my corella is a seed junkie

[awol]

ive had my corella for 6yrs now and the whole time ive had him he wont eat any fruit or veg or nuts what so ever, he just turns his head at them like a lil kid :)and he wont eat pellets i tryed them today.i give him the occasional small peice of bread and he does find his way to the cats biscut bowl every now and then .i feed him trill parrot mix is the diet of bird seed alone ok or does he need more

[vankarhi]

he definetly needs to have fresh fruit and veges as well. With the pellets it takes more than just one go. I had to mix some pellets with the seed for quite some time then gradually add less seed as time went on before I could get my cockatiel to eat pellets. She was a seed junkie too for a while but once I got her on pellets she started to eat her fresh stuff too. My other birds are fine they eat their fresh stuff.......they love it actually but Snowy the cockatiel wouldnt eat them for a while.

Just keep adding things in the cage maybe even put fresh stuff in a bowl and sprinkle the seed over the top to try to encourage tasting other food too.

[raven]

How about trying sprouted seed? By sprouting you make the vits and mins in the seeds more bioavailable, and lower the fat content making seeds still attractive but far healthier. There are lots of sites on the internet that will tell you how to do it. I feed my WC sprouted seed with a variety of vegies every meal. She has some (one small desertspoonful) of Trill cockatiel mix in her cage as well, plus a fod spike with veg or fruit on it. Try cutting the vege very small about the size of the sprouted seed, and a bit bigger (cat bicky size) try it cooked and raw as some vegies are better recived either way. Dusty likes brocoli cooked but carrot raw... Try eating at the same time as she does, as parrots are flock feeders, one eats we all eat! Good luck.

[Laraine]

What a boring diet he has. My cockatiel, Gizmo, was like that so I started buying "Grains and Greens" which has very finely chopped greens in it I've just started buying "Fruit and Nut" as well and I mix them together with ordinary seed. At least I know he is getting some fruit and vegies even if they are disguised.

[Shirrelle]

what about grass seeds? my budgie loved "green panic" i'd pick them while they were green & soft? dunno just a thought

[avinet]

Jan 7, 2011 22:00:28 GMT 10 vankarhi said:

Just keep adding things in the cage maybe even put fresh stuff in a bowl and sprinkle the seed over the top to try to encourage tasting other food too.

Actually I have found that the reverse is often the best way to get a bird eating veggies. Sprinkle a layer of chopped up veggies on top of the seed in their normal seed bowl. They know there is seed there if they can just shift the strange stuff on top, in the process start to realise that stuff tastes OK and will eventually start eating it.

It was our standard method to recommend to customers in our shop who complained their bird wouldn't eat veggies and fruit, and it usually worked.

Favourite veggies most likely to get eaten are leafy greens such as silver beet, Chinese greens such as Choy Sum, corn kernals, boccoli, capsicum - especially red, Granny Smith apples - most birds don't eat sweeter apples, and passionfruit.

And as already been mentioned, sprouted seed is great - the best of all to start your bird out on fresh food. Also be sure to give it a cockatiel seed mix and not a large parrot mix - too high in fat.

cheers,

Mike

[awol]

cool thanks guys i will be giving all of them a shot as i do look at him some days and think you idiot theres so many good things you could be eating but all you want is seed are olives alright ive found he likes olive branches but thought the oil content might not be good for him

[jusdeb]

I dont know if this will help but our Corella will try anything so long as it is given to him by hand , once he knows what it is it can be put in his food bowl .
Except meat which I only feed by hand on occasion in case it goes off .

[jusdeb]

Oh just a hint about the Trill .... a lot of bird owners wont use it as they say it is old seed polished up to look good .

It was suggested to me a while ago to try sprouting trill to test the freshness of the seed , I didnt do it as I now buy bulk seed but my point is if its all he eats he may not be getting a real lot of goodness from the seed .

While you are getting him used to a varied diet perhaps it might be worth thinking about a multivitamin in his water .

[indigo]

If you feed your bird seeds, you are not providing him with all the right nutrients he needs. Along with seeds, to try and justify it to a healthier diet, you have to make sure he has his vegies, fruit, sprouted seed etc.
If you feed him with pellets, it has all the right amounts of nutriton it needs and isn't fatty like seeds which can cause fatty tumours and birds will usually only pick the seeds they like and ignore the rest.
If you use vetafarms pellets (for example), wet them and mush them up into a paste and in it, mix his usual seed...this way, the bird will still get his seeds but in the process, get a taste of the mushy pellets. Over time, decrease the amount of seeds you put in until you find that he can eat the mushy pellets quite well, so then just give them to him dry, as they come in the packet and then the fruit and veg can be used as a diet variety but not a nescesity as it would be, with a seed diet.