World's pickiest cockatiel... Please help?

Question

I used to have two not very hand friendly but lovely cockatiels, Ash and Misty. Ash absolutely loved his seeds and would do anything for sunflower seeds. He just hated fruit and veggies. Since they shared a cage and food, I figured they both enjoyed their seeds. I was wrong. After Ashy died and I was left with just Misty, I've realized she's the world's pickiest eater.

The good thing, I only have to buy the cheapest bulk tiel food. The bad thing, she's not getting enough nutrition from this. She eats all the seeds she likes (which seems to mainly be the grass and millet seeds and other small seeds like that. She won't touch anything else. Sunflower, pumpkin, those cereal puffs? None of them. I've offered her plenty of fruits and veggies to try, but none of them get eaten. And the whole "leave it there when she runs out of stuff she likes and she'll eat it" thing? That doesn't work with her. She would rather starve. No joke. She'll run along the bottom of the cage when she's out of food she likes and throw all the unwanted seeds at us until we fill her bowl. She won't eat them at all.

So please, anybody have any suggestions on how to cure a picky eater? Or am I going to have to keep wasting bird seed and buying more a lot more often than I should have to.

Thanks in advanced.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Your bird had an eating problem. An all seed diet is very unhealthy, my birds are on all seed diets but I give them fresh fruits and veggies and pasta and many more. My birds did not take the fruits or veggies for a whole year! But I kept trying every day-365 days offering a little and now they eat it. Good luck and if yourr bird continues to do this take her to a vet. They can help you for sure.

Budgie+Dogs · Answer

Seeds are definitley very unhealthy food lifelong. What you need is pellets. These are very healthy food for your budgie and should be fed 80% of their diet. Many people will say that budgies feed on entirely seeds in their native land, Australia, which is true. But, your pet birds lifestyle will not be the same as wild birds. They do not fly hundreds of miles in a few days, use of their energy in a few hours, and most importantly, will not get prone to obeisity. Seed can be feed to your budgies every once in every 3 weeks.

Pellets, however, will take a long time to adjust, as will the fruits and vegetebles. Purchase a gram weigher, along with some Roudybush or Harrisons pellets. Slowly stary mixing their original food, 10%-90% and so on. Remeber to weigh them, to make sure that they are eating the pellets and not losing any weight. If they refuse to eat, start over. The introduction of pellets is only basics to the beginning of fruits and vegetables.

For the fruits and vegetables, I recommend feeding them vegetables before you start with the fruits. Get spinach and give it to them. Of course, in the beginning, they will reject them and refuse to eat it. Keep it there for 30 minutes, and then remove them. Repeat this process everyday, your budgies should get curious and take a bite sometime. This may take several weeks to several months. But, it IS worth the time, feeding all seeds can lead to fatty liver disease, obeisity, and tumors.

I also want to say that even fresh fruits and vegetables with pellets and occasional seeds is not enough. Budgies need VARIETY. I cannot stress that enough.Some exmaples include, organic sprouts, beakappetit (beakappetit.com) pollypasta, (pollypasta.com), avicakes, and nutriberries. THose are what I feed my birds, after you have introduced vegetebles and they are coping well, introducing these foods should not be too difficult.

I am glad that you have decided that changing your pets diet is healthier.
Good luck!

mari · Answer

Consider your bird just like a person,Misty gets picky with food!
But if Misty isn't getting the nutrition,it may cause problems in the future.
One way to solve this is to starve her until she learns to eat ALL  of her food.
Or you can simply remove all of her favorites out of the cage and let her sit there until she finally desides to eat!
I'm sure you can think of a plan to get her to eat just ask these questions...
Does my bird have a favorite treat?
Can there be something wrong with my bird?
Can it be possible that my bird is sick?
Is it time to clip my bird's beak?
Should I take my bird to the vet?
The clipping of a birds beak should be done when the birds beak is over grown
and it is hard for the bird to eat big seed!
Anyways wish you luck!
Mari!

Anonymous · Answer

Its extremely not common to tell from the define. according to possibility the chicken became older than you thought it became. You didnt point out it interior the submit yet cockatiels additionally pick grit offered to them to. They use this grit to help grind the seed mutually so as that they might digest the seed. interior the wild they get this grit via eating seed off of the floor. Birds additionally fall ill very actual, surprisingly in the event that they are left in a chilly draft or under an AC vent. The consistent fluctuations in temperature take a toll on the chicken. lower back, from what you probably did submit it is not common to tell what ultimately killed the chicken, i'm not a vet and those are purely some regulations that I genuinely have discovered via the years of having my own birds

Kibibi · Answer

Sometimes you have to be creative and you always have to be persistent and patient. Check out the link below for some ideas. Good luck and keep trying.

World's pickiest cockatiel... Please help?

5 Answers