Switching my GC to pellet from seed.

kalphawk · Jul 18, 2018

I have in the past couple of weeks gotten a new green cheek conure who is around 8m old. He is very very picky with his food and has been in a seed/fruity pellet diet from zu preem. I have been trying to convert him to the natural pellets but he just pitches a fit and throws them out of his cage I have also been giving him fresh fruit and veggies in a chop recipe which he just ignores. I got him some nutri-berries to try as treats (with fruit) and the regular to help switch him to pellet. I have heard of people using the nutri-berries to help switch their birds, but I don’t know if I am doing it correctly or if he is just being difficult. Any advice would be a great help.

GaleriaGila · Jul 18, 2018

Apologies to members who've heard this from me a million times!

Harrison's Bird Foods
I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. My bird loves the pellets now, but to get him converted, my avian vet suggested putting pellets out all day, and putting seeds (his old diet) out for two 15-minute periods a day. That would sustain him but leave him hungry enough to try new stuff. I presume the same technique could be used to get him to eat other healthy stuff, like fruits and vegetables! My guy was eating pellets in a couple of days, and now I can feed a good variety of other stuff, knowing he has the pellets as a basic. Pellets are out all day... fresh treats a few times a day. I also like Harrison's via mail because I never have to worry about out-of-date products.
Another couple of ideas...
My ol' man is an athlete and health nut. He actually EATS all the good stuff, so it's always around. I find that tossing various stuff into the food bowls at random is good... the variations and differences seem to stimulate curiosity and attention.
The other idea... if you can stand it (lol) EAT the stuff in front of the birds, yes. That encourages them. I have also found that if my ol' man eats stuff in front of the bird, the bird WANTS it for himself. Kinda a rivalry thing!

There are many ways to covert, but that was my route.

Other members will offer more ideas.

Good for you, for researching!

Squeekmouse · Jul 18, 2018

Great advice above! Yoda was weened onto pellets in the first place so I had it easy. Even so, he had zero interest in fruits and veggies until I held him and he saw me eating them. There are still some fruits and veggies he doesn't like, but he's always willing to try anything he sees me eat.

I can't speak for all pellets, but Harrison's pellets are pretty tasteless and made with all human-grade ingredients so it's not gross to eat them yourself. If you palm the pellet and pretend to eat it that might fool them too.

condobirds · Jul 18, 2018

Great suggestion above. If he eats the fruity ones, why switch to the natural ones? My GCC eats the natural ones but they are the same thing. I just found the colored ones were wasteful because some birds will only eat the yellow and green ones and leave the other colors. Go figure. My GCC eats everything in sight. Our routine is for breakfast he gets a cooked diet while on his playgym. I remove the breakfast once done.
Basically it is one of the Higgins Worldly Cuisine combos that I add extra foods to. All my birds love this stuff and the GCC has his head in his bowl for 1/2 hour. While in their cages, they have a chop type salad with mainly veg and pellets only in a separate dish. I got them, out of the habit of seeds the same way. Nutriberries are loved by all but they only get 1 a day. Keep trying nothing happens overnight with birds. Don't feel guilty and cave in with the seed, they will eat what you put in if hungry enough. Takes a long time.

When I introduce new toys I hang them outside the cage for a few days so they can see it won't eat them.

kalphawk · Jul 18, 2018

GaleriaGila said:
Apologies to members who've heard this from me a million times!

Harrison's Bird Foods
I feed Harrison's, supplemented by fresh healthy treats. My first, and later, my current avian vet recommended it. My bird loves the pellets now, but to get him converted, my avian vet suggested putting pellets out all day, and putting seeds (his old diet) out for two 15-minute periods a day. That would sustain him but leave him hungry enough to try new stuff. I presume the same technique could be used to get him to eat other healthy stuff, like fruits and vegetables! My guy was eating pellets in a couple of days, and now I can feed a good variety of other stuff, knowing he has the pellets as a basic. Pellets are out all day... fresh treats a few times a day. I also like Harrison's via mail because I never have to worry about out-of-date products.
Another couple of ideas...
My ol' man is an athlete and health nut. He actually EATS all the good stuff, so it's always around. I find that tossing various stuff into the food bowls at random is good... the variations and differences seem to stimulate curiosity and attention.
The other idea... if you can stand it (lol) EAT the stuff in front of the birds, yes. That encourages them. I have also found that if my ol' man eats stuff in front of the bird, the bird WANTS it for himself. Kinda a rivalry thing!

