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Feeding my bird

BirbBrain

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Hello!!!
I have a cockatiel named Echo, right now, she only eats a seed diet and I am dying to switch her to a chop diet. I found how to make chop but she never even tries to eat it. I've watched videos and just CAN'T get her to eat any veggies or fruits. All she eats is seeds and millet!
 

sunnysmom

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Just keep trying. :) It took me months for my first tiel to eat veggies with me trying every day. Do you give her chop first thing in the morning? That often works best to get them to try. You can also put some seeds in it for her to forage. She may try some of the chop while looking for seeds. You can also try different sizes. Like giving her some big pieces of lettuce (not iceberg). My tiel loved to nibble on them. You can even clip and hang in her cage. Try chopped up broccoli. The tops cut in tiny pieces look like seeds and often tiels will try those. You can try some cooked mashed sweet potato too. My tiel also loved Higgins Worldly Cuisine and vegetables can be added to those too. And my current tiels love freeze dried chopped. I get it from Bodacious Birdie Bites.
 

Sunni Tiel

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Pellets are important too, try to get her to eat them.

You can try tying pieces of veggies to toys or the side of the cage. Some birds will only eat veggies whole or in long strips, some only eat it wet, chopped, or round. Just try every combination you can think of, and keep trying. My cockatiel will only eat his carrots in long strips, his broccoli in big bunches, and he'll eat peas no matter how the're offered.
 

BirbBrain

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Pellets are important too, try to get her to eat them.

You can try tying pieces of veggies to toys or the side of the cage. Some birds will only eat veggies whole or in long strips, some only eat it wet, chopped, or round. Just try every combination you can think of, and keep trying. My cockatiel will only eat his carrots in long strips, his broccoli in big bunches, and he'll eat peas no matter how the're offered.
Thanks! That helps! What pellets do you recommend?
 

BirbBrain

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Just keep trying. :) It took me months for my first tiel to eat veggies with me trying every day. Do you give her chop first thing in the morning? That often works best to get them to try. You can also put some seeds in it for her to forage. She may try some of the chop while looking for seeds. You can also try different sizes. Like giving her some big pieces of lettuce (not iceberg). My tiel loved to nibble on them. You can even clip and hang in her cage. Try chopped up broccoli. The tops cut in tiny pieces look like seeds and often tiels will try those. You can try some cooked mashed sweet potato too. My tiel also loved Higgins Worldly Cuisine and vegetables can be added to those too. And my current tiels love freeze dried chopped. I get it from Bodacious Birdie Bites.
Thanks! I did make chop and try adding seeds in it, she tried it a few times to dig for the seeds, then she realized it wasn't normal and refused touching it.
 

Sunni Tiel

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Thanks! That helps! What pellets do you recommend?
Harrisons, roudybush, TOPS, all three...

TOPs pellets are amazing, but they lack vitamin D3 so you would need another pellet to mix in or a supplement.
 

Sparkles!

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Have you tried sprouting the seeds? Sometimes that’s enough a segue into eating fresh foods for them. In the food court section of the forum there are lots of good threads on getting birds on a healthier diet, too!
 

FeatheredM

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I had two very stubborn budgies who were scared of veggies. Make sure you always leave sure you always have veggies in there, and show the birdie that you sprinkled some seed in there. Try different veggies, like peas or cucumber.
 

Cat G

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As suggested above, we got our stubborn budgies introduced to veg by chopping the tips off broccoli so it looks like seeds. Then I did the same thing with alfalfa sprouts. The other thing that worked was I gave them a chunk of the centre of an orange pepper with the seeds still attached and they went after the pepper seeds and I guess that gave them a taste for peppers. I've tried dipping slices of strawberry or cucumber in their seeds and putting it on a treat clip and they'll now taste a strawberry or cucumber without the seeds on it, but they don't eat a lot of it.
 
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