@@melissarueb9326 yes actually I’m so proud of them. They were on a seed only diet & their cage was never washed it was a blanket of poo. One has a very messed up beak and another had a prolapsed anus! I started them on fresh veg & seed mixed with a supplement & they are loose with a whole room to themselves. Did a treatment of lemongrass bath water & now the mites are gone, the anus miraculously retracted and his feathers on his bum are all smooth & clean. It’s been really rewarding to see the change 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰. Tips from a his channel has helped!
@@melissarueb9326 thanks 🤩. Sometimes I’ll sit in the room with them and they kinda fly at me. They never land on me they sort of swoop really close (but never make contact) to the side or top of my head and return to their perch. I wonder what that means. Are they trying to scare me off? Or are they being friendly? I haven’t been working on hand-taming them btw.
@@H.P.Blavatsky oh my birds do it all the time they are just flying around do they climb on you ever oh be beside your hand and they won't move ???.... Oh if you want l can give you some tips on how to make them step up .oh l have a question do you feed your birds pellets
I found putting crushed/crumbled round pellets into their little treat bowl on the side of their cage helped. My budgies thought the pellets were treats. Because I have two budgies in the same cage, squabbles over the food bowl meant they have one each. After a few weeks of adding crumbled and whole pellets to both food dishes with seeds, now one is pellets only, and the other has the mix. The brands are different here in Australia, but I’ve found pre crumbled pellets and also the small narrow ones that look like seeds. But having the pellets in the treat dish and in their foraging toy has helped us. Another few weeks and the seeds will only go into foraging toys.
SUCH a helpful video, thanks so much. Embarking on the pellet training now and don't know why I didn't think of crumbling it over his chop! Really good ideas 💡👌
THIS WORKED FOR MY CAIQUE, THANK YOU! 🤩 after 2 weeks of hard work, obstinacy and a huge amount of seed and pellet waste, my parrot ate his first evet pellet piece today!!! 🎉 after that, I changed his food from seed-pellet-water mix to only pellet and he just went eating them! 🦜 your recipes work, thank you so much! 🙏🏻
i have a green cheek conure and she never ate pellets when i got her a week ago all i had to do was make the pellets smaller and she ate them right up its been like 4 days and she loves the pellets she gets veggies and fruits as well but its been great knowing shes not a seed junkie anymore 😂
@@FlyingFids I am not trying to be rude or anything but zupreem has a lot of sugar even the natural ones they have lots of sugar they just don't add the dyes to make people believe it's natural and healthy but in reality it really has no nutrition and getting an awful amount of sugar so I would rather feed harrison's adult lifetime pellets or tops pellets it's really healthy and has a lot of vitamins and minerals that are great for your birds
By the way, I kinda misremembered and mixed up both the first method and the second method ("use crushed pellets mixed with old food"). So I ended up using this method of adding small amounts of dry crushed pellets into their old food to get them to eat a different kind of food and get used to the taste. Though, they probably won't learn the crushed pellets and whole pellets are the same thing.
A way to teach your birds that crushed pellets and whole pellets are the same is to crush the pellets in front of them. After a few weeks/months they should know that it’s the same thing
Thank you so much for this! I adopted my bird from a home that didn’t give pellets or veggies so it’s always been a struggle trying to switch him over. Today when I pretended to eat them, he started eating the pellets too. It was awesome to see.
Thank you very much... This was so very helpful 🙏 My birds are stubborn little guys and didn't want to even try the pellets but I will try these methods :)
Hi, i started transitioning my bird to pellets too. Is it natural for bird to left behind alot of crushed like fine dust pellets? My bird always do that and i wonder if it is ok not to finish/swallow all the pellets. I use top bird pellets the small ones and my bird always crushes it to fine dust, i still give it seeds thou cos I'm afraid he is not eating the pellet but just crushing it. The poop is kind of changing color to darker green. Before the pellet it just eat seeds and sometime veggies and fruits the poop is lighter green. On my observation the amount of pellets that i give is almost the same as the amount of the crushed pellets to fine dust if it were being formed solid again to pellet blocks. I didn't weigh anything on scale thou... Does your or anyone else bird also eat pellets and left behind like 90% of the pellets into finedust?
