VEGGIE FRENZY...

[MiaCarter]

Lovezebs
Wow.
Now **that's** a veggie plate!

That little dude is really orange!
I couldn't tell what he was from the angle. Is he a canary?
He didn't seem to have any of the back/wing markings of an orange weaver or orange breasted waxbill. So I'm perplexed! LOL

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter
The 'little' orange dude, is not so little. That's my boy Luciano, the one and only. He's the one who started this 'craze'

Yes, he is a Canary.

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

Oooh....he's quite lovely, isn't he?!

I love his coloring. It's a great blend between yellow and orange. Do you give him lots of beta carotene to keep his colors nice and bright? He's really vivid!

I've never seen him in your photos before!
From that angle in the photo, he looked small like the finches and didn't seem to have the roundness you see in canaries so he had me confused!

He looks like a Luciano!

[Airlyn]

That looks really good. I have been fine chopping my spring mix for no reason. Looks like yours just likes it all course or not chopped at all. Im going to try it too

[monotwine]

Lovely to see them feasting on greens! Wish mine would be so interested in greens.

[lovezebs]

monotwine
Are they not? Can't figure out why so many people's birds don't like veggies.

~Elana~

[monotwine]

lovezebs Mine love their veg and soft food mix, but I have to cut things up. They only eat cucumber whole. Lettuce and spinach leaves etc they ignore unless it is finely diced up. I use a blender for that.

Maybe mine are just too picky and I spoil them, so they never needed to bite into a leaf.

[lovezebs]

monotwine & MiaCarter & Airlyn

I do chop some things, like large kale or lettuce leaves, but just cut with a knife into managable pieces and they manage just fine.

Good luck
~Elana~

[Colt]

My goodness you take the phrase go big or go home to whole other level. That veggie tray is insanely yummy looking. But a couple of cups of fresh eggfood right down the middle and it's be a smorgasbord.

Just a thought though...

Seems like most of you saying your birds that don't prefer veggies have your birds in outdoor flights/aviaries. Our inside birds seem to relish the fresh vegetables. So maybe our inside birds crave vitamins and minerals in the vegetables that your birds are able to obtain naturally through foraging for bugs and green stuff that appears in the aviary naturally as well as sunlight?

Of course I have no clue if that's true or not. My birds don't seem to like whole vegetables but if a finely chop/dice things up and put it in their egg food they seem to love it.

[lovezebs]

Colt
Hi Colt.
Regarding the egg food if you look at the left corner of the picture, you will see a plate of egg food (unless the downsizing, resizing and what not got rid of it).

They just love their fruits/veggies. Not a day goes by without them. Socie fosters were also stuffing babies with veggies and fruit, so when babies weaned, they automatically gravitated to the fresh food tray and dug right in.

~Elana~

[isobea]

Hi all, I finally might be on to something with my birds: they have always liked lettuce(mostly romaine), cucumber and apple slices IF I clipped them onto a branch using a clothes pin. For days I tried the beautifully presented smorgasbord which they completely ignored. Now I am also clipping chard, zucchini slices, pieces of broccoli and other greens and it has made a world of difference (they still won't touch chard). Can't figure out why some birds like their food chopped while others won't go near it. Maybe it's no more complicated than "monkey see, monkey do".
Iso

[SamFinch]

Your canary is beautiful! Wow! I've just realized since finding this forum that they needed food, other than seed. So I've been trying to make up for lost time. They like the hard boiled egg and abit of birdie bread. And they have just started eating romaine lettuce, they've decided thats a good thing! But tomorrow I'm going to try a miniture version of your PAR-TAY tray. lol

[lovezebs]

isobea
I tend to change things around. They always get the tray, but some days I also will clip certain things up from the top of my flights, or on the walls, or hide little goodies in the corners just for fun.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

SamFinch
Hello.
Luciano thanks you for the compliment. He is a sweet bird.

The trick is to try small amounts of different things, unti you find out what it is that your guys really like. For example, you mentioned that they like romaine. So chop up some romaine, and scatter a bit of grated carrot on top, with bits of chopped cucumber on the side . Experiment with little bits and pieces.
JUST REMEMBER- STAY AWAY FROM AVOCADO, IT IS TOXIC


~Elana~.

[Sheather]

isobea

Hi all, I finally might be on to something with my birds: they have always liked lettuce(mostly romaine), cucumber and apple slices IF I clipped them onto a branch using a clothes pin. For days I tried the beautifully presented smorgasbord which they completely ignored. Now I am also clipping chard, zucchini slices, pieces of broccoli and other greens and it has made a world of difference (they still won't touch chard). Can't figure out why some birds like their food chopped while others won't go near it. Maybe it's no more complicated than "monkey see, monkey do".
Iso

That's most of it, I think. It took a ravenous canary who loved everything to get my flock fully hooked on all things fruit and veggie and into the unpicky munchers we have now - before Steve came along, they ate only broccoli tops. Now they eat everything and then some, and so too do any new birds we get who can't resist joining the crowd - even our budgies!

Initially I too found the birds would not touch food in a bowl and only liked it clipped up - eventually, however, we worked around this by gradually moving the clips lower and lower in the cage until they rested on the ground, and eventually getting rid of the clips all together and putting the treats in a bowl. Much less waste and easier to clean up after all is said and done now that they finally eat from a platter like civilized creatures.