Stubborn Budgie

[HawkEagle]

Hello,
I am trying to get my seed-loving budgie to eat pellets and with no luck. He won't touch Harrison's, he won't touch Beaphar. Basically he only eats seeds and fruit.
I tried crushing pellets and mixing in with moistened seeds but I don't know if he actually eats the pellets.
Do you have any advice?
Thanks

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[Lady Jane]

I have always mixed pellets in the seed mix. I would be shocked of a budgie would eat straight pellets from a separate dish. Some birds do not like Harrisons so I would call the company that makes Roudyibush and ask for samples. I feed the nibbles size because they are the smallest. They are good about sending samples.

 

[HawkEagle]

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll try that.

 

[Monica]

How long did you do the moistened seeds and pellets for?

Even if he doesn't straight out eat the pellets, he'd still get a taste of them going after the seeds.

 

[HawkEagle]

I don't moisten them for very long, but should I?

 

[Monica]

I just make pellet dust, mix about 50/50 with seeds, then add enough water to make a thick paste. This can then be fed as "cakes" or "balls" to the birds. They have to dig through the pellet paste to get to the seeds, thus ultimately trying the pellets. Once they get used to that, it's easier to transition them to the same pellets. This works best with dye-free pellets, too. Can always add in whole pellets, too.

 

[Milestone]

I grab a little bit of pellets and pretend I'm eating them. Of course with the bird out of the cage or in view. I find that worked really good with my birds. Well It helps that they are inquisitive and always possessive of what I have.

 

[HawkEagle]

I tried making seeds/pellets paste and Lexy tried that, though he seemed to be picking out the seeds (of course, he couldn't have just seeds because of the pellets sticking to them). He is tame and sweet but I doubt he would have pellets just because I 'eat' them too

 

[Monica]

That's fine if he picks out the seeds! He's still getting used to the pellets and even having to taste them because he has to pick the seeds out helps!