Need suggestions

[Pugwinkle]

Can you suggest how I should be offering new foods to my linnie Kiwi? No matter what I put in his cage it goes untouched other than his seeds. I have several dishes in his cage, one for mash and veggies, one for fruit, one for pellets and one for seeds. I've tried adding seeds and millet to the mash but he still won't look at it. How do you offer the fruits and veggies? Do you put it on a skewer or do you dice it up really small and put it in a dish?

 

[Lady Jane]

First of all bird species such as Linnies and Budgies will and do eat better when there is a pair. Linnies are birds that adore and need a same species cage mate. There is little you can do to make up for that. They are normally very good eaters. Its all in the presentation. Skewers are good, bag clips holding food from the cage top is good but nothing will be as good as competitive eating of two Linnies together.

 

[Pugwinkle]

Well I just got my linnie a week or so ago. I am considering another but eventually I am hoping that he can live either side by side with my cockatiel or even in the cage with him so I am reluctant to get another bird right now. I love all the mutations of the linnies and likely will end up with another but hopefully next time it will be a hand fed bird that is use to eating a proper diet rather than strictly seeds.

 

[Katnap]

Hi Denise,
I started with a single linnie and when I got her a "cage mate" she hated her! So I ended up with two linnies in two cages, which was not terrible for us because companionship for Nyla (my first bird) was not our only motivation for getting a second bird. They both had out of cage time and bonded with their human flock without any problem. Of course once you get the bird bug there is not much chance of fighting it and we welcomed our third linnie into the fold the next year. The second and third birds bonded right away and even though we were ready to have three separate birds in three cages the two (Jazz and Gemma) became cage mates within a week (after quarantine period).
So, I see both sides of the argument for companions.....not every bird wants a buddy, there is no guarantee that they will get along. If you decide to get a new bird be prepared to do proper quarantine and also to have completely separate permanent housing for them if they don't get along.

Try crumbling up the pellets and adding it to the seed dish....that will put the flavor into it and she will start getting used to it. Over time you can reduce the seed amount and increase the pellet amount and so on. That is how we weaned ours onto roudybush from the lower quality pellet/seed mix they were on. You can try eating near her cage while she watches you and make a big deal out of your meal, then put her plate in the cage. Mostly be patient.

 

[Pugwinkle]

I'm ecstatic to report that Kiwi is now eating his mash which includes rice, lentils, quinoa, millet, and tons of veggies. He wouldn't look at it until yesterday when I decided to add whole peas and corn kernals and small pieces of cut up green and yellow beans. He is eating it non stop now. I did sprinkle on some seeds on top but not only is he eating the seeds he also eating his veggies!! Now to get my cockatiel to do the same. The only thing my cockatiel likes other than seeds is egg whites.

As for getting another bird. The reason I got Kiwi in the first place was so that my 10 year old cockatiel would have a friend. I also wanted another bird but not another cockatiel (too much dust and dander) so I decided on a Linnie. I got Kiwi on July 20th so he is being quarantined until August 20th when we will be moving his cage into Woody's room. I am hoping that eventually they move in together in Woody's large flight cage but if they don't want to live together that is no problem. Kiwi can just stay in the cage he is in. I am definitely considering another Linnie but I want to wait until I get Kiwi a little more bonded to me than he is. He is a year old Linnie and he was not hand fed, nor hand tamed so it's going to take some time to get him to trust me. I know very little about his life before he came to live with me but I think he was just a bird in a cage with lots of other birds so he didn't really have any close interactions with humans. Poor birdy.