My birds have lost interest in their veggies.

Sheather · Post by **Sheather** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 9:41 pm

When I had several dozen birds in my free-flight setup, I would go through two heads of broccoli and lettuce per week, with the flock cleaning a large dish of greens on a daily basis and leaving not a crumb.

Since downsizing, my remaining birds - except for the canary who is a pig - don't eat more than one, maybe two bites of anything green that I offer them. Their affinity for eggfood also seems diminished, and they mostly just want their dry food. They act no different than usual, seem lively and happy - it just seems unusual to me.

Anyone know why this would be?

cindy · Post by **cindy** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:01 pm

they may be bored with it... broccoli should be fed in moderation maybe two times a week.

Tryevery other day or try different veggies...add some grated carrot, chopped kale, corn, grated zucchini, chopped peas. Try you hand at sprouting proso and different seeds.

Sheather · Post by **Sheather** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:07 pm

Cindy

No, I've tried literally everything.

Lettuce (every type but iceburg)
broccoli
cauliflour
apples
kale
chard
endive
carrots
grapes
peas

They will eat one bite, maybe two, and then they're done, it wilts, and it goes off.

I'm confused, these guys used to be huge chowhounds.

Sweet corn is the one thing they still seem to relish.

cindy · Post by **cindy** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:12 pm

Grapes are really high in sugar, skip those... how do you serve the veggies?

cindy · Post by **cindy** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:17 pm

This is one of the dishes I make for my birds

chop kale and carots in the Ninja chopper (after chopped I toss veggies in their powdered vitamins), cooked couscous, either boiled grated egg or dried egg food... mix all this up and serve!!! Theone pictured also contains chitted quinoa

cindy · Post by **cindy** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:21 pm

a few other ones...

wildbird · Post by **wildbird** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:28 pm

The other birds might have enticed them to eat more. They see them eating, so they do too. May miss the other birds.

cindy · Post by **cindy** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:31 pm

there are days when I can't do veggies for them but I make sure they have a variety of dry foods to eat... try Goldenfeast Australian Blend...it contains a lot of really good things,bee pollen, dried fruits and veggies. I use a dried eggfood and mix their pellets in it... the seed is a blend of different seed for them to forage through.

Veggies can be given every other day. I tried the Green Day Diet..eggfood and veggies everyday first thing in the morning...I found that some days they ate more veggies than grated egg, other days they ate everything and other days they picked at it and ate little.

Try to look at what they eat in one week not daily...were all their nutritional needs met?

Sheather · Post by **Sheather** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 10:37 pm

I generally mix it up, whole or chopped, vary placement. It doesn't matter much to them.

I wonder if they're no longer as interested since I began to offer complete pelleted foods regularly (alongside seed.) They eat a lot of the pellets and like them a lot, that's supplying a lot of extra nutrients... with as many birds as I previously had pellets were not feasible to feed regularly. Some days my cockatiels, for example, don't want any seed at all and eat only their Zupreem. Even the finches have gotten pretty fond of that. I guess it's supposed to be a complete diet but I would like them to eat a variety nonetheless.

That looks like a good mix but I don't have any machinery except for a knife and my hands to prepare it.

In a week all of the birds eat a lot of pellets, about 2/3 as much seed, maybe one day out of the week they will eat a lot of the eggfood and they nibble a bit of the veggies daily. They are getting some, but before they seemed a lot more excited and now they just take it or leave it.

cindy · Post by **cindy** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:04 pm

I would not worry about it to much, most pellets supply what they need... my finches will eat Roudybush, Lafebers, Prettybird, Zupreem as will my grasskeets and Conure. I do not feel like I am depriving them of anything if I can't serve veggies everyday since they have a dry selection of foods to choose from.

I went away to Alaska for a couple of weeks and my daughter came by 4 times a day and stayed overnight also, but was working... I left her seed, pellets, dried egg food and Goldenfeast Australian Blend... I got home after my trip and everyone one did great... of course the very next morning I served up the kale, carrot, cousocous and egg food course for them!!! The scarlets were running back and forth, so excited in their flights when they heard the chopper whirling!!!!

Post by **lovezebs** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:44 pm

Sheather

I think I agree with wildbird, Dylan.
You know the old saying 'monkey see , monkey do', well I find that it very much applies to birds as well.

How many people have Gouldians that eat live mealworms? How many Canaries, Societies, and Zebras, that do the same?
Mine did.

They have over different times been housed with Parrot Finches and some Waxbills, from whom they've picked it up.

However, when no longer housed with these species, the interest has waned, and now some of them won't eat them anymore.

Just an example, as to how one species sees a behavior in another species, and copies it.

I would simply offer less greens for a while, or possibly alternate some days between veggies and pellets.

cindy · Post by **cindy** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 12:02 am

You could also try dried or fresh herbs, dried fruits and veggies..sometimes you have to offer other foods for them to forage through, especially hookbills. It is good for mental stimulation also. Herb Salad by Twin Beaks.

Check out some of the dried foods and foods you can serve warm http://goldenfeastdirect.com/

Kingscages.com also carries a good selection of goldenfeast and other food products.

Derk · Post by **Derk** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:10 am

Sheather
I agree with Cindy regarding not worrying too much about it if they are eating a quality pellet. This spring my zebs decided to feed mostly the Lafebers instead of egg food and seed to the chicks. They were fine. Fledged a couple days early based on development charts. And continue to eat the Lafeb. in addition to seeds etc. Quality pellets are nutritionally balanced.

If it really bothers you, perhaps decrease the amount of pellets you provide. The nutrients the pellets provide are not found in the seeds and therefore the birds may look for it in the vegs again.

Spreckles · Post by **Spreckles** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 12:25 pm

WOW newbie here. I have offered my finches fresh greens they don't want them. They love millet. i hang the egg based bird treats up they love that and their seeds. They will nibble at some dried greens and they love the hay. They seem healthy though and one f them is 8 years old, he never had anything but seed until I started reading about finches. I have offered grapes cut in half and several other things but just take it out of the cage basically uneaten.

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