My cockatiels refuse to eat non-seed food??

[CYNToronto]

I've served up nothing but cooked rice, chicken, and eggs, and freshly cut watermelon, apples, tomatoes, bananas and cucumbers for TWO DAYS, and they've opted for starvation.

Of course, once I've placed the seeds back, they went crazy over it. But after tapping the food I've laid out for them, they just lose interest, and scream all day complaining about hunger.

Is there ANY way these idiots will start eating healthy??

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

It's all about patients and trial and error (and lots of wasted food)

Try different ways of serving the veggies, chops, mashes, cooked, frozen, warm, cold, in birdie breads, there are lots of great recipes in the diet and nutrition section of the forum. Plates, bowls, skewers...

I use a combination of chops with pasta, beans, rice and veggies grated and cooked in, some veggies chopped, etc... Also you can add seed to some mashes and when they eat the seed they get some of the veggie mash.

 

[EAI]

Transition is the key. You can't really "force" new things onto them, birds are a creature of habit and will retain to their usual routine. Try leave their seeds in and add hanging fruits and veggies above. As they begin to have more interest in the new food, reduce the amount of seeds.
This is easier said than done, and so it might take a bit more time than you expect.

 

[Allee]

Parrots are not idiots, but they are programmed to be suspicious of any and all new foods being introduced for the first time. In the wild, it's a survival skill.

Nothing wrong with your menu except, "TWO DAYS". Be patient, two days is nothing on a parrot's calendar. Birds that have only eaten seed are usually not willing to give up the familiar in exchange for items they don't recognize as food. Sometimes it takes weeks or months. The good news is, if you keep trying different ways of preparing the food, eventually they will start liking it.

 

[EdwardH]

Plenty of good advice has already been given so the only thing that I would add is try making them little rissoles using veggie mash with seed in it. The birds will pick out the seeds and in the process they will inadvertently eat some of the veggie rissole. Over time (days, weeks or even a month or three) they will recognise the veggie as food and start to eat it. When this happens then reduce the amount of seed whilst increasing the amount of veggies. Try corn, peas, snow peas, broccoli, pumpkin etc.

 

[mh434]

If it helps, even our pickiest birds went nuts for cooked Quinoa the very first time they encountered it. We now use it as a special treat, with calcium, vitamins, veggies, etc. added to it. They all gobble it up on sight, like it's the first meal they've had in months.

It certainly breaks the seed-only cycle!