There are many ways to covert, but that was my route.

Other members will offer more ideas.

Good for you, for researching!

Which formula of Harrisons should I use they have an Adult Lifetime and a High Potency. This is my first bird in like 6yrs and I have never experimented or heard of Harrisons before we have always just used Zu Preem because that's what our cockatiel breeder used.

kalphawk · Jul 18, 2018

condobirds said:
Great suggestion above. If he eats the fruity ones, why switch to the natural ones? My GCC eats the natural ones but they are the same thing. I just found the colored ones were wasteful because some birds will only eat the yellow and green ones and leave the other colors. Go figure. My GCC eats everything in sight. Our routine is for breakfast he gets a cooked diet while on his playgym. I remove the breakfast once done.
Basically it is one of the Higgins Worldly Cuisine combos that I add extra foods to. All my birds love this stuff and the GCC has his head in his bowl for 1/2 hour. While in their cages, they have a chop type salad with mainly veg and pellets only in a separate dish. I got them, out of the habit of seeds the same way. Nutriberries are loved by all but they only get 1 a day. Keep trying nothing happens overnight with birds. Don't feel guilty and cave in with the seed, they will eat what you put in if hungry enough. Takes a long time.

When I introduce new toys I hang them outside the cage for a few days so they can see it won't eat them.

He will not eat the fruity ones. He picks out all the seed and then throws the fruity colored pellets out of his bowl into the bottom of his cage or on the floor.

condobirds · Jul 18, 2018

Oh, I misunderstood. What I have done is start the bowl off with a mixture of the seed and pellet, then everyday reduce the amount of seed given until there is none left. I also have bought multiple brands of pellets and placed a dish of each in the cage to see what they will eat. Not all birds like the same pellet. This worked with my cockatiel years ago and I recently was fostering 3 cockatiels that I had to get on pellet. Within about 2 weeks they were eating pellets, no seed. But I also did fresh sprouts and they liked those. Do you have a gram scale?? When changing the diet this way it would be good to monitor the weight to make sure they are eating enough.

kalphawk · Jul 18, 2018

condobirds said:
Oh, I misunderstood. What I have done is start the bowl off with a mixture of the seed and pellet, then everyday reduce the amount of seed given until there is none left. I also have bought multiple brands of pellets and placed a dish of each in the cage to see what they will eat. Not all birds like the same pellet. This worked with my cockatiel years ago and I recently was fostering 3 cockatiels that I had to get on pellet. Within about 2 weeks they were eating pellets, no seed. But I also did fresh sprouts and they liked those. Do you have a gram scale?? When changing the diet this way it would be good to monitor the weight to make sure they are eating enough.

Yes, I have a gram scale as well as got a good checkup from his vet assuring me he is a healthy little guy. I have just never gotten a bird I had to convert into pellet before as far as I can remember all of our birds (cockatiels) growing up ate pellet. He is the first actual bird I searched and purchased all the others were my grandmother's birds even though I consider them mine as well because I helped a lot with their care and they were just as attached to me as her. However, she is no longer around to help me with this journey and my mother does not like birds as much as me and my grandmother did. So I have turned to the internet for some help because everything else is going amazingly smooth training and taming wise just a struggle with the pellet conversion.

