Converting cocatiel to pellets?

[Lukesmith]

My cocatiel is relatively young just about 13-15 weeks. He is on a seed diet which I am well aware is not healthy. I bought roudyboush pellets to transfer him on and have tried many methods so far none working. He is still pretty light only about 76 grams. If I hold one out he will chew on it but I don't think he's actually getting any to swollow. I have tried the mix in bowl, switch all fora day, and stick the pellets with warm water to the seed. All of them he doesn't eat loose weight and screams because he's hungry.

 

[ChrisWink]

Are you sure he was fully weaned before you brought him home?

 

[Aquila]

I would try soaking the pellets in warm water and try hand feeding him some. Even with a little low sugar fruit juice diluted with water if he's really not interested. Cockatiels do need some seed, but I would try offering the pellets first thing in the morning when he's hungry, and then seed later in the day to make sure he is eating. Also, weigh the food to see how much he is eating, and change the paper in his cage more than once a day to see what's getting tossed out.

 

[WilliamKenyon]

This worked for my cockatiel so i'm sure it would work with yours (whats his name?). So first i would let him fatten up a bit for probably two or three weeks until he gets to about 83 grams or so. During this time it is a good idea to mix in some pellets with his food. This will help him get used to the pellets.

Once you have done this the next step is to give him exclusively pellets for no more than twelve hours. Usually the bird will not begin to eat pellets the first time. If he is still not eating pellets you should give him seed with pellets mixed in with his seed again for another week. After this give him straight pellets again for no more than twelve hours. Usually birds will begin to eat pellets on the second go. If he doesn't eat pellets by this time repeat the previous steps until he does having a one week break in between. I hope this helps and he will eat pellets as will be happier and healthier and happier because of it.

 

[mekat]

I have had tremendous success with switching my birds to Nutriberries and then slowly replacing one Nutriberry for one pelletberry. This has worked for both my keet and tiel.

Another method is to make a a pellet mash by desolving pellets into warm water and mixing with the regular seed. Once they start to get used to the taste and recognize pellets as food they are supposed to convert very easy. I had zero luck with this method but I have heard many success stories from other people.

I have also had good luck with Harrison Birdie bread millet and flax seed mix. Unfortunately it did not teach them a love for Harrison's regular pellets but at least I was getting some pellets into them in a different format.

The other method I tried and had some success was putting the pellets on a hand mirror and letting them eat the pellets with the birdie in the mirror. Unfortunately it seemed to only work while the mirror was present and when the mirror was taken away they were right back to ignoring the pellets.

 

[Nakiska]

I had tried a few different brands of pellets and when I adopted a conure from an elderly woman, he came with a bag of zupreem naturals. I decided to offer them up a dish and was shocked when I found the dish mostly empty with a bunch of pellet dust! So now they always have pellets and some seed and of course all the fresh fruits/veggies they will eat.

I'm no professional, however sometimes they just prefer a different brand.

Good Luck!

Toni