My bird literally was ignoring seeds I mixed into the pellets to make it more attractive, my cockatiel loved soaked pellets and had after a first try no interest in seeds whatsoever. I'm still shocked 😂 He's a good boy he was the first to convert to vegetables as well.
Ive tried transitioning my 3 year old budgie into harrisons superfine today! Since i didnt know what to do i now searched it up and thank you! Im gonna try grinding up the pellets and mixing it with his seeds and some water tomorrow morning!
I’m going to try making a paste with the crushed pellets-I’ve tried just about everything else and he refused them. Right now I just sprinkle some ground pellets over his seed hoping he’ll give it a try but he’s very picky-he’s even picky about which seeds he likes!
I have been trying to make my budgie eat pellets by introducing it slowly ( mix it ) but he is still smart enough to pick only the seeds. Then i tried your tips, the pretending to eat the pellets in front of him, it works right away, now he is willing to try and eat them. hope for smooth transition until end of month.
If you are still having problems I would suggest Harrison's super fine pellets. I use The High Potency for my budgie. She is under a year still but, I think they are good for longer use. She loved them from the start. They are as small as a seed do easier for her to eat. I also use Birdtricks pellets but I have to crush them for her. She still won't bite through the whole thing. She loves the crushed though. I've also used the Tops Marlene McCohen bled. The pellets in it are softer so she eats them without me crushing them.
Birds will not always recognise it as food at first, which is why it’s important to be weighing your birds daily to know when to step back a bit and slow the process down. I’m so happy to hear you’re reaching/already have reached success!
I wanna know for anyone if the third method worked because today, so far, I thought everything is going well with their changing diets until their food bowl is almost running out, so my yellow budgie, Summer, must've thought they're "food waste" so she went inside the cup of mixed food (which I poorly followed your instructions) and kicked away the crushed pellet dust onto the dirty paper at the bottom. I think it was done at least twice with my own eyes. The waste... The effort... The food I put in to make them eat and get used to... You should've seen it. The horror... 😫😫😨😭☹. Such a bad girl, honestly...
OMG TYSM FOR THIS VIDEO!!! I've been spending the better part of a year trying to get my Quaker to eat pellets with no luck (our vet recommended method #1 but he would just pick out his old food instead of trying the pellets). I'd never heard of method #2 before so I decided to give it a shot, and 1 month later he is now completely switched to pellets!!! I think I actually cried tears of happiness when it happened LOL. I'm so glad I found your channel!!! ❤️
@@stefigachadimova7479 it's actually not fine for their diet to be primarily seeds since it can lead to nutritional deficiencies which makes it easier for your birds to get sick or develop other problems - this happened to my bird, hence the switch. pellets offer a better balanced diet for your birds but seeds are still good for treats!
@@bambi_8104 um what. I didn't say natural seeds. I said SPROUTED SEEDS. THEYRE REALLY HEALTHY. Yes pellets are good to, but if you can't afford pellet bird food, JUST DO SPROUTED SEEDS.
@@stefigachadimova7479 I know sprouted seeds are different but I still believe that pellets is the best way for owners to offer a balanced diet for their birds for multiple reasons. sure it's a bit pricey, but pellets can offer more nutritional support for birds recovering from illness and are easier to store/prep. it depends on environment too - my house is very humid and prone to mold so leaving seeds to soak overnight is not an option for me. just do whatever works best for you & your birds and let other people do the same
You have a lot of good information on your videos, but please note that the pellets in the USA are not healthy. I recommend organic only and cold pressed to offer best nutrition. Also not all seeds are bad. Hookbills need seeds. 10% is too low. Then they really need mostly fresh fruit and vegetables.
