Pico only likes seeds

[peggyv]

Pico is 51/2 months old and I have had him 8 days. He has adjusted and is active now, starting to play with things in his cage. The breeder gave me a mixture that had sunflower seeds, oats, looks like millet seeds and another type of grain. He told me to bake a corn meal, egg and vegtable mixture also to feed him. (He wouldnt touch it) I wanted to feed him the things I have read about in this forum. I have taken various vegtables and fruits and have diced, chopped and use the food processor to make mush. I have added yogart and spices. He is not interested in anything but seeds. I bought him Harrisons pellets and he throws them out of the dish. I also bought some Goldenfeast, he seems to have eating alittle of Goldenfeast garden mixture dry, but I am not positive because I added a few seeds to get his attention. I put millet seeds on a mush mixture and he gets a little of the good stuff eating them, but that is about it. I am going to try sprouts next. I have only been trying this for four days. If I keep it up will he eventually eat it? Is it like kids and dogs, if he gets hungry enough will he eat? I always break down after a couple of hours and give him his seed mixture again. He is a smart bird and knows when I take his bowl out, then put it back in there is new food it and he goes and checks it out. He is so funny he stands and tilts his cute head this way and that looking at it. If he doesnt see seeds, he hops away and starts complaining. Did others have problems getting their babies to eat?

[Wilder]

Parrots in the wild learn what's good to eat from their parents and flockmates. This makes them wary about trying new things, but it's not impossible to get them to do so. When it's time for his meal, take the bowl of chopped up veggies and healthy stuff and snack (or pretend to snack) on whatever is in the bowl. Chances are he'll be very curious about this and want to give it a try. Offer him some at that point, and he's more likely to start beaking it and trying a bite.

Keep this up any time you offer something new. But be careful, the next time you're eating something yourself he might come over to try a bite. ;)

[Petie's_Mom]

Petie was the same until I went and got seeds and grains from the health food store and started sprouting them. He goes crazy now for his sprouts and he eats cousous with finely minced and mixed veggies. He still picks through his seed cup but it is not his main food source.

[musicjan]

Getting the birds over to a good diet takes a while. He's still very new to your home. One suggestion that has helped me is to offer the fresh food first thing in the morning, when he is the hungriest (remove the seed for a short while at that time). Another thing that helped me a lot was and is to grind all the fresh food in a small food processor. That makes it less likely that the bird will pick through it. At the very first, I mixed some seed into the processed food (mash) that I offered. That way, when he picked out the seeds, he at least got a little taste of the other foods. Finally, there is a great post (sticky) in the diet section by Chapala that is so helpful. If you'll do other searches for her posts, she has tons of helpful information. Let us know how it goes!

[musicjan]

p.s. So I offer the "mash" first thing in the morniing and in the afternoon and evening. He gets seed in the middle of the day. I'm at home most of the time during the day- if you work - you'll have to arrange your schedule differently since fresh food should only be left in the cage for about 2 hours.

[chapala]

Some good advice above. You can leave sprouts in the cage longer than two hours (unless it's very hot) - since they are a live, growing food, they will keep longer than fresh food (chopped vegetables and fruit) or cooked food (least time of all to be left in cage).

[peggyv]

Thanks for all of your advise. I will keep at it. I plan to go into a town with a health food store for seeds (about 1 hour away) next week and try sprouts. As of week before last, I know longer work outside of the home. (One of the reasons I got Pico). I will be busy in a large garden and who knows what else. I will keep trying. I do offer it to him first thing in the morning, afternoon and night. I only gave him his seed cup mix once yesterday. I did how ever give him a few treats.

[musicjan]

I think you'll find that Pico will learn to like a variety of things. Sounds like you're doing a good job!

[Tarquin]

I went to the Harrison's website and emailed them asking for tips on how to convert my bird from seed to pellet. They responded quickly and sent me a PDF with multiple tips along with some free samples. It took Pippin a few weeks but she got it. Keep in mind that since your bird is young, seed in the diet is a good thing because it helps him keep weight on. Make sure to monitor his weight while you change the food.