I make a bird mash where I dice, blend, and mix in fruits and veggies my lovebirds won't eat, and then I toss some sprouts into it so they'll want to eat it and the mash inevitably gets eaten while they're hulling and picking what they already know they like. By force of habit, they just start eating all of it. :) Bloo's link mentions mash diets as well.
Another thing is that my lovies definitely don't like small pieces of vegetables. While they themselves may be small, their vast preference is to grab and tear from big pieces (usually leaves and flowers). I have one who even ends up wrestling with a full broccoli flower when she's eating. You could try clipping (I use plastic clothespins) a full leaf or flower or piece a more sizeable piece of food to a cage bar and see how they feel about that.
Budgies can be remarkably stubborn little things! They have distinct ideas about what is and isn't food, and it can take a lot of work to convince them to try a new thing. The good news is that if you can convince one of your flock that something new is food, the rest will usually fall in pretty quickly.
My favorite trick is babyfood. Mix in what they do like with it, and offer it for about an hour at mealtime. They can't get at their preferred food without eating bits of babyfood, and eventually they accept it as an end in itself. Then you can use it to introduce other things.
Definitely keep on trying. Sometimes eating the food around them helps. For years I had budgies that only ate apple, seed and lettuce. Then amazingly I had three that ate anything in the treat cup.
It did take a while to teach Muffin (a cocktatiel) to eat Zupreem. Same with Feisty. I had to grind it up and experiment with pellet size. It's like they don't realize it is actually food!
Comments 9
Reply
Omg 6 budgies? I'd feel compelled to build them an aviary and sit in it like some crazy bird queen. Lol
Reply
Reply
Another thing is that my lovies definitely don't like small pieces of vegetables. While they themselves may be small, their vast preference is to grab and tear from big pieces (usually leaves and flowers). I have one who even ends up wrestling with a full broccoli flower when she's eating. You could try clipping (I use plastic clothespins) a full leaf or flower or piece a more sizeable piece of food to a cage bar and see how they feel about that.
Reply
My favorite trick is babyfood. Mix in what they do like with it, and offer it for about an hour at mealtime. They can't get at their preferred food without eating bits of babyfood, and eventually they accept it as an end in itself. Then you can use it to introduce other things.
Reply
It did take a while to teach Muffin (a cocktatiel) to eat Zupreem. Same with Feisty. I had to grind it up and experiment with pellet size. It's like they don't realize it is actually food!
Reply
Leave a comment