Introducing pellets,any ideas??

[dotndani]

My budgie eats sees and a wide variety of veggies.He really doesn't like fruits all that much.I read somewhere that I should put some pellets in his seed and increase the quantity of pellets over time.I tried doing that but my budgie throws the pellets out and eats only the seed.Is it bad for a budgie to eat only seed.Is there a certain brand of pellet that budgies like?I also read that with pellets it's much neater since they are supposed to eat the whole thing,not like the sees that they hull out.Any ideas?? Thanks all!:budgie:

[pal0m1n0]

It is really hard to move budgies from seeds to pellets. You will just have to persist.

[Bea]

Pellets should never replace seeds anyway, seeds are a natural and important part of a budgies diet. You can offer them in a separate dish or in with the seeds. If he has a play gym that he's out on often then put a little treat dish on that with only pellets. As long as your budgie is getting a variety of other foods the pellets aren't a critcal part of a budgies diet.

[dotndani]

Thanks Bea for clearing that up for me. I remember reading somewhere that pellets are more nutritous than seeds and should make up the majority of a budgie diet.But I seem to have a very stubborn as well as smart budgie.Like I said earlier he throws out the pellets.He must be thinking to himself,what is this,it's outta here!! Thanks again!

[BUUZBEE]

dot i tried a few times with my gang, and was totally throwing $ away. I was using 1/2 seed to 1/2 pellets. they were just digging thru the pellets and eating the seeds. I ended up using tough love and going cold turkey with them, pellets only. this should only be done if they have other food sources. mine eat plenty of veggies, fruits & soak mix, so i knew they were not going to starve! it took about 2 days, one ate them, then another & so on! now they are 100% pellet and get seeds a few times a week. they have been on the pellets now for about 2 months or so, and when they have been on for about 6 months, i will start adding seed to the pellets, i dont want them to go back to only eating the seed! lol until then, they get a seperate bowl a few times a week with seeds

[vivalis]

My vet suggested that I use a "mash" along with seeds for my budgies. I use Harrison's High Potency Mash. Its 100% organic which is great. It also comes in pellets, but the mash is like ground-up pellets which is good for budgies because they tend to be so picky. What I do it use 1/2 mash and 1/2 seeds in the food dishes and mix it together really well. The mash gets on the seeds, so the budgies ingest some of it when they put the seed in their mouth to dehull it. Also, they have to dig through the mash to get to the seeds and ingest some of it that way too. It's like they have no choice but to eat it! Haha. For me, this has been a good compromise to get them to eat healthier. Of course, fruits and veggies are very important too!

I buy the Harrison's at the vet, but you can also buy it online. They have an interesting website that you might want to check out:
http://www.harrisonsbirdfood.com/

[dotndani]

Vivalis,
Thanks so much for your input!!!:budgie:

[parakeetluverr]

I heard pellets are good for other birds, such as tiels. But not parakeets. I heard that, I don't really know though.