Tips on getting your bird to eat new things

[DizzyDezzy]

I spent a good while looking for this list in the older posts - somehow this info escaped being put in the FAQ. anyway, here is a great list from way back, not sure who originally wrote it, it has been copied and pasted a lot


1) What colors do your birld like/dislike? Any in paticular? If they do like some, try foods of that color, as they will be more willing to check it out sooner. If you know they avoid certain colors (dislike them), don't offer those.

2) Whenever you are home, have veggies in their cage. They need to be changed every 2-3 hours (so they don't spoil), so try to have them in their cage as much as possible.

3) Present the food in diff ways. Offer it in tiny bits, minced, diced, chopped, grated, whole, etc. Some will not touch whole foods, but if you chop it up, they love it!

4) Choose 3 or 4 different foods to offer, and rotate/mix them only; for a few months. This is so he can get used to the look, and hopefully, taste, of them.

5) What is his staple food? Try peeling a banana, cut off an 1 inch section, and scrape off the sides, so it is sticky. Roll it in seeds/pellets, and offer.

6) Try offering seed/pellets for 1 hour in the morning, then only have veggies in the cage during the day. Offer seed/pellets again in the evening for 1 hour. After a few days, they will usually try the new foods. Be sure it is in a food dish (so they know it is suposed to be eaten ).

7) For some birds, all it takes is mixing the chopped up veggies with their regular food, and they will try it .

YOU eat some while theya re out! Say "Mmmm" with big smiles, any enjoyment noise/gesture you have a habit of doing, and offer it to your bird. Eat it outside of the cage while some is with your bird in the cage. Do NOT feed your bird out of your mouth. They have germs that can make you sick, and you have germs that can make the bird sick!

Also:

Poisonous:
Avacado
Alcohol
Onion
Caffine
Chocolate

Bad for Them:
anything high in preservatives
white rice
sunflower seeds (in large amounts, once and awhile are fine as treats)
most nuts (in large amounts, once and awhile are fine as treats)
honey
sugary foods (not natural sugar (fruits)- added sugar, such as in some of the so called treats at the pet store used to 'glue' the seeds together).

[animalluver]

Fruits-

Apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruit
Pears, plums, peaches, strawberries
Cherries, dates, figs, blackberries
Grapes, raisins, melons, kiwi, papaya.
Fruit juices and dried fruits are also favorite treats.

Vegetables-
Alfalfa sprouts, corn, cauliflower, Romaine lettuce,
Bean sprouts, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, Sweet potato
Carrots, pea pods, beets, Swiss chard, kale, celery tops, and beet greens.

I got this from a care sheet.

[WolfRyder]

brown rice hasn't been stripped of nutrients. White rice has. Like white bread as opposed to wheat bread.

I don't know if you can get your budgies to even try them, but I got some of those "just veggies" dehydrated & freeze dried veggies and my birds love them. Started out feeding them frozen corn, that I had thawed out. Once they were eating that really well, I gave them some of the freeze dried "just corn" and they will eat it.

I also got some of the Dr. Harvey's Best Parakeet Food
http://www.parrot-fever.com/_store/D...?prodID=DHNBPF

and put that in their treat cups...they were eating the veggies too! They love this stuff. Of course, keep in mind my birds have been eating fresh Beak Appetit since I had them, so they're used to "fresh" food.

Try rice, cooked beans (not canned, but dried beans you've soaked and cooked), pasta. Get them used to new stuff that way, then gradually sneak in more veggies hehehe

If all else fails and they like bread, cook birdie bread with grated veggies in it. they'll eat it that way

And if you stand in front of their cage and eat something, you may notice they go to their food cups and start eating. If they see you eat something, they're more willing to at least taste it.

[jack15]

What kind of bread can budgies eat? I haven't tried anything yet because i don't know what is good for him.

[lorelai]

I have another tip on budgie feeding that's helped me convert two stubborn birds to pellets I find that the buddy system works really well - that is, if you have one bird who's already eating what you want to introduce to another bird.

Take their food out for a couple of hours so that they get a bit hungry, and then present a (large) dish to them together - be sure it's a large dish, don't want any pecking/fighting going on. Poke at it, move it around, make it look interesting, and pretend to eat it, making yummynummy noises to attract them. The bird who's used to the food will probably begin eating it, and if you're patient enough, this will excite the other bird into trying it out as well.

It's worked 2 out of 2 times for me so far!! It's so funny to watch a virtual lightbulb go off in our keet's head, as in, "OH!!! This is FOOD!!!!!"

[Celamin]

My budgie won't eat grated carrot, celery, strawberrys, cucumber, apple or nectarine. I put a carrot top in though, and he went APE.

I am going nuts cos you can only buy carrots with tops in mega bulk and it is an expensive way to buy mini carrots (Bob is costing me a fortune!). Plus i bet he gets sick of them real soon....

You can grow your own carrot tops. It's pretty cool to do, just to see it happen. Cut the top end off a whole carrot, and put it in a saucer or small plate of water. Keep giving it water, just enough so that it doesn't get dry, and within a few days you should see green sprouting out of the top of the carrot. It can get pretty tall if you let it. Just make sure not to give your bird the actual carrot part because by now it will be all brown and slimy.

I'm wondering, though, are carrot tops good for a bird? I'm just thinking if they had a lot of nutritional value then humans would be eating them...