New foods

[Birdlovesme]

Hello all!
I hope y'all are having a good night! I posted about this a few months ago, and tried a few things, my budgues are just so stubborn! They're seed junkies. They only eat the little long seeds and little yellowish seeds from the food. So what I've starated doing is crush up 3-5 nutri berries (total) with their food, and leaving it in their cage until laterecently and it's mostly seed shells. They've opened up a little Itty bitty bit to new food, but only from the nutiberries. But I can't get them on fruit and veggies.. I'll put it in, until I know it's not fresh, and they completly avoid the half of the cage with the food on it... They usually wait it out until later when I take it out, and don't even look at it. The previous owner of Charlie, said he ate things like egg,kale,strawberry, etc. I tried most of them, and nothing worked. I haven't tried strawberry, but I doubt he'll try it, Coconut has showed him, if she dosent like it, so does he.. :/
So main questions:
What foods will parakeets most have interest in?
How do I introduce it?
If I get Charlie to eat some, will Coconut try it too?

And totally off topic question. They don't like bathing.. I've tried a water container at the bottom of the cage, but the poo in it, and throw seeds in it.. :?

Coconut has never taken a bath, and I'm not sure about Charlie. Maybe once.
Ive tried misting but it scares both of them, and I cant take them to shower, their not completly calm/tame yet.Maybe a bathroom sink?
Thank y'all so much for any advice! <3

 

[Lady Jane]

IN my budgie experience I find them to be resistant to new foods. I try every which way to present them. First in a dish sprinkled with millet seed of course. I try a kabob style and see if that tempts them. Corn on the cob is a great veggie to put on a skewer. I will hang wet greens with a bag clip from cage top and sometimes the birds will play with them. Right now I have a baby English Budgie that loves his seed. I really believe it is the repetitive presentation of the foods that will entice them to stick their beak into. Last few days I have given him a small amount of cooked winter squash, the consistency of baby food, with cinnamon and millet on top. He is just now eating the millet seeds off the top and in doing so manages to get some squash in his mouth. So in summary I say getting a budgie to eat new foods is a matter of consistency and presentation. Hope this helps

 

[cassiesdad]

IN my budgie experience I find them to be resistant to new foods. I try every which way to present them. First in a dish sprinkled with millet seed of course. I try a kabob style and see if that tempts them. Corn on the cob is a great veggie to put on a skewer. I will hang wet greens with a bag clip from cage top and sometimes the birds will play with them. Right now I have a baby English Budgie that loves his seed. I really believe it is the repetitive presentation of the foods that will entice them to stick their beak into. Last few days I have given him a small amount of cooked winter squash, the consistency of baby food, with cinnamon and millet on top. He is just now eating the millet seeds off the top and in doing so manages to get some squash in his mouth. So in summary I say getting a budgie to eat new foods is a matter of consistency and presentation. Hope this helps

Top notch advice.

About bathing...my budgies don't like direct misting much either...so I take a more indirect approach. I sit by the budgies cage and spray the mist bottle up in the air, letting the mist fall back on me...and hopefully onto the budgies. It looks funny and I make sure that the birds see that the situation is fun and very non-threatening in every way. It's a great way for me to interact with them because they are normally very "non-touch" kind of souls...

 

[Monica]

What foods will parakeets most have interest in?
Try broccoli florets, carrot tops, parsley, kale...


How do I introduce it?
Try clipping it to the cage bars and offering it wet.


If I get Charlie to eat some, will Coconut try it too?
Monkey see, monkey do. Most birds will try new things if they see another bird trying it, too. I have multiple birds, and all have tried new things because they saw others trying it, too.


In regards to bathing... try wet greens attached to the cage bars. (re: comment above) You might also try taking their bath and putting some leaves inside it, so it's more like a bath made out of leaves.

 

[Birdlovesme]

Thank you for the great advice @Lady Jane @cassiesdad, and @Monica ! I'll try all of these. So far I've tried carrot, but they didn't budge. I got a leaf of cabbage and hung it wet on the top of the cage , which scared them at first, but they got used to it. Charlie nibbled at it, but shook his head and walked away.
As for the carrot, I tried eating some it front of them, they both watched, and moved closer to me, or the food dish with the carrot, but never tried it. Ill keep trying carrots and cabbage, but I'll try a few fruits, and kale,broccoli, etc. One more question, what's a budgies most preferred fruit? Thank y'all so much!

 

[Birdlovesme]

I steamed acorn squash, and added a bit of cinnamon, half-steamed apple, apple, hard bits of squash, and some of the inside of the squash. I stored it by packing it in an ice cube tray, but how do I thaw it when needed, and how long will it last?

 

[Monica]

I usually like to thaw the night before, just by putting it into the fridge. Otherwise, *slightly* nuking it in the microwave works, too! You don't want it warm, it's okay to feed it still kind of frozen!

 

[Birdlovesme]

Ok thanks! , also regarding the bath. Both are scared of getting wet. I tried having Charlie get into a container of a little water, with millet, which worked, but he didn't like it. I also tried the sink, he was scared of that too

 

[Birdlovesme]

Omg! Today I added more squash and mixed in millet, and as Charlie was getting the millet, he got some squash in his mouth! Yay! Just got to get coconut to eat it now..