanks to her I am eating fruits/veggies I never had before or haven't eaten in more years than I would like to mention

 

[roxynoodle]

I have the opposite problem, Roxy. I can't eat fruit and veggies anymore due to my digestive disease and miss them terribly. So when I get them ready for my birds, I often find my nose in the bowl sniffing them, lol! Birds are great though for getting their owners to eat healthier.

 

[Luna]

Hi, The baby food is an interesting suggestion. A comment on Macaw "likes" . Before adalesance my little girl would take and hold four pecans or three walnuts now she will throw both of those onto the floor in favior of pistachio which she now only takes two from a handfull. I suspect this is because the Pistachio are easy to open and now she expects they will be offered frequently. D.D.

 

[roxynoodle]

Luna, I usually crack the shells, but not all the way with a nutcracker and then it's easier for them to open. But, opening the rest of it does give them something fun to do for a bit.

 

[Enjru]

Some vegies (excluding fruits, nuts, seeds and grains) that my birds eat include: cooked "mixed vegetables" from the supermarket freezer (corn kernels, peas and chopped up carrots) together with raw, chopped up bird's eye chillies and whole wolfberries=goji berries all mixed up in a food bowl; pumpkin (with the seeds) on a skewer, red capsicum (with the seeds) on a skewer, beetroot (not too frequently because of the oxalic acid) on a skewer, sweet potato on a skewer, broccoli on a skewer, various fresh, whole herbs including rosemary, basil, coriander=cilantro (with the roots) and kaffir lime leaves inside a baffle cage, various green leafy vegetables including watercress, bok choy, tong ho=a chinese green vegetable related to chrysanthemum, wolfberry greens=goji berry greens inside a baffle cage, washed and rinsed and reconstituted kombu seaweed=kelp (not too frequently because of high sodium and iodine and possible seawater contamination with arsenic as well as radioactive leakage off the Japanese coast) inside a baffle cage, certain edible mushrooms, cooked, including shiitake, porcini, morel (not too frequently because of hydrazines and formaldehydes) inside a foraging ball, sprouted corn and sprouted seed hidden inside gumnuts and cardboard compartments.

P.S. The reasons I choose to feed some of the problematic foods occasionally are that they also contain good nutrients, ie: beetroot has betalain, kombu seaweed=kelp has iodine and lots of other minerals and trace elements, and mushrooms have ergosterol.

 

[RyCockatoo]

When feeding cucumbers do you have to Peel them and remove the seeds?

 

[DannyA93]

I can probably beat everyone and every bird on this site as being the pickiest eater. So what I do, and for my conure is make a fruit smoothie and add veggies (just started doing this lol). So I am getting my needed veggies and fruit for the day and so is Roxy. I don't know if other people do that as well for their birds? In my smoothies are all fresh produce, ice, and yogurt. On the very first try Roxy liked the smoothie (anything she sees me eating she wants, which helped). Granted she doesn't eat a whole lot of it-less then than the size of a quarter. But she also is eating pellets a lot everyday so I am not too worried. Thanks to her I am eating fruits/veggies I never had before or haven't eaten in more years than I would like to mention

I beg to differ!! my lil budgie is one of those that are "stuck on seed" she WILL NOT eat ANYTHING! other then seeds i've been trying since november! i've tried putting veggies cut up really small and sprinkled seeds all over it but she didn't go anywhere near it, i bought an egg food mix and she picked the seeds out and left everything which sucked because there wasn't much seed in it i jus bought seed and pellets and i put her seeds so she could actually eat something and im gonna try pellets now maybe she'll eat them:52: this lil bird stresses me out!! haha wish me luck!!

 

[Roxy_9_2011]

I beg to differ!! my lil budgie is one of those that are "stuck on seed" she WILL NOT eat ANYTHING! other then seeds i've been trying since november! i've tried putting veggies cut up really small and sprinkled seeds all over it but she didn't go anywhere near it, i bought an egg food mix and she picked the seeds out and left everything which sucked because there wasn't much seed in it i jus bought seed and pellets and i put her seeds so she could actually eat something and im gonna try pellets now maybe she'll eat them:52: this lil bird stresses me out!! haha wish me luck!!

Wow I do wish you good luck! At least she is eating, so don't stress out too much. I think one of the reasons Roxy likes drinking the smoothie cause she loved drinking formula. So maybe if your budgie liked drinking formula, she might like drinking blended veggies/fruit? Happy to know I'm the only really picky eater around here