Birds Not Eating Pellets?

[DanteD716]

I give them mixed seed, with pellets mixed in. They never touch the pellets! I always find them at the bottom of the cage or on the floor. So last night, about an hour before lights out I gave them only pellets. When I gave them their stawberry and toast I sprinkled some seed on it. Is this a good way for my birds to try new food?

[Chichireeo]

I find it easier to make my bird eat pellets in the morning. My bird wakes up hungry. So I put in the pellets the night before. He wakes up before I do and he would snack on the pellets while he waits for me to get my act together.

[cindy]

With new birds or birds not exposed to pellets it takes longer, I feed at night and put the pellets on top. Most of my parent birds came to me on a seed only diet, they now eat pellets and love them.

If offering in a separate dish be warned some birds will eat certain colors and leave the rest.

What type are you using? By the way if you are offering "treats" everyday they will ignore their regular foods and eat the treat vs the pellets and seed. Most quality pellets contain vitamins, minerals, etc and treat do not. I feed things like veggies every other day. If you work feeding mid morning might be difficult.

When raising young, the young are more likely to eat the pellets when weaning and develope a taste for them so mae sure they are down in the feed area.

[ac12]

This is basically the method that I used to convert my birds to eating pellet food.
http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/introducing_new_foods.php

Some take to new food faster than others.
These could then be "teacher birds" to the others. "monkey see, monkey do."

VERY IMPORTANT is to make sure they ALL eat.
Changing food cold turkey could cause them to starve themselves to death, because they don't accept the new food as food.

ALL my finches are primarily on pellet diet.
In fact I have some gouldians that rather eat pellets than seeds.

[cindy]

I was not sure, are you trying to change them over to pellets completely or offering both seed and pellets?

[DanteD716]

Oh no, I do not feed snacks everyday. I may give them spray millet a couple days one week, them maybe strawberries one day, cooked (not season or with sauce) whole grain pasta another. But no more then two or three treat days a week. I give them a variety. But I offer both seed and pellets, and they just ignore the pellets. I know they'd like them and I want them to raise their babies on pellets so they have a taste for it. They also rarely ever touch snacks. They sometines eat millet spray, but never they're fruits, unless it's a grape which they're not allowed anymore. How can I get them open to new food? They barely even touch egg food! They also rarely touch they're cuttlebones but will eat some grit. Does it seem like I have some picky birds? Sorry it was so long. I don;t know the name of the pellets, I'll check when I buy a new bag but these are other seeds, again, sorry it's so long, just worried, I want to expand their diet! Thanks all!

They won't eat: oats groats, niger seed,

They will eat: small yellow millet, canary grass seed, white millet, red millet, flax seed.

[cindy]

what brand pellets are you using?

[DanteD716]

what brand pellets are you using?

I don't remember the name, when I buy a new bag I'll tell you. I put all their seed in seperate plastic droors and throw away the bag

[cindy]

Are they multi color or natural...mine would not touch the natural but love love love the Zupreem Fruit Blends for finches, smells good and looks good!!!

[DanteD716]

They are natural, they are brown and you can see some tints of green in them. They are soft enough to break/crumble if I squeze them hard so they shouldn;t be hard to eat. I didn't want to buy colored without asking around. But should I swith to more colorful ones? I'm sure if they try them they'd like them! Also, is it better to buy the bag that is pellets and seed mixed, or stick to seperate? Thanks!

[cindy]

PetSmart and Petco have the small bags of Zupreem Fruit Blends for Canary/Finch...try a small bag first.

The birds I adopted not to long ago were on just seeds, I put the pellets in and they dove right in. Any birds that are new have gone right to them, even my picky Green Singers.

Don't toss your natural pellets but grind them to a powder and put them in eggfoods and birdie breads.

[DanteD716]

PetSmart and Petco have the small bags of Zupreem Fruit Blends for Canary/Finch...try a small bag first.

The birds I adopted not to long ago were on just seeds, I put the pellets in and they dove right in. Any birds that are new have gone right to them, even my picky Green Singers.

Don't toss your natural pellets but grind them to a powder and put them in eggfoods and birdie breads.

Okay, thanks! I can't wait to get my new birds, I'm going to buy a small bag and test it out on the new fellas and my old ones, so I can get them all on the right track. And since we're mentioning birdie bread, I'm attempting to make some today! Who new Jiffey mix was only 50 cents? I'll be making it every time I run out!

[ac12]

I use the natural UNcolored pellet food. The colored pellets colors their poop, the colored poop stains the perches. It also makes it harder to detect problems in the poop.

Converting birds to pellet food can be a war of wills.
Who will give in first, you or the bird.

[DanteD716]

I use the natural UNcolored pellet food. The colored pellets colors their poop, the colored poop stains the perches. It also makes it harder to detect problems in the poop.

Converting birds to pellet food can be a war of wills.
Who will give in first, you or the bird.

I think my birds already got me beat. I'm not trying to change their diet completely, I'd just like them to eat the pellets and seed. Well I put some in their birdie bread so hopefully the eat it.