Help!! My New IRN will only eat if I give her food by hand!!

[Yvette]

Hey guys and girls =)

My partner bought me a 13 week old hand-raised/tame IRL yesterday, and to get her to like me I gave her two sunflower seeds, a grape and some carrot by hand, but only if she walked to my hand first. Now I think she associates being able to eat with being with me, so she keeps trying to jump off her perch over to me! Her wings are clipped too so this is dangerous for her..
She won't let me put her back in her cage, when I do, she just does laps around the cage.


How can I get her to eat her pellet mix? Just give her time? Perhaps I did the wrong thing by trying to associate me with treats?
I've seen her have some water... I also tried giving her individual pellets from my hand but she just picks them up and drops them, of course the grape, carrot and seeds are much more tasty!!

Thanks in advance =)

Yvette -
Budgie Midori, Budgie Lil Blue, and IRN Gumby

[SCB -SA]

Welcome your baby is very cute.

For now hold off with the treats, leave her to eat her pellet mix, when she is hungry she will eat (i dont mean starve her for days just dont give her any treats for a day and see, another tactic if you have time is sit n watch n encourage her to eat her pellets, after a while of handing her pellets she will eventually eat them, and once she has eaten one, then offer her a treat....
then she will learn pellet = treat as well.

something i find works especially well for mine, pretend YOU are eating her pellets, as they take an unnatural interest in whatever we eat, and consider it much tastier than their food, even when it is their own food!

[Yvette]

Thank you greatly =)

I will try with pretending to eat her pellets.. And will TRY not to fold with ONLY providing her with pellets for a day. (She started shivering around 7pm today so I gave her a few seeds [sunflower and oats]... And she stopped shaking and her feet weren't cold 10 mins later.)

She loves being close to me, so tomorrow I will let her sit on her cage (she will ONLY eat ON TOP of her parrot cage; another problem i'm having) and pretend to eat the pellets myself..
But she is quite smart. After 10 hours of not eating anything and circling her cage constantly, I may get worried when she starts shivering again. I know they hide things well =(

(Should I keep her locked in her cage for a few days with only pellets and water? [My partner wants her to get to know him too.... Though i've told him the importance of training]... But he will live =P )
She really is a sweetheart, though. When she isn't in her cage she loves pats and people, any food and even loves seeing and talking to my two little budgies.
She is of perfect health but at 9pm I gave her some strawberry, a slice of nectarine, a bit of orange and some millet. ( Valentine's day Leftovers )

It's mid-summer here in Australia, (35-40 degrees celcius) so the shivering is a bit random. I understand she's stressed but don't want her to be a 'seed-dependant' IRN. She is very sweet and deserves to live a long and loving life.

Thank you very much for the tips!! x From all of us i'm sure =)

-Yvette-

[pinkdevil]

Hi,

Do you know what food the breeder was feeding your ringie?

Since your bird will eat some fruits, you could try grounding up a few pellets into a powder and sprinkling it over the fruit so she will get the taste of the pellets while eating. You mentioned she likes grapes, you could cut one in half and sprinkle the pellet powder over the cut area so it sticks to the grape easier.
I also mix pellets in hot water and let it soften for a few minutes and mix to a crunchy paste and offer that to my birds. The babies seem to eat it better than dry pellets but do not leave it in the cage for too long otherwise it could go off, especially as it has been wet. I make a small amount and remove it from the cage after around 40 min -1 hr depending on the days temp.

If all she is picking out is the sunflower seeds, I would remove all sunflower seeds from her mix, (too many not healthy anyway) and offer her the remainder of the seed mix.

As she is only 13 weeks old, she has not long been weaned and still testing out foods.
When I wean my babies, I have a small dish of colourful fruit and veg like peas, corn, apple, pear, broccoli, carrots, capsicum, sprouted seed etc. I try to make it as interesting and colourful as possible to attract their attention. I have even placed a small toy (like a foot toy size) into their food bowl to encourage them to investigate and have a pick around. I leave a bowl of seed mix and a bowl of pellets in the cage at all times as well. That way the birds can check it out and maybe have a test taste. At the start they seem to reject most foods (except for fruit/veg and naughty foods like sunflower seeds) but they do eat eventually.

You could try soaking or sprouting seed, much healthier alternative to normal dry seed and she may take to it easier.
It is very easy to sprout seed. I use aprox 1 cup (have a few birds) and wash thoroughly, then soak overnight in a container of warm water. Some people add a SMALL amount of bleach to the water to stop from souring but I don't often use anything or if I do, use a couple of drops of Vetafarm sweetwater in the water. Next morning drain the seed in a sieve and wash thoroughly again under running water. I then spread out on a sprouting tray but I think any container would do. Leave on bench and a few hours time, rinse and again that night. Depending on the time of the year, (summer sprouts faster than winter) I feed out the following day. Rinsing is important to help prevent the mix from going sour. DO NOT use if moldy or has an 'off' smell to it. But if you rinse well and often and use the mix in a day or two or store in the fridge for a couple of days if not using the whole amount, then you should not have any problems of it going bad.

Good luck with it all and congrats on your new baby.

[Yvette]

Thanks!! I tried crushing them up and then i let them soak into the grape juice so it was softer...

She didn't fall for it at first, until she realised she wasn't getting the grape without the pellets on it =P
So now she is at least trying the taste...
The breeder had her on pellets, but not colourful ones like the ones I bought, just plain browny pellets.

I soaked the pellets to make a paste like you said.. And mashed them in with the seeds taking out the sunflowers. She is eating the seeds and kind of flicking the pellet mash onto my walls haha But i'm sure she's getting some anyway.

I will give sprouting a go tonight.

So the food is getting easier!! Good news. She still hates her cage though and will not sit still in it so I still have to feed her on the top opening perch. But she'll get used to it hopefully. She only likes it to sleep with the towels over the cage.

Thanks so much for all your help!!

[Yvette]

She is eating pellet mush!! I am so happy. We are getting somewhere, it's great!
I firstly gave her 70% mush, 30% seed, and now I am giving her 100% pellet mush and she is finally eating it.. Well the mushy bits she chooses hehe picky girl.

I bought her a flavoured toy this evening, and let her chew/play with it while she was with me for about an hour. Then I put it in her cage. She seems much more happy to be in her cage now.

No more doing laps as of yet!!! (But she's grinding her beak so probably just tired...)

I just want to say a big thank you again.
The tips you have givien me have been very helpful and I am truely grateful

=)

- Yvette -

[SCB -SA]

We are only too glad to help.

You must post more pics of ur little one soon!

[Yvette]

Aww yay she is just eating straight mushy pellet mix now =D
She seems to love it now, she even eats the mush that falls off her beak and onto her perch!!

No more seed diet! I have put a big wild bird seed block in her cage (because she still loves seeds of course) to try and make her cage more inviting. I also bought her a chew up fruit flavoured kabob which she LOVES, and i've put that in her cage also.

See attached for her mushy pellet eating! Success!

I am so happy