Cockatiel with bad eating habits

[sallyx]

Hi I have a 9 week old cockatiel that I got almost two weeks ago and his eating habits are becoming very bad. When I first bought him my pet store owner recommended a cockatiel seed mix and I bought that and got the vetafarm pellets along with that. The cockatiel seed mix contained sunflower seeds and my cockatiel always ate those before anything. Soon after I realised sunflower seeds are bad for them and not I’m having troubles cutting them from his diet. He’s starting to refuse eating if I don’t give him sunflower seeds and it’s getting me worried. He’s only 9 weekd and I’m hoping it’s not too late to get help? Could you guys recommend anything?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Is he fully weaned? Nine weeks is very young and he might need some formula still. Is he crying for food? I recommend you get a gram scale and weigh him daily. Sunflower seeds are better than nothing, and they do have some nutrients, you just don’t want them to be a big part of his diet, so you might need to give him some in addition to trying to get him to eat other foods. Will he eat the pellets and other foods if you hold them in your hand? Maybe you can try adding just a bit of water to the pellets and see if he will eat them that way. I got my birds to eat foods when they were babies by eating things in front of them.

 

[Danita]

You can grind up pellets too, sprinkle on everything. Or purchase Harrison's Lifetime Mash, or High Potency Mash and sprinkle. Every bite counts!

 

[sallyx]

Is he fully weaned? Nine weeks is very young and he might need some formula still. Is he crying for food? I recommend you get a gram scale and weigh him daily. Sunflower seeds are better than nothing, and they do have some nutrients, you just don’t want them to be a big part of his diet, so you might need to give him some in addition to trying to get him to eat other foods. Will he eat the pellets and other foods if you hold them in your hand? Maybe you can try adding just a bit of water to the pellets and see if he will eat them that way. I got my birds to eat foods when they were babies by eating things in front of them.

I’m pretty sure he’s fully weaned. He still makes that begging sound but he can eat solids. I was noticing that he prefers smaller pieces of the pellets rather than larger. What do you recommend?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I like Oven Fresh Bites and Roudybush Crumbles. Grinding them up and sprinkling them on everything is a good idea, especially if you dampen the food he will eat first so the pellet crumbs will stick.

 

[sunnysmom]

I would definitely watch his weight. Tiels don't wean until 8 weeks at the earliest and it's common for them to regress. If he's begging, to me, he's hungry. I would try some soft foods with him. Some mashed sweet potato, some oatmeal, etc. Even some formula if he's not eating. And as suggested you can try softening some pellets with water. You can try millet spray too. And as Tiel Feathers said, sunflower seeds aren't bad. You just don't want him eating them exclusively. But eating something at this point is better than not eating.

 

[sallyx]

I like Oven Fresh Bites and Roudybush Crumbles. Grinding them up and sprinkling them on everything is a good idea, especially if you dampen the food he will eat first so the pellet crumbs will stick.

Could I use the vetafarm pellets and make a formula with it like work water and stuff. My vet said it’s a very good pellet for the bird.

I would definitely watch his weight. Tiels don't wean until 8 weeks at the earliest and it's common for them to regress. If he's begging, to me, he's hungry. I would try some soft foods with him. Some mashed sweet potato, some oatmeal, etc. Even some formula if he's not eating. And as suggested you can try softening some pellets with water. You can try millet spray too. And as Tiel Feathers said, sunflower seeds aren't bad. You just don't want him eating them exclusively. But eating something at this point is better than not eating.

thank you, he’s starting to eat a little more and started eating my food aswell. Of course I payed attention to if the ingredients were harmful to him first, then allowed him to eat a tiny bit. I’m not too sure what to do I guess I’ll just have to wait

 

[Shezbug]

My bird loves when I get his pellets and grind them into a powder then add warm water to make it like paste or a bit runnier. It won't harm to offer pellets like this once a day if you feel that your bird may prefer the wet warm mush than the hard little pellets. My bird eats his pellets no worries at all regardless of the brand or shape or color but he really loves the pellet mush most days- there is hardly a day he decides he does not want to eat powdered pellet mush.

 

[melissa68]

My bird doesn't like cockatiel sized pellets. I ended up buying the budgie sized and he will eat some of those. I ended up grinding up the pellets and using it as a flour in bird bread and then adding tons of veggies to the bread.

Here is what I do:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup corn meal
• 1 cup ground pellets
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 beaten eggs (including shell - washed and well crushed)
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1/8 cup oil (I used less)
• 2 cups vegetable mixture (I use whatever is in the freezer/fridge but they say some suggested vegetables: broccoli, carrots, green beans, beet tops, swiss chard, zucchini or other squash, red bell pepper, cabbage, yams, parsley, sprouts, cooked brown rice, cooked quiona, cooked barley, lima or pinto beans). I grind everything in a food processor until it's almost mush.
• You can add seeds to the bread if you would like just press them down into the top before baking.

Mix everything together (I used my hands and mixed like a meatloaf), spread in 9x13 pan and baked at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes

This is what Henry started eating but I wanted to add more veggies so I started to crumble up the bread and then I would add another two cups of ground up veggies and another cup of ground pellets to it and mix everything together. Portion out a days worth and freeze in snack sized baggies. I take a baggie out every night and he gets half in the am and half at dinner.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Could I use the vetafarm pellets and make a formula with it like work water and stuff. My vet said it’s a very good pellet for the bird.

Yes, this is definitely something you could do!