My previous cockatiel lived 27 1/2 years. He ate primarily seeds and some of our food, like pasta and mashed potato, for the first 10 years, with no pellets. For the last 17 1/2 years of his life he ate seeds (a good quality blend) for 65% of his diet, about 15% Harrison's pellets, and then 30% pasta, rice, potato, nacho chips and so on. Vegetables were rare, and even more rare would be any fruit. I remember the breeder that I got him from had an Amazon parrot she was trying to convert to a good pellet diet. She told me that she started by putting 3 tiny pellets mixed in with his regular bowl of food. As soon as the parrot saw those pellets, he began squawking, flapping his wings and trying to escape. He did not approach that bowl again for 3 days. I currently have a rescue cockatiel. The previous owner told me that she tried all kinds of pellets and the only thing he took was Zupreem fruit blend. She tried all kinds of vegetables, raw, cooked, etc. and he never got to where he would eat them. I have been able to get him to nibble on some leaf vegetables, but usually he ignores them. I tried Harrisons pellets (for a month), but he ignored them. A breeder recommended I try a "natural" pellet, but he will only RARELY nibble on them. I'm still hoping to get him on to more of the natural, but he is not so interested. His diet is now 45% seeds, 35% pellets, and then rice, pasta, corn flakes, or whatever we can offer him that is not hazardous. Maybe 1% percent veggies. I am trying to get him more into the natural pellets, but I'd rather have him eat the Zupreem pellets, than put in the "natural" ones and have him ignore them. I am getting a second cockatiel from a breeder and maybe my rescue will take more interest in the natural pellets once he sees the new bird eating them. Or, it could go the other way!
Which feed should one give to one's macaw chicks/babies: Red or Blue macaw and African grey? How many times must one give such feed in a day? How to give such feed in proper way? For how many weeks or months should one give such feed? How many kg will such parrots chick eat till to be self? What could be temperature which must be the best till breed? When will they be able to breed? After how many weeks or months will these parrots lay eggs? What could be their pair cage size?
Hey guys, please help me out here! Im thinking of getting a cockatiel in a few months, but I can't find any pellets around the pets store in my country. What should I do? Is there anyy replacements? Can my bird have a veggie seed diet? (I do know they cant have an all seed diet) Any replies would help me out so much so please comment
i just gave my birds choices between starvation and pellets! Im kidding. However i did do similar to method 2 grinded pellets up intro powder and add water in so it makes a paste, and then i mixed seeds into that paste. They will try to eat the seeds but since the paste is hard to pick out so they have to taste the pellets before they can eat the seeds. But i also have 2 other bowls of food next to them. One with pellets soaked in water for a bit and another one dry. Once they ate the pellet paste they are more willing to try out the other ones. And literally OVERNIGHT they would prefer the pellers soaked in water more than the paste. And then after a few days (2-3 days) i just gave them the dry ones and they just ate it
Grinding up pellets is great! My budgies dont like the texture/size of pellets as even the smallest ones are a lot bigger than their seeds. I also like to save the seeds for training/taming
I think, when it looks and smells unnatural: pallets, it's unhealthy like all the commercial food they want us to eat. My birds don't want them and I'm happy with that
My Cockatiel went from eating pellets to a year to starve herself for not eating the pellets at all with very empty belly, and only eating seeds. Not sure how to change her back.
I give my bird both pellets and seeds together, so far no problems. If anything mix the seeds and pellets together to get the bird to eat both all at same time. It also maybe helpful to grind the pellets until it's like dust, then mix it with the seeds, so the bird cannot just pick one food and not eat the other, now all has to be eaten.
I heard that Zuepreem bird pellets are not good for your bird cuz they all contain artificial sugars and oil and the fruit or vegetable blend pellets they have sugars artificial colours and oils so Zuepreem is really bad
Thank u so much for all the great info, and education that we get watching and following you! My question is: i give my bird seeds and i leave the bowl there all the time and watch what he eats, and when needed i fill it up again!! When i want to make the change, from seeds to pellets and veggies etc, what is the best way to do this, i mean, do i leave the bowl there all day ?or i give a portion in the morning and another one at night? and how do i know how much to give? LOL alot of questions....i have a perroquet "Jardine" that just came into my life 1 month ago!! He was left alone in his cage, just came out a little bit. No interaction, and bad diet! So big changes in his life! If u have a few minutes to give me a few tips, it would be very appreciated😃🐦!! Thank u soooo much!! Moïra and Tweety🥰
Awesome! I did all of these and they transitioned over easily... they are rehomed parrots and they only got things like apples and some veggies here or there but was on a strong seed diet all day and it was basic store seed soooo they looked it in their feathers.. they were dull and they didn't seem happy.. now I make chop.. started with adding their seed mix she gave me to the chop along with my seed mix which was a healthier mix with no artificial colors and so forth.. then I slowly took out the seeds as I added pellets.. then I made a bowl of pellets, greens and seeds then slowly took out the seeds and before long, they were on the pellets. I got pellets that they didn't seem to really care for the taste so I moved over to Roundbush and mix the two pellets I have together and they love it! Which brands do you think are the best ones. I have TOPS (which they love) Roundbush and ZuPreem which they don't seem to care for unless mixed with fresh fruit and veggies.
