They wont eat their veggies !

[chris&julie]

We cant get our birds to eat their greens . We've tried carrots , sprouts , turnip , cucumber , yellow pepper , cooked sweet potatoe and apparently these are all foods they love !

They love tangerines , so we've not given them any once we noticed them not eating anything else . They wont even eat apple . They get plenty of variety so we can see what they like out of what we give them but they dont eat any of it if its veg ! They prefer just to eat their seed and millet (when available to them )

Please can you help ?

[Donna]

If they have never been offered veggies when they were younger it's going to take awhile for them. Keep offering them. Try corn peas greenbeans. What i do is buy bags of frozen veggies and put them in microwave for a few seconds just to get them thawed. I also make birdiebread and hide the veggies in that.

Donna

[ellieelectrons]

I find my guys prefer corn (and perhaps other veges) once it's been cooked. I put a bit of water in a microwave safe container and cook it quickly in the microwave.

Good luck!

Ellie.

[chris&julie]

We're not gonna give up ! I've tried them with corn and that was a no go , will try peas and beans and see how we go .
Donna , how do you make your birdie bread (if its not a trade secret ! ha ha )

They are suppose to eat it raw .....right ? Its not cooked in the wild is it ha ha ?

I guess its all about time .

Cheers for reply
Julie and Chris

[ellieelectrons]

You are right - they are supposed to eat it raw - however, ours seem to like some veges more if it's cooked. I think it's because it soaks in the moisture. I only cook their corn and I do it for a couple of reasons. 1. they are more likely to eat it 2. I buy a whole cob at a time and it enables me to cut it more easily.... so I cook one (takes about 2 minutes) and then cut it up and store it in a container in the fridge. It lasts them at least 3 days that way.

Ellie.

[julie]

If you are having baked veg with your dinner save some and when its cool mix some seeds into the veg. They only seem to see the seeds and dont realize they are actually tasting the veg to pull the seed out. Its a lot easier if they see another bird eating it, but since both dont know what it is its harder. Mine really like mashed potato and pumpkin together.

[3tiels&aringneck]

I do the same thing as Julie. I will also give them raw brocolli, cauliflower, carrots, etc., but they really look forward to the corn.

May.be try chopping up to very fine pieces. The birdie bread is a great way to use vegetables too. My birds love that too!

[chris&julie]

Birdie bread ? Recipe ? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeese . x x x

[Melika]

I also put new foods in Hane's normal food bowls. That way he knows it's food, then sprinkle a small amount of their normal food on top. So when they finish it they try snacking on what's underneath.

Experiment with different chopping sizes too. Tsume wouldn't eat anything that wasn't bite sized, while Hane loved something he could hold. Sometimes fresh foods need to be on a kabob- this is the only way ours will eat unchopped harder raw veggies like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.


Some recipes: http://www.parrothouse.com/recipes.html

More links here: http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... f=3&t=8078

[chris&julie]

Thanks for all your hints and tips .
Melikka , thanks for pointing me in direction of website for parrot recipes , found some good ones that I will be making over the weekend , at least some if not most of them can go in the freezer . If they dont like them this time round they may like them in the future .........fussy birds ! Thought I'd put all that in the past with my fussy eating children ! ha ha


Julie and Chris

[Lauren]

Just like fussy children, we sometimes have to get 'creative' in the kitchen. I make muffins, my birds love pumpkin (and the seed) apple (no seed) and carrot muffins, I use as much raw/wholemeal stuff as I can including flours etc My 10 year old male has always been a fusspot with food, he will throw food out of the cage if he doesn't approve, he has his favorites and thats it.. stubborn haha! He is also the biggest 'food scab' whenever we are eating! We cant eat with him around. Hes like a seagull at mcdonalds! I have tried taking the seed from the cage when I know he goes down to eat and replace it with just fruit/ vegies.. then he has no other choice. But do not ever starve them when they are hungry! If they dont eat the vegies in time, I give em seed. Most of the time it works. But my boy is too smart, he knows if he waits long enough he will get what he wants.

[bec]

if i want my guys to try something new i eat it too
they seem to want to steal what ever im eating
(hence the reason we only eat birdie safe food when birdies are out of there cages)

[chris&julie]

Yippee ! They're eating their veggies . I read a bit on a parrot website and the girl on there said she gave her birds veggies in the morning and then early evening took it out and put their seed in . The idea was to make the birds hungry so that they had to eat their veg , we did it for one day and it worked !
I also made some birdie bread and they loved it , so they're having that once a week as a treat .

So thanks for all of your tips , we have 2 happy birdies .

[Melika]

Happy to hear it! Congrats on your success and here's to happy birdies!
You'll be a pro parrot researcher in no time.

And d'oh. I feed Hane's veggies at his feeding times, especially in the evening between 5 and 7 (for him). Sometimes we forget to mention the simple things.