Switch to Pellets?

[Lulu10766]

Hello! I recently got a little parakeet and have been trying to switch him onto pellets for two to three weeks now. The pellets are said to be meant for parakeets, cockatiels, and small birds like that, but they still seem somewhat big- at least for a parakeet. At the pet store all he ate was a seed mix, and he always picks out the millet seed, not eating anything else. I know this is bad for him, but I'm not sure what to do. I've tried mixing the seed and pellets, but without the seed he just refuses to eat. One thing that seemed to work was pretending to eat it myself acting very dramatically that it was DELICIOUS. Although this got him very interested in what I was doing, and he did try a crumble of the pellet, it didn't seem to help any further than licking a few crumbles off my finger. I'm not sure if the pellets might be too big for him? This is a guess of mine because he has nibbled/put the pellet in his mouth, but when it didn't break, he just dropped it back into the dish and began picking through for millet seed. Could it be a smell he might not like? It does have a rather strong smell to it- not bad, per se, but strong. Perhaps, it's the taste- or maybe a mix of all these things? I'm just not sure what to do as he's very stubborn that he just wants to eat the millet seed, and if he doesn't have millet seed, then he just won't eat, which isn't good for him either. I've also tried to feed him vegetables like broccoli, thinking the texture of the buds he might enjoy... not only was he first scared of the broccoli piece, after trying a small bite of it and deciding he didn't like it, he held a grudge against me for feeding it to him- for the next couple minutes he wouldn't even accept millet from my hand. Of course, by now I have been forgiven for such a terrible offense against him 😆 But I'm just hoping y'all will know what to do!
Have any of y'all ever dealt with a picky bird like mine? If so, what techniques/tricks did you do to switch them over to a healthier diet? Is just about every bird this stubborn, or maybe I'm doing something wrong? Thank you so much in advance! 😁

 

[zERo]

All 4 of my budgies came to me eating just seed, these are some of the way I got them to eat better foods:

For pellets, it was very simple, I got two 5oz. bowls with holders and put them partially filled with pellets in their cage as the highest placed option of food in the cage.

For veg, mixing seed and pellets into very finely chopped veg, letting them soak up the juice.
Also making birdie bread is a great way to get them to eat pellets and veggies without them knowing.

 

[Lulu10766]

All 4 of my budgies came to me eating just seed, these are some of the way I got them to eat better foods:

For pellets, it was very simple, I got two 5oz. bowls with holders and put them partially filled with pellets in their cage as the highest placed option of food in the cage.

For veg, mixing seed and pellets into very finely chopped veg, letting them soak up the juice.
Also making birdie bread is a great way to get them to eat pellets and veggies without them knowing.

Okay, I’ll that. Thank you!

 

[Lulu10766]

All 4 of my budgies came to me eating just seed, these are some of the way I got them to eat better foods:

For pellets, it was very simple, I got two 5oz. bowls with holders and put them partially filled with pellets in their cage as the highest placed option of food in the cage.

For veg, mixing seed and pellets into very finely chopped veg, letting them soak up the juice.
Also making birdie bread is a great way to get them to eat pellets and veggies without them knowing.

What type pellets do you feed your budgies? I give mine the Kaytee Nutrisoft Pellets for Cockatiels and Parakeets. I usually don’t pick anything Kaytee as I don’t like their rodent products and am against most of them. But there was no other pellets at the store but those. I’m not sure how good their bird products are. What do you think of them?

 

[zERo]

What type pellets do you feed your budgies? I give mine the Kaytee Nutrisoft Pellets for Cockatiels and Parakeets. I usually don’t pick anything Kaytee as I don’t like their rodent products and am against most of them. But there was no other pellets at the store but those. I’m not sure how good their bird products are. What do you think of them?

I don't recommend the Kaytee brand, I would avoid them, just because they don't stay very on top of their animal foods sanitation. Just looked over the ingredients, I would avoid pellets with corn in them as it's very sugary.

As for a good brand, I recommend TOPs, they make a small and mini size pellet, they have the best ingredients all around.
Another I've started mixing in with their TOPs is Caitec Oven Fresh Bites, they make a budgie size also and have decent ingredients.

 

[Lulu10766]

I don't recommend the Kaytee brand, I would avoid them, just because they don't stay very on top of their animal foods sanitation. Just looked over the ingredients, I would avoid pellets with corn in them as it's very sugary.

As for a good brand, I recommend TOPs, they make a small and mini size pellet, they have the best ingredients all around.
Another I've started mixing in with their TOPs is Caitec Oven Fresh Bites, they make a budgie size also and have decent ingredients.

Thank you so much! I looked into the TOPs, and I saw they have it on Chewys, which we frequently use. We get the rodent food off of Chewys frequently. I also noticed that they have the Caitec Oven Fresh Bites too! I'll see about getting him some. Thanks so much again! Maybe he'll be more willing to try these two, and I'm excited that they're more nutritious for him!

 

[wrench13]

Some of the pellet mfg's will send a sample of products if you pay the shipping. Parrots can be picky about what Brand they like. Salty in example only likes the Roudybush brand pellets.

 

[Lulu10766]

Some of the pellet mfg's will send a sample of products if you pay the shipping. Parrots can be picky about what Brand they like. Salty in example only likes the Roudybush brand pellets.

How might I go about asking for the samples? Would I find that on a website, or would I need to email anybody or something like that?

 

[wrench13]

Each of them have a website of some sort. I dug and found the phone#s and actually called them. I wish I had that list, but it was 5+ years ago, long gone. now. three best:

Tops
Harrisons
Roudybush

 

[Lulu10766]

Each of them have a website of some sort. I dug and found the phone#s and actually called them. I wish I had that list, but it was 5+ years ago, long gone. now. three best:

Tops
Harrisons
Roudybush

Okay, thank you! I’ll check it out and get him some samples. Hopefully, whatever is bothering him about the Kaytee brand (texture, taste, smell- who knows 😅 ) will be all solved and figured out. Thank you all again so much for all the help! I’ll be happy to have him on a healthy diet. It’ll make me feel a little less guilty.

 

[Lulu10766]

Each of them have a website of some sort. I dug and found the phone#s and actually called them. I wish I had that list, but it was 5+ years ago, long gone. now. three best:

Tops
Harrisons
Roudybush

Oh wonderful!! The sample bag for Tops only cost $1.00. That’s not too bad at all! 😁

The other two didn’t have a sample option available to buy- maybe I’ll find their phone # and call them to ask if they have some, or maybe I’ll start with Tops and see how he does with that.