My cockatiel won't eat sunflower seeds or anything hard!! How do I teach him?

[akashdas98]

Hey, everyone. I'm a new member here so forgive me if I'm not following any conventions. So I got a cockatiel recently. He's 6 months old and haven't had his first molt yet. The seller said he's a male so I'm calling it a he. So my problem is that he cannot bite into anything that's hard (although he bit me pretty hard, so he's not unable to bite hard). From the seed mix, he leaves the sunflower seeds ironically. They're supposed to be the ones birds eat first. How do I make him eat/want to eat those hard seeds?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

My birds don’t really like hard things either, including toys, and all three of my tiels have never eaten a single solitary sunflower seed. I don’t think it really matters as long as they are getting a balanced diet with pellets, a good seed mix, and plenty of fresh foods. As for pellets, my birds like the budgie size.

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome to the forum. He's young. So it may be awhile before he tackles harder things. Baby tiels eat softer foods. Plus, really, you don't want him eating too many sunflower seeds anyway. Are you feeding your tiel foods other than just seeds? He should be getting vegetables and some pellets too.

 

[camelotshadow]

Wow. birds usually love those...Whatever you do don;t shell them for them as they will want you to do it all the time...

Maybe break a little off the end to expose the treat & make it a bit easier until they get the hang of it...

You can also show the...Eat some sunflower seeds so they learn they are good...

 

[akashdas98]

My birds don’t really like hard things either, including toys, and all three of my tiels have never eaten a single solitary sunflower seed. I don’t think it really matters as long as they are getting a balanced diet with pellets, a good seed mix, and plenty of fresh foods. As for pellets, my birds like the budgie size.

Thanks for the quick and helpful response. I'm just confused about how do I reward him when training or playing lol. One thing he likes is these sugary biscuits but I'm afraid they're too bad for his health.

 

[akashdas98]

Welcome to the forum. He's young. So it may be awhile before he tackles harder things. Baby tiels eat softer foods. Plus, really, you don't want him eating too many sunflower seeds anyway. Are you feeding your tiel foods other than just seeds? He should be getting vegetables and some pellets too.

Ahh thanks so much for saying that. I also thought that it's happening because he's young but I wasn't sure. Now that I know he might eat the harder foods in future relieves me lol. Because I wanted to reward him while playing with something that's not sugary biscuits which is very bad for him. I feed him a good quality seed mix (which the sunflower seeds are a tiny portion of) and fresh fruits and veges and soaked and mashed chickpeas every now and then.

 

[akashdas98]

Wow. birds usually love those...Whatever you do don;t shell them for them as they will want you to do it all the time...

Maybe break a little off the end to expose the treat & make it a bit easier until they get the hang of it...

You can also show the...Eat some sunflower seeds so they learn they are good...

Thanks for the great advice. I do loosed it a bit or expose the inner part a little sometimes. I also try to eat it sometimes in front of him. Thanks for letting me know that it might actually work lol.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

My birds go crazy for millet, so I save it just for training. I give them one of the little clusters on the stalk as a reward. Maybe your bird would like that too?

 

[Lady Jane]

Sunflower seeds are god for the wild birds because they have a high fat content and it gives them energy for all the flying outdoors. Not that great for our in home birds. There are many options for treats. Try a small slice of carrot and see if he still likes to eat rather hard things. My budgies would eat at a whole carrot put in the cage as if it was a perch. They have orange faces afterwards. Good luck with your new cockatiel.