How can I get my parakeets to try different foods I offer?

Question

They will eat the regular seed and I mix in a bit of fruit seed in there as well. But every day I offer other foods as well and have tried toasted whole wheat bread crumbs, hard boiled egg, broccoli, lettuce leaves, cucumber, apple, grapes, carrots, beans, spinache, unsalted pretzels, almonds, peanut butter rolled in seeds. I offer this cut into small pieces and have also tried it whole. They are having none of it. I have also tried rolling some of the food in millett and they just pick off the seeds and won't touch the rest. It has been about 3 weeks now. Suggestions? Thanks!

Answer 1

Parents birds in the wild take their fledglings out with the flock to forage for safe foods to eat.They learn by watching carefully what the adults eat.

By instints for survival the birds we keep are suspect of strange things we call new food in their dishes. So only add alittle of any new food and let the bird Watch it.

Also if you eat in front of them what you have put in their dish will speed up the process. After a day or two, offer a small bite to your bird or birds. Don't give up, is important our birds eat a variety of washed and fresh vegetables, some fresh fruits, some cooked foods like beans and brown rice, lentils, grains ( or soak fresh grains in water over night and mix with other foods and feed that way - add just enough water to cover, then don't drain the water, is full of nutrition)

You also can rinse under hot water, or slightly cook, frozen mixed vegetables and feed them.

Wash well under running water all fresh foods.

Cut grapes in half and inspect for mold. Mold kills birds fast.

Spinach is often moldy, so be careful or soak it in apple vinegar afew minutes to kill pestisides and bactiera.

Because our birds are small, forget pretzels or any food that isn't avain healthy.  Feed certified organic pellets daily too. Scenic or Harrison's.

Watercress, Kale, Turnips and tops, Broccoli, yellow squach, red sweet pepppers> Bell Peppers) carrot tops, cucumber, corn, green beans, green pea's, fresh sprouts,celery ( try filling with peanutbutter some times too ) Bok Choy leaves and white stock,Berries, peaches, pears, apples ( remove apple seeds and pits from peaches and pears! ) oranges ( no seeds in fruits!) tangerine, grapefruit, cooked and cooled pasta, and many other safe for bird foods.

Give you birds time to get use to seeing new foods and sooner or later they will eat them.

Go here for food idea's - http://www.birdchannel.com/

And do searches for  Bird Safe Foods

Answer 2

look up online what foods are best for them and try different things daily.

Answer 3

For some of the foods, such as lettuce leaves, you could clip it on the side of the cage.  My parakeet prefers it like that.  If you keep offering it, they should accept it.  If you can't get them to eat it, you could pretend to nibble on it before giving it to them.  If they taste it, that's good.