Very fast transition. I wanted to change my 6 month old Quaker since he was eating only seeds, I used to feed him veggies in the morning one day and the other is seed so his poop stays on the non-liquid side, a snack of fruits during the day and I still give him baby mix once a day but during the day he always eat seeds and he eats seeds before bed! I wanted him to eat the more healthy pellets. Day 1: I placed only pellets in his plate so he try them and he just tasted them and threw them away. Day 2: I soaked them for 30 seconds in 40 degree C and placed them in his bowl in the morning, he ate some bit just a little bit, then I replaced them with 50% seed and 50% pellets. Day 3: In the morning I placed some pellets inside his vegetables so he learns that they are food even more. And during the day I pretended to eat pellets from his bowl and making crunching noises and he was really interested and booom at night he had a nice pellet dinner! It was thankfully so fast that I was very happy about it. Maybe pretending t eat them is the sweet spot or maybe its the combination of all what I did? I don’t know but that was my experience I hope it helps you guys. Thanks for the great video.
This was so helpful...thank you! I crumbled some pellets, dipped half a grape in it, which she loves...she looked at it and wouldn't touch it...so I pretended to eat it...and she was straight onto it! I also think she liked that they were softened a bit with the juice of the grape. Loving your videos.
When your pretending to eat the budgie pellets they'll think your eating it that's the best trick on how to make your birds eat the healthy diet for him
Yes you can feed chop at night if you're not able to feed before you leave in the morning! You can leave pellets in their cage all day (two tablespoons per bird) and you would need to slowly transition them over to pellets if they're not currently eating pellets
Can you make a video on how to clean bird cages?? I recently got a green cheek conure and would like to know your method to get of any dried droppings of cages and how to make the cleaning process parrot safe!
This may sound funny, but the easiest way I came up with cleaning my budgies poop off the cage is with a toothbrush. You can buy cheap ones at the dollar store and it will last a long time. It's really quick and the toothbrush is thin enough to get in between the cage lines to get all the droppings off. I have 2 parakeets, but a big parrot cage so they can have a lot of room and the plastic on the bottom of the cage I wrap/cover with kitchen towel paper. Every few days take it off, throw it and replace with fresh ones. Hope it helps!
About the 'don't leave the food for too long' part, you are talking about perishable food. I'm looking at this but I still don't feel like I should remove them.
The reason behind this is leaving it out too long attracts bacteria which can make your parrot sick. Sometimes birds get sick for no reason, but as an owner we want to do our best to protect our birds from illness by preventing it❤️
@ToukenDanshiWarrior seeds are not all bad for your bird but you should never be feeding your bird only seeds. They contain a lot of fat so seeds should only be used as treats or for taming. You could also put them in to foraging toys.
love the video! my birds eat dry pellets without dipping it in water. how long can i leave dry pellets for? my birds like to eat theoughout the day, they dont have specific eating times, as when i provide food, they wont eat right away, and even once they do eat, they prob just have a few bites, and come back to eat later
thanks so much! 💕 you can leave it out for them all day so they can eat it whenever they'd like! i usually toss whatever they haven't finished either at the end of the day and refill with fresh pellets or toss and refill the next morning
@@FlyingFids is it ok to keep it in for a few days? Sometimes? Alot of people online said it was okay to keep it in for 2-4 days when the humidity is good
The moment i realise my parrot has left some pellets in her bowl.. provided they are dry I immediately put them in refrigerator. Keeps them fresh for 2 days. Keeps the flavour and scent intact
I got these too, they showed up at my petsmart randomly. They're nice because they come in all different sizes. Now to convert my picky conure to them!
