Trying to add variety to their diet

I have too very picky cockatiels and one very picky parakeet. The parakeet is 13 and has never ate anything remotely nutritious or different that I put into his dish. I have pretty much given up on changing his diet. The cockatiels will try some things, mostly crunchy stuff. Rarely vegetable or fruit. I found a cereal in the store that I thought they might like. So I want to get some opinions on here about if it will be okay for them.

Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs | Kashi Store

If you click view nutritional information you can scroll down and see the ingredients. There is no sodium, oil, or sugar in the cereal. I know this wont be as good as fruit or vegetables, but it will provide a variety for them. Obviously this wont be their main food source, but I would give it to them a couple times a week in addition to their normal food.

I got my birds to try everything we feed them. It just takes lots of time and patience!!!! When I used to breed, I also raised meal worms to feed them as it is high in protein and nutritious for them to feed their chicks with. Getting them to eat the worm wasn't a easy task....lol.....IF you have one that's more willing to try different stuffs you feed, deal with that one first! When one bird do it, they all do it. Let them all watch! ALL of our birds eats the fresh stuffs!!!! Kashi is supposed to be all natural and goodie stuffs within. I would still try to convince them to eat the fresh stuffs if you can!!! One thing you MUST do is to be consistent and not give up. Stick to one thing, don't keep on changing it.

The cockatiels will eat green peppers, carrots, celery, and occasionally an apple, but I have to cut them up in TINY pieces. I've tried other vegetables, eggs, cottage cheese... no luck. I keep trying and they keep turning their beaks up at it. I've tried with the parakeet for 13 years and he hasn't tried any of it.

My cockatiels, Pepe and Miko, would prefer seeds over anything fresh or even pellets. My preference that they eat a well balanced diet means they can't have a choice. I mixed a small amount of seed in with their pellets and when the seed was gone they ate the pellets. Now (to discourage nesting) I feed pellets only until noon and then seed until bedtime. They eat both. When I'm feeding fresh veggies again (starting in Feb, I put chick peas, greens, carrot, oatmeal, nuts, whole wheat bread and hard boiled egg with shell into a food processor and blend it into a crumbly mixture. Nothing wet and not all at once, but varying the ingredients week by week. It will keep for 3 or 4 days or longer in a vacuum bowl. Here again I feed it for 3 hrs in the morning, then pellets and then seed. Unless they have chicks and then I'll keep the veggies out all day changing it often. In this way I know they are eating well.

With the tiels i've had good luck feeding broccoli tops and weaving fresh greens thru the cage bars. I have also planted rye grass in shallow dishes for them to eat. Like MikeyTn said' if you can get one to try it the others will follow. So i guess i have better luck because i keep a large flock together.

http://www.parrotforums.com/general-health-care/23367-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

Have you tried feeding sprouted seeds over dry seeds?

Have you tried allowing the budgie to eat with the cockatiels? I've been able to convert adult birds (budgies, tiels, bourkes) over to healthier diets! It's not about being stubborn, it's about not recognizing that what is in front of them is food!

If all you ate was cheeseburgers and one day someone planted mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and corn in front of you, you'd probably be thinking "What the heck is that?!?!?!"


One of the easiest ways I got my flock to eat pellets when they wouldn't accept them was to take non-dyed pellets and crush them up into a fine powder (used a cleaned coffee grinder). I then mixed this 50/50 with seeds and added a small amount of water. The birds had to 'eat around' the pellets to get to the seeds, therefore tasting the pellets.

To get them to eat fresh foods, the easiest thing was to combine grains, legumes, vegetables and some fruits together.. Grains and legumes cooked, the fruit fresh, the vegetables a mix of fresh and steamed. Of course, I made sure everything was pretty small, but when I did this, they loved it! It was like "eye candy"! So many different colors and textures, it's kind of hard not to try it! If you only gave them one or two things to try at a time, well, that's kind of boring... but if you mix different colored foods together, that looks kind of interesting! And most birds are willing to try it within 3 days! Make something up like this and feed it first thing in the morning! If you have to, top it with a *tiny* amount of seeds/millet to get their interest!