[Avalon_Princess]

So I've had Echo since he was eight weeks old, he'd be about 7 months old now and I'm still having trouble convincing him to eat veggies. He eats corn no matter how its cooked, creamed corn, raw corn, popcorn he'll eat all that and he might have a taste of carrots now and then but otherwise he doesn't touch veggies. I'm fairly sure a seed and corn diet can't be much healthier then an all seed diet so any suggestions to get him to eat more veggies? I've tried mixing corn with other foods and though he'll taste the new foods, he'll never take for then the tiniest nibble.

Right now he has his seeds most of the time but at dusk when he usually eats a lot we've been taking his seed away and giving him veggies, doesn't seem to do much except make him hungrier in the morning.

What veggies do your birdies go running for?

 

[elijahfan]

maybe make the food fun ? im goign to buy some shoes laces and hang it from the acge like a necklace, so they paly

 

[Avalon_Princess]

He plays games with his food such as drop it over the highest edge, and though he might taste it while he carries it, he won't eat it. I've also offered him colourful food, but the thing is he doesn't play with toys, just destroys them and throws them around. And he does destroy the food, just doesn't swallow it.

 

[Bea]

My guys destroy a lot of the food but they're still getting some of it too - they try to dehull the veggies meaning they get a small beakful and churned up mush is all over their beak, soon to be shaken off and cover the walls.

Have you tried making a small batch of birdy bread for him. If you search in this forum you should be able to find the recipe. I find that to be a handy tool for feeding veggies.

 

[Avalon_Princess]

Hmmm trying a new trick today, I didn't give him fresh seeds last night like I usually do and instead left him to the few remaining seeds in his bolw, plenty veggies and pasta as well as some dried fruit. Silly bird only had a few bites of them, and this morning for breakfast he got fresh seed, mixed with pear and banana baby food, and since he was rather hungry he ended up eating quite a lot of pureed pear and banana as well as seed.

 

[allen]

you could try adding different veggies to the puread banana with the seed he will get a taste of the veggies and eventually eat veggies on there own

 

[elijahfan]

mine wont eat fruit or veg, how long can they stay healthy on just seed and millet

 

[xxxSpikexxx]

mine wont eat fruit or veg, how long can they stay healthy on just seed and millet

Just keep trying every day, broccoli is one of Spikes favourites. It may take quite a while but it is best for a tiel to have a varied diet

 

[Avalon_Princess]

Hmmm I think Echo's getting hungry LOL, he actually ate a few bites of veggies today, I'm mixing his seeds in with a few different types of vegies cut to be the same size as millet, he seems to be eating at least some of the vegies. And he gets some straight seed before he gos to sleep so he's not starving.

One question though, on an all seed diet how much seed do they normally eat in a day? Just trying to make sure he still gets enough to eat while I try and get him to eat veggies.

 

[sweetrsue]

They usually only eat a couple of tablespoons per day per bird when they are eating seed only. I had a problem getting my birds to eat veggies so I got a couple of cabob things for their veggies and I alternated a millet spray then the next day a cabob in the same spot. It worked. Plus I think having it hung on a cabob with alternating colors makes it look like fun to start with. Some of the birds I have were eating nothing but crackers when I brought them home.

 

[Avalon_Princess]

Echo won't eat millet sprays, no idea why I bought a pack for him and he just ignored them, they ended up going to the budgies, who were absolutely delighted LOL.

Echo's slowly slowly expanding his list of things he deigns to try. The list now includes everything in his tropimix apart from large pieces of dried fruit and nuts, though he eats the dried fruit if someone cuts it up for me, though nothing can convince him that the tiny amount of nuts aren't poisonous. He also eats corn and carrot and he's suddenly obsessed with pasta and rice after he started eating beak appetit, though he won't eat the pasta if I stuff it for budgies. Someones too smart for their own good LOL.

I made seven layer salad tonight for him though, so if I'm lucky that might go down well.

Right now he has tropimix and water available at all times, and a bowl of vegies every morning with a small amount of rice or pasta as well as about a tablespoon of warm beak appetit. The beak appetit he eats immediately as his breakfast, he's worked out it gets cold, and he hates it cold so he wolfs it down LOL. Then at night since he's more then a tad irritating when we eat dinner he gets two teaspoons of seed to eat in his cage which means we don't have to lock him in and suffer his shrieking.

So his diet is slowly expanding, though I've no idea how I'm going to get him to eat the seven layer salad, guess mixing it with seed and adding a layer of beak appetit on top will be the first thing to try.

He's also not interested in things we're eating, our problem with having him out when we eat dinner is he's obsessed with shiny things, like knives, forks, glasses LOL. Which is irritating as I'd hoped that ploy would work, though he does show more interest in yellow and orange foods, so maybe I should try colouring his food next LOL.

 

[sweetrsue]

May be that cabob thing would work for you. Considering Echo's obsession with shiney objects. It's a metal rod with a thing that screws on the bottom. One of mine has a bell the other one doesn't. I find the favorite for my guys are brocolli flourettes, big thick diagonal cut (so their bigger) carrot slices and snow pea pods. I've discovered it's easiest to put the stuff your putting on the rod on the cutting board and stick the rod in it. I tried just pusing things onto the rod but I ended up breaking the carrot slices and the pea pods more often than not.

