Transition to pellets

[Lanazielinski1]

Hi guys

Im trying to convert all my birds into pellets but I'm having a lot of trouble with one particular pair. I have two aviary set ups, one is a mixed aviary with a ringneck pair and cockatiels and the other pair has just a pair of ringneck. I'm trying to convert everyone to pellets to keep them healthy into their old age.
I have successfully transitioned my mixed aviary by putting warm water over the pellets and mixing in a small amount of seed and slowly reducing the seed in the mash I create with the pellets and they now eat the pure mash pellet with gusto. They still won't eat dry pellets but that's fine for the moment as long as they eat the mash I'm happy for now.
Now pair two I can't get them to eat it consistently no matter what I do. My blue hen knows it food. When I first tried pellets she immediately picked them up and ate a few so I think before I got her she was fed pellets by her previous owner at some point before she was fed seed and that's what I continued. I tried the mash with seed to force them to at least taste it while foraging for the seeds but she's good at picking out the good stuff and leaving the rest. I thought for id remove the seed entirely and just put pure mash in her bowl and in another pure untouched pellets in case she prefers those. Nothing.
I'm worried about her mate though I wasn't sure if he was eating any or not so I put a little seed back in the mash and watched him closely. He ate from one bowl while my blue hen thinking she finally got me to comply to her wishes tucked into her food which I guess gave him permission to eat too and while I heard a lot of seed crunching from her I'm fairly certain he was eating the mash only not the seed.
But now that I've removed the seed again the food is barely being touched. She thought she won when I gave in a put some seed in that bowl so now I guess she thinks if she holds out long enough she'll win again. But her mate takes her cues so he won't eat it either even though he likes it.
Does anyone have any tips or things I can try to break her stubborn streak?

 

[osklvste56]

Try crushing the a sm amt of the seeds they will eat into a powder. Mix w same amt of ground pellets. Put amt of usual food w coarse ground seeds. They'll eventually taste and try the powder. Sometimes it works. Thats one suggestion. There's no one way. Each bird has their own personality.

 

[wrench1353]

I can only say it took a LONG time and lots of wasted food, before Salty recognized and accepted pellets as food. He still uses them as more of a snack then sustenance. Main foods are Nutraberries and chop.

 

[RitzQuaker1]

Could be pellet brand too. I tried Tops for the first time last year and WOW! Three of the six eat them much more than the seed/nut/fruit mix. The two "new" ones are getting there. The last is literally anorexic so can't trust his taste at all. Their previous brand was Zupreem, which was hit and miss.

 

[Lanazielinski1]

Her problem is more shed prefer the seed over pellets. When I first introduced pellets she immediately picked them up and started eating them so I assume she was familiar with pellets. She's just seed addicted. I've finally managed to get her to eat pellets but she's grumpy now and hates me but she flying around and vocal so I'm just glad she's healthy. My other ringnecks transitioned fully in about two weeks without much fuss. They are loving the new change. They are so much more energetic