Picky eaters,please help!!!

[dotndani]

Well Gizmo and Casey are becoming picky eaters!!They are currently on the seed mix that they were eating in the petstore,but now I see that they are both just eating the little itty bitty beige round seeds(forgive me I don't know the name of it).
I really want them to get on a good diet and include some pellets but I know how hard some budgies could be to convert.
As far as veggies go,they haven't tried anything. Iput veggies in daily and nothing yet,but granted it is early.
Why is it so hard to get them to eat a variety of things.I so want them to be healthy and happy.PLease I need ideas to get them to eat healthier.
P.S.Hubby has an idea of giving pellets in the am and giving a seed mixture in the evening...is this plausible???
HELP!!!:S

[Budgiekin]

One thing you can try is to finely crush the pellets and sprinkle them on the seeds. That way your budgie will inevitably get somewhat of a taste of something other than seeds.

You also need to make sure you are very patient with the conversion process. Be consistent and don't give up. I figure if my mom and I could get Apollo to eat pellets after 2 and a half years of eating seed, then just about any budgie should be able to get converted. ;)

You can also try different pellets and see if there is one your budgies prefer over another.

One other thing is you could take the seeds out before bedtime so they only have pellets in the morning when they wake up and are hungry. You can give them their seeds after a couple of hours, and then as you notice them checking out and eating the pellets more and more, you can gradually lengthen the amount of time in the morning that they are only being given pellets.

Remember that the idea is not to exclude seed completely. It is all about a varied diet...;)

[dotndani]

Budgiekin,
can you recommend some good pellets.I know they sell fine and mashed pellets.
Softie,also recommended Harrison's.Any other suggestions? Also what is a good quality seed mix?Thanks so much!!!

[Babyluv12]

Supreem and Kaytee are good

[Budgiekin]

I have heard good things about Roudybush pellets. We offer our budgies Kaytee Exact pellets because they seem to like them. We also have used Brown's which was their favourite (but I can't even get those anymore unless I spend huge dollars by ordering them online!) They smell good too!

For a good quality seed mix, we have started giving our budgies one called Kaytee Fiesta that they like.

[loserduck86]

I use Fiesta too. It's what was was fed to him at the store. There are pellets in that mix, as well as dried fruits and veggies, but Lunchmeat just eats around all of that and goes for the millet in there.

[dotndani]

Loserduck,
that's exactly what I want to prevent...eating around all the good stuff and just getting the fatty really non nutritious stuff.Oh I am a paranoid budgie mommy.;)

[Baby5566]

Make a pellet smoothie!

Ingredients: Pellet, Mixed Fruit stage 2 or 3 baby food, water, baby oatmeal & banana cereal, 1 whole strawberry

Put it all in a blender and mix real well, top it off with some millet and watch your birds stuff their faces!

You can leave it in a freezer for up to 6 months if you bag it correctly.

[softie]

Kaytee Pellets as well as Lafeber's actually have more sugar than it needs. There are also artifical coloring and the perservative, Ethoxyquin (sp?) which are harmful to budgies and other birds, if given over time. My personal choice for healthy pellets are from the Harrison's brand.

dotndani,
I'm sorry I wasn't able to answer to your message today, I've been running in and out of the house. I'll try to get it to as soon as possible. I'm in the middle of a 10-page paper :(

[loserduck86]

Make a pellet smoothie!

You can leave it in a freezer for up to 6 months if you bag it correctly.

Do you put the millet in before freezing, or on top after it thaws?

[Bea]

They are currently on the seed mix that they were eating in the petstore,but now I see that they are both just eating the little itty bitty beige round seeds(forgive me I don't know the name of it).

First thing i would do is start measuring their seed. They only need 2tsp of seed per day per budgie so by measuring out only what they need they have to eat more than just the french (or white? can't remember the type) millet (little round tan/beige seed) and will get maximum nutrition from their seed mix. So then even if they won't eat pellets or much veggies you know they're getting the most from their seed. You could also try sprouting their seed as sprouted seed is very nutritious! See how to sprout seeds >HERE (http://www.talkbudgies.com/showthread.php?t=2912&)<.

[Budgiekin]

My budgies won't eat the non-coloured pellets AT ALL so on the relative scale of things, it is better for them to be eating the coloured ones than none at all. For some reason, I could never fool them into thinking those tan-coloured pellets were the same as their seeds...:ugh2:

[softie]

Although artificial coloring in pellets are not preferred, it's not as dangerous as Ethoxyquin. Ethoxyquin is what you really want to be looking out for.

For a while now, I was looking for pellets and found the Kaytee Exact Conversion and Weaning pellets everywhere. I thought, "At least they're pellets!" and read the ingredients since I've heard of them having a preservative. And as I expected, Ethoxyquin was in the ingredients.

I finally found Harrison's pellets and Ethoxyquin is not listed in there. Neither are they colored, just tan and brown. I've just started giving them to my budgies so it will take a while.

Some of the better pellet brands are (100% organic)-


Harrison's
Foundation Formula
ZuPreem


Here is a website that you should read if you are looking for more information on pellets -

Pellets, Pellets, Pellets! (http://www.tailfeathersnetwork.com/birdinformation/pellets.php)

[Baby5566]

Do you put the millet in before freezing, or on top after it thaws?

On top after, just removed the seeds from the stick and put it on top like "sprinkles".

Except for the "sprinkles" it should be eaten soft, if you did it correctly it would have the consistency of baby food.

The "sprinkles" make it so the bird will have to go after each "sprinkle" and when they do that, they also get a taste of the food itself, then they make like little babies and stick their faces in it.

[Babyluv12]

That's funny...really good idea! I could just imagine my little ones go nuts- they love millet but only get it once a week. I put parsley in there everyday and they love chewing it all up (like a snack). For their seed mix I put a little back of cockatiel mix and a larger one of budgie mix and mix it all up _I don't like giving them the tiel mix (too many colored sunflowers)- It has some pellets in there already but I am going to try converting them as soon as Baby is off her eggs.:D


Oh yea- and green peppers,apples,rice,whatever I am eating,boiled egg,corn on the cob....spinach...my tiel eats more of those than the other ones.

[BUUZBEE]

I just ran out to ck my bag of Roudybush, not any Ethoxyquin, phew!

Bea, i think you posted before about the %'s of protein etc. that should be in the pellets, can you post that again?

[softie]

I heard Roudybush was also a good brand :)

[Baby5566]

Grrrr... I have KayTee Exact Rainbow Brand and I just looked at the ingredients, to my horror it contains ETHOXYQUIN! There's nothing I can do right now, so I will send my husband to get a different brand when he gets back from work. It says "a preservative" next to the ingredient.

[Bea]

Bea, i think you posted before about the %'s of protein etc. that should be in the pellets, can you post that again?

Don't think that was me - i did post the sort of nutrition that you'd expect to find in a seed mix once but i read that off a Trill box which i currently don't have. :P

[BUUZBEE]

Don't think that was me - i did post the sort of nutrition that you'd expect to find in a seed mix once but i read that off a Trill box which i currently don't have. :P

ahh ok bea, i will have to search more on it (i dont remember where i read it, its been a while! lol)