This is great but my budgies are stubborn. All they want are seeds. Offered many different fruits and vegetables but no. Even pellets are ignored. Heidi
So my birds are on a pelleted and fresh food diet but for parrolets people are saying they need seed and pellets have actually killed parrolets so I am confused
I found this method Encouraging a bird to eat a more healthy diet can be challenging especially if the bird is accustomed to an all seed diet but it is important to begin the process as soon as possible it is recommended to remove all dry food at the end of the day in the morning feed the bird pellets or vegetables and make it available all day then in the evening feed the bird a treat or some seed leave this food in for only one or two hours repeat u til the bird is eating the desired healthier diet
I tried the slow mush transion but my rescue cockatiel hated it. Tried pretending to eat them. Nope. She was too smart for that. I resorted to binge watching Supernatural, actually eating Harrison's pellets like popcorn (they taste better than Grapenuts), and playing keep away. Took 5 days for her to decide they were the best thing ever. She's still not keen on fresh veg unless it's been in my mouth first but have a powdered fruit and veg mix her vet approved of. It's not perfect but it's far better than the all seed diet she'd been on.
Hi! I rescued a baby pigeon few months ago, now she’s adult, should I give her pellets too? I don’t really know cause her beak is different from budgies and parrots, I saw My Pet Pigeon videos saying that it was useless to give pigeon pellets... also i couldn’t find any bird pellet in the stores 😭 so i’m a bit lost, if anyone can help it would be appreciated 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Fruit contains natural sugars and aren’t healthy especially if fed often, keep them in moderation as rare treats if you chose to feed them. I’ve heard of feeding an only veg diet but it’s not easy to do since you have to consider the fact that leaving it out too long attracts bacteria and can make your bird sick. I’d honestly recommend having a pellet based diet with the pellet being the best you can get is preferred and supplemented with vegetables, but you can never have too many vegetables
I Got my cocketiel a couple of months ago and she is finally beginning her journey of getting used to eating pellets! Where i live it’s quite hard to find Them and im happy i actually Got my hands on some! Do you have some tips for getting her to eat veggies and frugts? I dont Think shes quite happy with it being w’et on the inside ;)
I’m so happy for your success! Fruits are full of natural sugars and are best fed in moderation, so your main focus may be for vegetables as they are going to make a good part of the diet as you can really never have too many. Methods converting from seeds to pellets can be potentially used for introducing vegetables to the diet as well, I’d recommend checking out elleandthebirds’ video about getting your bird to eat vegetables. Good luck with your bird!
Loved the video, but my cockatiel wil ONLY eat millet seeds and it’s been 2.5 months of me trying everything in the videos and looking online as well. I want him to be healthy but he’s so stubborn. When he doesn’t have any more millet seeds, he cries and cries and cries. I don’t usually give in, but he’ll refuse to eat for a whole day but as soon as millet is reintroduced to him, he starts earing, sings, whistles and acts all happy. It’s very frustrating, none of my birds in the past have ever done this. Can somebody help me 🥲
I was wondering is feeding my birds only pellets (different types of pellets too) good? Or do I alo need to mix in some vegetables. Cuz i've been mixing in some apples, pears, and brown rice into their food and i think that they really like it. I personaly think that its good since the pellets i use contains vitamins and calcium.
feeding birds just pellets isn’t good, it doesn’t offer all of the nutrients they need, they also need a varied diet of different textures to keep them happy. i usually do 1 to 2 orange veggies like carrots or pumpkin. 1 dark leafy green vegetable like broccoli or kale (i don’t recommend spinach because of the high content of oxalic acid). 2 to 5 other veggies like ginger, radish, peas, brussel sprouts, bell peppers.. etc. use a lot of grains like buckwheat or quinoa, i would avoid all rice except wild rice. Green beans and lentil are a great source of fiber i definitely mix those in. 1 fruit each meal is mandatory because fruits contain a lot of sugar. Make sure you look up what needs to be cooked and what can’t be consumed at all. just chop, cook some stuff up and throw it all together then voila you have bird chop
Ok so does anyone have any tips on crushing the pellets into a powder? I’ve tried using a fork and adding water while smashing them it’s not working that well.
