[MerlinTheCockateil]

Hello! I’m looking through some different kinds of pellets for my teil and was wondering if any of you knew if the ones I’ve picked out are good. He is getting fresh vegetables as well so pellets won’t be his only source of food.

 

[tielfan]

All of these brands are good. You could also consider Nutriberries. They have the same nutrition as pellets but they look like seed balls, and most cockatiels love them.

 

[MerlinTheCockateil]

All of these brands are good. You could also consider Nutriberries. They have the same nutrition as pellets but they look like seed balls, and most cockatiels love them.

Thanks! I looked them up but unfortunately we don’t have nutriberries in Sweden :/

 

[justmeJulie]

My tiels seem to like Harrison's the best. I have tried several brands over the years, but they eat these more consistently than any others. They also seem to eat more when I get the smaller sized pellets, Harrison's has a "super fine" size. I feed those to both my tiels and budgies and they like them very much.

 

[MaryannCE]

My teil has never eaten anything but ‘junk’ food 😢. I adopted ( rescued) him from someone with virtually no money. He’s 12, was hand fed then left in his cage for 10 years. Never had anything but cheap food. He won’t touch fresh food. I’m taming him again. I’m hoping to get him to eat better but so far, no luck. Should I stop his old food completely? Start all over? I’m afraid he won’t eat. When his sunflower seeds are gone, he gets mad and won’t eat anything.

 

[MaryannCE]

I just ordered nutriberries. 🤞 I’ll try them in a separate bowl for now and see if he goes for it. What do you all think? I’ve also tried pellets and he laughed at me. Didn’t go near them.

 

[MaryannCE]

My tiels seem to like Harrison's the best. I have tried several brands over the years, but they eat these more consistently than any others. They also seem to eat more when I get the smaller sized pellets, Harrison's has a "super fine" size. I feed those to both my tiels and budgies and they like them very much.

Can you order them by mail? I just did. With the pandemic, I haven’t left my home because I have asthma.
I meant this for the original author. Oops

 

[justmeJulie]

My teil has never eaten anything but ‘junk’ food 😢. I adopted ( rescued) him from someone with virtually no money. He’s 12, was hand fed then left in his cage for 10 years. Never had anything but cheap food. He won’t touch fresh food. I’m taming him again. I’m hoping to get him to eat better but so far, no luck. Should I stop his old food completely? Start all over? I’m afraid he won’t eat. When his sunflower seeds are gone, he gets mad and won’t eat anything.

I feel your pain. I have one bird that will sit hungry for days rather than eat anything fresh or any pellets. He only wants seed.
I read an article that said to get tiels to eat better, you should have 2 separate food dishes: one that stays in the cage all the time, and one that you only put in for a few hours a day. The one that stays in all the time has the food your bird doesn't care for. The one that you only put in for a few hours has a mix of what the bird is used to eating and the stuff he doesn't care for. I tried this technique to get him switched completely to pellets but it didn't work. To compromise, I measure a very small amount of the junk food, mix it with the same amount of pellets and leave that in all day. There is a second dish with just pellets in it that is always available. So he'll pick through and eat all the seed first... but at some point he does eat some of the pellets too.
I put fresh greens in a couple of times a week, but he doesn't even look at them. My vet suggested trying to make a puree with greens and sweet potatoes. It should be like a paste and you can roll little balls of it in their seed or pellets so that when they pick at those, they also get the healthy stuff. She said that sometimes they will even eat just that paste more readily than the whole greens... makes sense...but I haven't tried that yet.

 

[MaryannCE]

Hello! I’m looking through some different kinds of pellets for my teil and was wondering if any of you knew if the ones I’ve picked out are good. He is getting fresh vegetables as well so pellets won’t be his only source of food.
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I feel your pain. I have one bird that will sit hungry for days rather than eat anything fresh or any pellets. He only wants seed.
I read an article that said to get tiels to eat better, you should have 2 separate food dishes: one that stays in the cage all the time, and one that you only put in for a few hours a day. The one that stays in all the time has the food your bird doesn't care for. The one that you only put in for a few hours has a mix of what the bird is used to eating and the stuff he doesn't care for. I tried this technique to get him switched completely to pellets but it didn't work. To compromise, I measure a very small amount of the junk food, mix it with the same amount of pellets and leave that in all day. There is a second dish with just pellets in it that is always available. So he'll pick through and eat all the seed first... but at some point he does eat some of the pellets too.
I put fresh greens in a couple of times a week, but he doesn't even look at them. My vet suggested trying to make a puree with greens and sweet potatoes. It should be like a paste and you can roll little balls of it in their seed or pellets so that when they pick at those, they also get the healthy stuff. She said that sometimes they will even eat just that paste more readily than the whole greens... makes sense...but I haven't tried that yet.

I love that vets idea! Thanks so much! I’ll try it for my budgie too. He’s from the same lady. Their diet is so bad and I know better. I raised cockatiels! I fed them healthy food. It makes me sad to feed them junk. They just won’t eat well. She was a very nice person but not well educated on the correct diet for birds. Before I got my first bird, I read everything I could! Omg!!! I can’t thank you enough! 😘

 

[tielfan]

To everyone whose bird would rather go hungry than eat "weird" food: make sure that your bird is getting enough food to stay alive! In the short term, getting enough calories to survive is the only thing that really matters. A balanced diet is important for long term health, but there won't be a long term if your bird doesn't get enough calories.

Birds are naturally cautious about new foods. There are a lot of toxic plants in the wild, and a bird that ate something unfamiliar could end up dead. So birds tend to eat what they were fed as babies, and avoid anything else. It can take weeks/months/years to get them to accept something new, and sometimes they never do accept it. So don't give up, keep on trying, and maybe they will eventually start eating the new food. But until that happens, they need to eat enough to stay alive, even if it's a crappy diet. Birds have been known to actually starve to death because they didn't understand that the new stuff in their food bowl was edible, so the threat is real.

 

[MaryannCE]

I agree with you. I mixed pellets in my buggies food when I adopted him in February. I think he’s starting to eat them. I’m doing it with my teil now. I’m waiting for my nutriberries to arrive. I’d never let him starve. I know birds never show symptoms of illness ie: hunger. By the time they do, it’s too late.

 

[justmeJulie]

I agree also... I didn't mean to imply my bird was actually going hungry, he just wants what he wants. Unfortunately, all my animals (and me and my husband) are very far from starving.

 

[MaryannCE]

I never thought you were starving your birds! ❤

 

[Elizabethharper]

I feed Coco the exact rainbow Kaytee pellets as well as a seed mix
Hope this helps