How do you get your keets to eat well?

[Chuchos_Mama]

I just want to thank everyone for their sympathy and condolences for Sunny (rip my little ray of sunshine). After losing her, I'm determined to improve the health and quality of life for my other two keets, Bruce and Chucho.

As newbie parakeet owners, my husband and I fed our keets a seed based diet. When I joined this forum, I learned the dangers of such a fatty diet. I bought them pellets and combined them in the same food dish as their seed to tempt them to eat the pellets. No luck. Bruce, the little naughty blighter, picked them out of the dish and dropped them on the floor of the cage. Last night I looked at Chucho and noticed how he had a few small dark spots on his beak and looked this symptom up and found out it could be a early sign of fatty liver disease.

So I forbade my husband to give them seed for the next few days and I filled their bowl w/pellets only, threw a boiled egg in their silver dish, and hung strands of parsley from the top of their cage next to their favorite toys....

And they won't eat any of it!!!

What are some surefire veggies, fruits or other healthy foods that your keets will eat? I'm at a lost... thanks so much for your help!!!

[BUUZBEE]

with new birds, i thinly grate some lettuce, grated carrot, and corn kernals. You can try sprinking some seed and pellets in with it. cutting them off of their seeds isnt recomended though. some people say putting a mirror behind the food helps too. you can also try clipping different things around the cage, broccoli, carrot, apple
good luck!

[Cinnamonroll]

you should not cut off their seed diet exactly, the way I got my budgies to eat pellet was to give them egg food with pellet grinded into it.

[Babyluv12]

I am glad to see that you want to make sure they get healthy diets but don't cut off all seed. There are hundreds of methods on how to get them to eat pellets, both buuzbee and cinnamonroll had good ideas. Birdie bread is also an option. Mine like it when I grind up the pellets. It just depends. As far as the seed, yes they are fatty but they still need them in their diet and I personally don't agree with 100% pellets as the diet. Keep providing parsley since it is great for them and once they start liking it they will LOVE it. Keep giving them options like different veggies/fruit and never give up. I know it takes alot to get them to eat properly but in the long run it's well worth it. Patience.
My budgies favorites are :
parsley
green peppers
spinach
apple (red)
corn
sweet peas

[kcasey_72]

I can't get my birds to eat anthing but the seed or millit, I have put in carrots and brocoli and egg yolk cooked and even blackberries that I was told would be a fav but they won't touch any of it either. how long does it usually take for them to start getting interested in the vegies? :budgie:

[Babyluv12]

how long does it usually take for them to start getting interested in the vegies? :budgie:

It can take some 1 minute to a few months. The problem I see all the time is the owner gets stressed with having to put all those in there when they don't get eaten. The thing is you have to allow your fid to become familiar with the things that you feed them. They can take forever sometimes to even start investigating. try eggfood with pellets and veggies put through a juicer, birdie bread with choppe veggies, try hanging them from the cage (parsley is a good everyday one)-just don't give up.

[Chuchos_Mama]

Okay, I will grind up the pellets and I'll mix it up with their seeds. I guess I'll try some apples and corn, since they're sweet...I tried dried mango and bread before but they turned their beaks up at it.

And I'm going to re-start handtaming them, I tried for 2 months and got nowhere. They're so f***ing stubborn!:fingerx:

[Babyluv12]

try this:



You'll need...
1/2 cup orange/apple juice
1 whole egg
1 box of Jiffy's corn muffin mix
1 cup minced veggies
1 cup crushed pellets/seed

Directions
Follow directions on the box and mix all ingriedients toghether.
Bake and let cool.
You can cut it into serving size pieces and individually wrap and freeze them.

[Nancy]

I usually feed my birds in the morning. I put the veggies in before anything else. that way they are a little hungry and more likely to try something different. Sugar is stubborn, he won't try anything. But the thing Spice loves is fresh tomatoes. I sprinkle a little millet on top and he chows down. Sugar just watches. grrrrrr