Please Help! Picky Budgies!?

Question

I have four budgies at home. Two of them were only offered seed at the pet store, and the other two were feed only seed at their old home. I want to switch them over to a home cooked diet such as pasta, vegetables, fruit, greens, pellets, and only occasionally seed. I know that an all seed diet is like a death diet, and I really want (and need) to switch their diet around, but they are SO PICKY! I give them seed with pellets in it, and when they eat, they leave all the pellets behind! I have tried sooo many things to try and get them to eat other stuff. Feeding them out of my hand, making the food look like a toy, giving them only non-seed food for supper, offering them pellets again, etc.. They just don't bother to even try the new food. I have had two of my birds for about 2 years now, and the other two for about a year. I've tried to get their diet switched around ever since I got them, but they refuse the new food. Please help me!

Answer 1

just put the desired food into the dish and they will have to eat it.

Answer 2

Have you tried feeding them a bioled chicken egg?All birds i have LOVE it and eat it all.After the eggs done bioling chop it all up(with the shell),then put it on a plate in thier cage.(You can store the extera egg in the fridge).

Answer 3

I know that many people and vets push pellets as the perfect food.  But there are also a number of avian vets and breeders who believe that small birds generally don't do well on an all-pellet or heavily pelleted diet.

Get your birds used to eating a wide variety of healthy foods.  Since eating is generally a social "flock" activity, try eating WITH your birds.  Few birds can resist what is on their human's plate :-)  

You might also try sprouting for your birds.  Sprouting really only involves germinating fresh, clean seeds which turns them from a dormant (and fatty) state into living plants.  Most birds take readily to sprouted seeds and grain.  I generally use a small seed-based "sprouting mix" and also include grains like golden millet, quinoa, buckwheat and amaranth.  

Try offering foods in a variety of ways.  You can try putting chunks on bamboo skewers, finely mincing food, coarsely chopping it, shredding it and weaving foods between the cage bars.  Keep offering.  Sooner or later one of the birds will try it and then they'll all get the idea.

Among the foods you can feed your birds are:

Greens: Kale, Bok choy, spinach, chard mustard greens radish, carrot tops, beet tops, dandelion greens (make sure they haven't been sprayed or collected near a roadway) and just about any other leafy green veggie.

Veggies: Carrots, peas, zucchini, corn, squash, radishes, bell pepper, broccoli, green beans, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, chili peppers.

Grains: Steamed rice (white, brown, wild) cooked pasta, whole wheat and multi-grain bread, popcorn (no butter), bran muffins, polenta, grits, cous cous, sprouted seeds and grains (quinoa, amaranth, millet, teff, kamut, spelt), oatmeal, all natural cereal.

Proteins: Raw sunflower seed (small amounts), chicken, eggs, rish, small amounts of hard cheese such as Jack and cheddar, tofu, cooked beans (lentil, kidney, black, garbonzo, navy, white).

Fruit: Apples (seeds removed), peaches, bananas, melons, mango, pomegranate, oranges, papaya, strawberries, plums, pears, berries, nectarines, cherries. (Please remove all pits from fruit.)

Please don't feed your birds salty foods, processed sugar, avocado, rhubarb, alcohol, greasy foods, caffeine, tomato leaves & stems, eggplant leaves, dried beans (always cook or fully sprout first), chocolate, apple seeds, fruit pits, tobacco. Feed onions or garlic in very small amounts only.

Keep trying!  You'll get them eating healthy food sooner or later :-)

Colette

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