MonicaMc · Jul 19, 2018

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-...7-converting-parrots-healthier-diet-tips.html

Squeekmouse · Jul 19, 2018

kalphawk said:
Which formula of Harrisons should I use they have an Adult Lifetime and a High Potency. This is my first bird in like 6yrs and I have never experimented or heard of Harrisons before we have always just used Zu Preem because that's what our cockatiel breeder used.

High Potency is best for very young birds (younger than 9 months), sick birds, molting birds, overweight/underweight, and breeding birds. It's also recommended for birds that are just switching to pellets because it's more nutrition packed into there. It's also more expensive than the Adult Lifetime pellets.

Ideally, get a small bag of the High Potency Fine and a big bag of Adult Lifetime Fine. Store them both in the freezer. Fill a plastic storage bowl w/lid with the High Potency. Use this by itself for the first week or two. As you use up this container, refill it with the Adult Lifetime so you have a mix of the two, until eventually it's all Adult Lifetime. By that point, you'll probably have half a bag of the High Potency left, and you can give that to your bird when he's molting or the weather is particularly cold, or you think he needs the extra nutrition.

That's my advice... for whatever that's worth.

TiredOldMan · Jul 19, 2018

Harrisons recommends when switching to their feed to feed HP for 6 months and then switch to Adult Lifetime. Some species such as Greys they recommend HP for life.

Scott · Jul 21, 2018

The conversion tips link provided by MonicaMc is an excellent thread. The advice provided by Harrison's on their site is also helpful. I converted all 8 of my birds a few months ago without difficulty.

kalphawk · Jul 31, 2018

So an update. Went to the avian vet to get another full check up since we were staring all over with the conversion since most pellets were a no go and we went back to seeds while I was waiting for my vet to get some foods back in. I got some Roudybush California blend & the daily maintenance as well as some Harrisons. I am happy to say Zazu loved all 3 so we are doing a mix of Harrisons and the California blend since he will eat both the pellet and the dried fruits and veggies. I would like to move him to just the pellet alone with both but, he still refuses to eat his chop and will only eat strawberries and mango fresh. For some reason, he will eat all the fruits and veggies in the California blend except for the orange pieces which I think maybe carrots or peppers, but he will not eat hardly any fresh produce. I am doing the mix because when we set all of them down on the table for him to choose he would bounce from food to food every time he took a bite and the vet said that it wouldn't hurt to mix them. She also said that she has seen birds who like both formulas but were fed one only and when the owner couldn't get that pellet they refused to eat the other they liked before so this may help with that as well.

MonicaMc · Aug 3, 2018

You might try mixing seeds or pellets into the chop to make it more appetizing. Even if he only goes for the dry food, he still has to pick through the other stuff to get to it.

kalphawk · Aug 7, 2018

So I have somehow I guess by not just paying attention to the packaging, picked up a small bucket of Lafeber Premium Pellet diet when I thought it was some nutriberries (use as training treats we are still mastering step up). He goes crazy for it almost like the nutriberries I haven't heard anything about this food and when I see some of the reviews online there isn't many, but they are all pretty positive. Right now we are still eating the 50/50 Harrisons and Roudybush California blends, but if the Lafeber pellet is in his bowl he eats it out first. I will finish mixing this pellet so it does not go to waste, but how is it as a sole pellet or something to mix in with the mix I am already doing or replace one of the pellets in my mix.

MonicaMc · Aug 7, 2018

The pellets are probably better than the Nutriberries are. The Nutriberries were designed to be a "complete" diet, but most people view them as treats.

I've used Lafebers to convert one budgie into eating a more varied diet years ago. The one I had picked up was similar in coloration to millet, so I put out a tray of millet and Lafeber pellets. Once the millet was gone, he kind of paused for a moment, like "Where'd the food go?", then just continued eating as if it was no big deal!

I'd say that it's probably fine as long as your bird gets a varied diet, but I wont say it's the best. I'm just not a very big fan of pellets that contain sugar (well, Lafeber's, it's molasses - Zupreem uses table sugar).

Switching my GC to pellet from seed.

kalphawk

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GaleriaGila

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