 

[Avalon_Princess]

Hmmm might try it, have to find one fisrt though, apart from seed and swings, local petstores don't stock much else, will have a look though.

Echo got his first go at seven layer salad today, didn't have time to stay and see if he ate anything as its always a rush to get out in the morning. When I looked at it this avo didn't look like he'd touched anything, but gave him a fresh dish anyway. Little bugger is picking bits out, mainly the pasta, corn and the smallest bits of carrot blah LOL. He seems to be tasting things as well though, running his beak over the different things before choosing a piece of pasta, so maybe if I keep offering it he might just crack and eat something.

My parents think its hilarious, virtually everything Echos getting are things I would never touch in my life, I'm spending longer chopping things up for him then I do cooking food for myself. But oh well he is a spoilt brat. I have to say though I am sooo not looking forward to Christmas, both Mum and Dad spoilt him as much as I do and bend the rules that they are meant to stick to (like not letting echo on the kitchen bench, not letting Echo annoy them when their working etc) and Christmas... A real Christmas tree, wrapping paper, plastic. Twill be awful LOL. Oh well I'm sure evryone spoilts their tiels rotten LOL.

 

[Avalon_Princess]

Just thought I'd update on the seven layer salad. Echo's been getting it for a week now and he's slowly getting more adventurous. He's tried quite a bit of it, he eats more as well if dried chilli flakes are mixed through. I've just made a second batch, trying hard to make the pieces the size he prefers, but its near impossible have you ever tried cutting oranges into pieces the same size as millet? the stuff just disintegrates LOL.

So is this a healthy diet for him then? Each day he gets as many veggies as he wants usually laced with a pinch of chilli flakes, cinnamon or a small amount of millet, a tablespoon of beak appetit which is mainly beans and rice and two teaspoons of seed. Am I missing anything in his diet?

Oh also how do people clean their birds beaks? He's an absolute grot about his food and generally gets it caked all over his face, I try and scratch it off and also use some warm water but he now has orange stains all around his beak.

 

[kimmikefids]

Hey Avalon,

I'm from the Hunter Valley too and thought I would tell you where I've seen the kabobs....It depends where in the Hunter Valley....I'm between Singleton and Maitland and I have seen them at Pet Barn at both East Maitland and Newcastle...and Big W surprisingly enough....also Dickie's pet store in Singleton....just some ideas of places to get it from....I would assume any pet barn or big w would have them....oh and when Angel was young I used to feed him fruit cut up small and he used to love banana and get it all over him....i used to either get paper towel or a washer wet it and just wipe.....he was young enough that he would let me without too much struggle

 

[Avalon_Princess]

Oooh another Hunter Valley person. I've seen the Big W kabobs, we used to have one for the budgies but they rusted so quickly, found it a tad worrying. And we're boycotting the East Maitland Petbarn because of their treatment of the animals they sell so can't go there.

LOl I wipe his face down continually but he's still stained a nice orange.

 

[sweetrsue]

I've seen the Ka-bobs online as Garden treat holder or something like that. Also found them in the small animal isle meant for hamsters or rats. It had a big mousy looking head in it so I broke that off. I wasn't sure if it would be upsetting or not. They love the little bell at the bottom.

 

[kimmikefids]

oh really??? I didn't realise they sold pets there.....that's terrible then...and ur right about the rusty kabob...no good.....im glad u at least know the places I do...lol...never hurts to suggest....i have to say....u really have done well to get Echo to eat more that just seeds....its inspiring for those of us that have STUBBORN seed birds....oh i do have one question...where do u get ur beak appetite from?? I haven't seen it anywhere but when I was in Canada I saw it and was interested in getting some....and I'm not sure about the staining....darn those bright foods!!!!!

 

[Avalon_Princess]

I buy it from the parrot rescue, fantastic place, decent prices as well. A bag of Beak appetit will last about a month, I freeze it in an ice cube tray and feed half a cube a day. Right now he's only tried Caribbean Crunch but he loves it.
http://parrotrescuecentre.com/prc_shop_cats_food.cfm?cat_id=4

He still doesn't really eat veggies, he has fun shredding them but I'm pretty sure not much is actually swallowed but he is eating it now. The other really helpful thing is the crushed dried chili, I got it from woolies in a red packet. I just mix it through and he loves cinnamon sticks get the same reaction, and he's forced to eat the veggies since it all sticks together. Another trick is baby food theres a good brand from woolies which sells pureed veggies and fruit with vitamin C as the only additive, mix the seeds with that and they ahve no choice but to taste it and then they realize they like it.

One bit of advice though, if you feed the chilli don't let your bird anywhere near your face, Echo tried to preen my eyelashes after eating a beakful of chilli... it really hurt.

 

[kimmikefids]

oh OWWW....that would hurt!!! Ty for the link I will check it out.....I know Little Mikey hasn't grasped the concept of biting food other than seed hard.....so I thought a soft mix would be good for him and Angel...I will try the baby food too....ty for the tips!!! At least Echo is having more to his diet even if u have to trick him lol