Finally!!!!!

[zERo]

Yes! Finally! After trying for months for my cockatiels to eat pellets they all did on the same day! All three of them eat birdie bread, I guess the can't taste the Tops in there. I tried sprinkling tiny chunks into there chop and letting them get soggy, they ate around them.
I tried letting them see the budgies eat them, no such luck.
I tried putting a bowl of pellets with only Tops in it initially, not a bite!
Then 2 days ago I did just that, put a bowl in their cages with Tops, then after I came in from outside, they were mostly eaten! I don't know why exactly, they had their chop (breakfast) in their cages which they had already eaten most of. I guess they just decided 'Ok fine well try them!'
Lol sorry just wanted to share! Don't give up! I had been trying for close to 8 months!

 

[SailBoat]

I believe that there is a bit of "new stuff" radioactiveness that automatically happens with new things. It is clearly a Companion Parrot thing (not being part of a large flock in their natural range) as it appears that the effects of having another Parrot eating or reacting to the new thing kind of approves it for the group. A group of limited size that have few to no individual(s) that will try anything results in shyness or "fear of new stuff."

Just my guess at it. The great news is that they have increased the size of what is classified as safe to eat! Congratulations!!

 

[LaManuka]

Congratulations on conversion - it's often not an easy job with no guarantee of success! A former cockatiel of mine, Kang, was SO set in her ways that she refused every attempt that I made over several years. Another, Twinkle, again from quite some years ago, was also very stubborn, despite having the example of Fang to show her that pellets are not "radioactive", as @SailBoat mentioned. What finally worked with her was grinding them up to a fine powder and sprinkling it over her seeds so that she couldn't avoid eating them and got the taste for them. That worked within a matter of days and she suddenly ate them as though she had done so all her life, whereas the previous eight weeks had been a real battle of wills that Twinkle just about won! So my congratulations to you on a job well done, and a longer and healthier life for your birdies too!

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

Yes! Finally! After trying for months for my cockatiels to eat pellets they all did on the same day! All three of them eat birdie bread, I guess the can't taste the Tops in there. I tried sprinkling tiny chunks into there chop and letting them get soggy, they ate around them.
I tried letting them see the budgies eat them, no such luck.
I tried putting a bowl of pellets with only Tops in it initially, not a bite!
Then 2 days ago I did just that, put a bowl in their cages with Tops, then after I came in from outside, they were mostly eaten! I don't know why exactly, they had their chop (breakfast) in their cages which they had already eaten most of. I guess they just decided 'Ok fine well try them!'
Lol sorry just wanted to share! Don't give up! I had been trying for close to 8 months!

Congrats! That has to be a huge relief.

 

[zERo]

He actually didn't eat all of his seed ration just so he could eat more pellets!

Edit: Sorry, Romeo, he's the 13y/o. who I mostly was targeting this post towards