my budgie is picky

[soliel]

I have a budgie 13 months old and I had him for 7 months ; he was on seeds for long time and I started introducing different food lately ... till now he refuse to eat any thing except lettuce ...I want to give him variety of foods vegetables and fruits and i do not know how to encourage him to eat it.

[maxollie]

You might consider putting a small plate or dish in the bottom of his cage and put fresh carrots and celery/celery leaves, along with some pieces of fresh fruit such as peaches, or berries, or bananas. With budgies, you need to use a food chopper to chop the foods in very small pieces. It most likely will take awhile form him to get used to eating off the plate, and further, he will have some things he may not like, and other he will enjoy. You can also give him millet as a treat. Millet comes in sprigs that you can get at a Pet Shop. Most birds love millet. I take clothes pins and put pieces of celery and celery leaves and lettuce in my budgie's cage and he loves it. I also give him some fresh bread that is toasted. He likes that too. I think the key to success is to just have patience. Start with a food or two (not all that I suggested), and try out different ones each day. Don't give alot of the food because you will waste it since fresh veggies and fruits should be replaced each day. I will say that the birds I home are not very crazy about fruits, but they sure do love their veggies.
I hope this info will be of help to you.

[soliel]

Thank you
I have already tried mashed potato and sliced carrots but he did not eat except what he knew or liked as before but I will start again ; but shall I feed him small slice of protein or it is not required for him ?!

[maxollie]

You might consider trying cooked sweet potatoes, just a very small amount. If you put a little bit in his seed cup he might try it. The only thing will be that you will have to remove it and clean the cup within a few hours due to the cooked food spoiling. I have never tried any protein like cheese, or chicken, etc. on my birds. I have a tiel and a budgie. I've home birds for many years, but never got into the protein. I do know of some who feed their tiels, chicken, eggs or egg whites, etc. My birds LOVE bread toast or whole wheat bread, broken in small pieces. I put them either between the bars of the cage, or on a clothes pin. There is some protein in the bread. I would say it really isn't nescessary that you feed him protein. Supplementing his seeds/pellets with the fresh veggies and fruits should work just fine. Just keep experimenting with different foods until you find some he will like. That usually is standard for any of us that have birds.

We LOVE to see pics here, so I hope you will be able to post a picture of your little guy sometime soon.

[boomer girl]

If he is friendly with you and sits with you I think the best way to get a bird to eat anything is to let them eat what your eating. We always had flock meals with boomer when he was alive and now when ever we have birds at our house that we are bird sitting we have flock meals with them. If they are not tame we put there cage if its small enough on our table and give them a plate of food in there cage. For some reason birds just like to always eat what you want your eating especially if you make a big deal about it so they can see you eating the food. Offer them a tiny bite of it off your finger tip and this also sometimes works.

[soliel]

He is not that friendly to me but we reached agreement that he will allow me to feed him in case it is his favorite food and clean the cage without disturbing him...