Just got my two budgies today they are both male and on seed diets so I am trying to switch them. but since I just got them today I gave them seeds with a few pellets (10 single pellets) in the dish so they could just see them and don’t have to eat them. Do I start following the tips in the video? or keep seeds for the first week? since they are new, shy, and nervous. I am leaving them alone for one week to give them space then I will be staying in the room 1/2 hours a day so they get used to my presence. any advice is helpful even if it’s not about the food thanks!! 💕
So it’s been like 4 months since I got my Quaker, I bought pellets and he’s eating sunflower seeds can someone help or give tips in how to switch bc he won’t eat fruits or veggies I offer which I want to get him to do in the future?
Hey I wanted to know if I can still do method two with my Quaker parrot? I got him a few days ago and they gave us only sunflower seeds so I don’t know if it would still work. Pls respond 😭😭
Hey!my brother bring two budgies and now i am caring them but in India bird pellets are not available at all and some are really bad and artificially dyed and too costly. But i bring them good seed mix and giving them extra multivitamin in the form of water. 😶😶
Hi Won, I have got a little black capped conure, 6m old. He loves to eat lot of sunflower seeds, which I know it is not healthy for him. I tried to introduce pellet diet by using the first method but no succes with that as he is a very picky bird. I am also trying to introduce daily vegies to him. He will eat baby broccoli, sweetcorn and sometimes asparagus but otherwise he is not very good with that either. He loves apples, cherries, grapes and pears, but I do not know when to offer them to him. I also do not know what amount of food he should eat during a day as I think he eats very little amount of them. His poo is most of the time watery or lets say more times watery than solid and he is not ill because otherwise he is very active and happy. This tutorial is very good and I will try to follow your advice. But I will much appreciate if you will give me some advice about the amount of veg, fresh fruits, pellet and seeds should a black capped conure eat. His weight will vary between 75 and 78g depending on the time of the day I weight him. And I am not asking about the percentage, I am referring to the amount and meals I shoud offer and expect him to eat daily. I really want to sort out his diet, to learn how to be persistent, and also what amount of each type of food he should eat during a day. He is a very happy little bird and he loves to be in evertbody's company, male or female, child or adult. Thank you. Lizi
I had a question .. so right after we leave the food for an hour and remove the food they haven’t finished because of bacteria, do we feed them anything else or just don’t leave anymore food in there cage for the day ?
My birds went completely natural from seeds to pellets. It makes a huge difference, there is less waste and cleaning needed. They used to throw all the seeds out of their feeders on the ground of their cage within 2days. while pellets last more than one week, the few on the ground can be seen and eaten. Great invention we love it.
That’s amazing!! Fruits and meal worms are things I’d keep a rare treat. Fruits are full of natural sugars and are best fed in moderation, mealworms are high in protein and too much protein isn’t good for parrots and can potentially trigger/worsen hormones and other behaviour issues. (Mealworms and fruit aren’t bad, just best as rare treats!) I’m so happy your bird isn’t picky, I wish you well on your bird journey :D
i am doing method 2 and all my birds but one are taking to this method what should i do? Also out of curiosity what do you do if after 2 or 3 hours you take the bowls to remove food and wash that they havent ate? i have one that doesnt always eat first thing in morning and shes not into the veggies yet.
I have a Crimson Bellied Conure luckily she eats anything that is inside her bowl so I tried Harrison’s for the first time and she loves it! She loves to dip her pellets into her water 💕
Do I keep food on my kakariki birds cage all day long, but when I try to treat training them, they are not interested. I heard that I shouldn’t leave the food all day. What’s your opinion?
What food is this referring to? Is this about seeds, pellets or fresh foods? If it’s fresh foods like fruit/veg then it should be removed after about 2 hours since it being out too long can attract bacteria that can make your bird sick. When you mean treats, do you mean pellets or treats in general? If this is about treats you could try other treats to see what your bird likes, but also the healthier the diet the higher value the treats will become, so if you’re having trouble with treats then I’d recommend on pellets first. Or if this is about pellets have you tried other methods to see if you can get this to work? Some birds may need a lot more convincing, but you shouldn’t give up. I wish you well with your bird keeping journey
Hey there, i really am glad i have found your channel. It is so helpful. Question, would it work the same way to introduce veggies to their diet? Mine is so picky not sure where to start. I have tried Carrot in all possible forms with no luck so far
Yes, these methods could be used similar to how you could introduce vegetables. I’d recommend checking out elleandthebirds’ video on introducing vegetables to the diet
