How do I get very picky eaters to eat fresh foods?

gibson2503 · Jan 25, 2020

My goffins cockatoo and my Sunday conure both eat Zupreem, the occasional Nutri Berry or banana chip, and they are happy with those things. Plain oatmeal is sometimes accepted. Whenever I try to give them fruit or vegetables they won’t touch it. I’ve tried mixing it with the Zupreem, hiding it under paper, nothing works. I even tried not feeding them anything else for an entire day. They still didn’t touch any of it. How can I get them to eat it?

LucyBird · Jan 25, 2020

I recently ordered the sample pack from Bird Street Bistro to see if it is a fun way to get birds to eat more healthy fruits and veggies. Trying a variety of colors mixed together is also something to consider to give your bird choices rather than just one type of fruit or veggie. My bird for example seems always pick out green veggies first like broccoli, kale, zucchini, and grapes. After that, she moves on to the rest but the color seems to be how she makes her choices.

gibson2503 · Jan 25, 2020

LucyBird said:
I recently ordered the sample pack from Bird Street Bistro to see if it is a fun way to get birds to eat more healthy fruits and veggies. Trying a variety of colors mixed together is also something to consider to give your bird choices rather than just one type of fruit or veggie. My bird for example seems always pick out green veggies first like broccoli, kale, zucchini, and grapes. After that, she moves on to the rest but the color seems to be how she makes her choices.

What should I do if they won’t eat it?

LucyBird · Jan 25, 2020

Maybe try handing them one piece at a time instead of putting it in a bowl in their cage? I don't have children but if I did and I wanted them to eat something that was good for them, I might try making it a fun game so using a nice tone, show them how you eat it and like it. When my Bird Street Bistro order comes in the mail, I can let you know what the texture/color is like and if it is something you may want to try for your bird.

Maybe try blending a few veggies to make a mini bird smoothie?

bill_e · Jan 25, 2020

Persistence. My Hawkhead was totally avoiding any fresh veggie that I gave her. I tried serving it a number of ways and it always resulted in throwing away all the food so I would get very discouraged...this was over a couple of years I then found some Freeze Dried chop which is virtually as good as fresh and again tried serving it different ways...still nothing. I started serving it for a week and then not for another week and continued on that schedule. Eventually (maybe over a month or two) she took to it and now eats it for breakfast every day.

I feed her a heaping dry tablespoon of the chop a day and hydrate it with juice. Your bird will eat more but you don't have to start them with any larger serving than that while your getting it to accept it. You can serve it dry or wet. You can go for months trying to establish it as a food and no waste or work other than the tablespoon you try.....no big batch of anything to put in the freezer.

I also to this day remove other food when I serve the veggies. Once she looses interest I put the other food back and then she will go between the two with renewed interest.

Fresh just seemed like such a waste to me because of the length of time it took to get her to eat it and I had actually given up before I discovered the freeze dried..

Laurasea · Jan 25, 2020

We all put inits if good advice on this thread, so give it a read! And op updated today that it worked!
http://www.parrotforums.com/cockatoos/83920-rescued-cockatoo.html

clark_conure · Jan 27, 2020

I don't know about the other birds, but the conures... tell them they can't have any, nudge them away, eat it yourself, keep eating it, then simply not notice when they go for it....

It works for me.....then again I can't eat anything without being harassed anymore....

Scott · Jan 28, 2020

Laurasea said:
We all put inits if good advice on this thread, so give it a read! And op updated today that it worked!
http://www.parrotforums.com/cockatoos/83920-rescued-cockatoo.html

Excellent link, Laura! Virtually all possible advice and tricks right there!

Bluesky · Jan 28, 2020

I would leave the greens in the cage in-between the bars not in a cup. Replace them after a day or two. Eventually it will get your birds curiosity. Be patient it could take weeks or even months .That's how I hot my amazons to eat fresh greens.

gibson2503 · Jan 29, 2020

LucyBird said:
Maybe try handing them one piece at a time instead of putting it in a bowl in their cage? I don't have children but if I did and I wanted them to eat something that was good for them, I might try making it a fun game so using a nice tone, show them how you eat it and like it. When my Bird Street Bistro order comes in the mail, I can let you know what the texture/color is like and if it is something you may want to try for your bird.

Maybe try blending a few veggies to make a mini bird smoothie?

Yes. Please let me know. I may try it.

gibson2503 · Jan 29, 2020

bill_e said:
Persistence. My Hawkhead was totally avoiding any fresh veggie that I gave her. I tried serving it a number of ways and it always resulted in throwing away all the food so I would get very discouraged...this was over a couple of years I then found some Freeze Dried chop which is virtually as good as fresh and again tried serving it different ways...still nothing. I started serving it for a week and then not for another week and continued on that schedule. Eventually (maybe over a month or two) she took to it and now eats it for breakfast every day.

I feed her a heaping dry tablespoon of the chop a day and hydrate it with juice. Your bird will eat more but you don't have to start them with any larger serving than that while your getting it to accept it. You can serve it dry or wet. You can go for months trying to establish it as a food and no waste or work other than the tablespoon you try.....no big batch of anything to put in the freezer.

I also to this day remove other food when I serve the veggies. Once she looses interest I put the other food back and then she will go between the two with renewed interest.

Fresh just seemed like such a waste to me because of the length of time it took to get her to eat it and I had actually given up before I discovered the freeze dried..

Where can I get freeze dried?

LucyBird · Jan 29, 2020

I found a website that sells freeze dried items that you can try. They look good and seem to be priced appropriately. The website/company is called "things for wings."

Ira7 · Feb 15, 2020

I echo some of the above:

Persistence.

Put minimal in his dry bowl, almost nothing, and several times a day, try different fruits and vegetables in his wet bowl. Keep at it, don’t stop, spend the money (which is minimal at best) to keep throwing fresh stuff in there.

He’ll catch on eventually.

Ira7 · Feb 27, 2020

LucyBird said:
I found a website that sells freeze dried items that you can try. They look good and seem to be priced appropriately. The website/company is called "things for wings."

That website is great!

SassiBird · Feb 27, 2020

I have a conure that wouldn't touch veggies. I started with cooked sweet potato and mashed it with mango sorbet to sweeten it. She loved it! As time went on I slowly backed down the amount of sorbet until she was eating sweet potato straight up. She is still not keen on eating other veggies, but at least she eats something besides pellets and fruit.

clark_conure · Feb 28, 2020

like i said before...this.....

Ira7 · Feb 28, 2020

SassiBird said:
I have a conure that wouldn't touch veggies. I started with cooked sweet potato and mashed it with mango sorbet to sweeten it. She loved it! As time went on I slowly backed down the amount of sorbet until she was eating sweet potato straight up. She is still not keen on eating other veggies, but at least she eats something besides pellets and fruit.

How do you cook yours? I’ve just been nuking it.

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