no no no they say

NDan · Post by **NDan** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 6:49 pm

I've been trying to vary my bird's food since I got them. They are very resistant. I don't think they even eat the mashed egg I tried a couple of times. They are willing to nip at spinach and millet sprays. Not soaked millet sprays yet tho.
If I keep introducing a "new" food once a day, will they try something eventually or do I have to get a pair of birds that knows what good food is to teach them?
I'm nervous since they are laying eggs. Don't want any serious complications to develop.

Sally H · Post by **Sally H** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:06 pm

Concentrate on the eggfood. Give just a 1/2 teaspoon at a time. I've never heard of a bird not eating egg or spray millet for that matter.

When you say new food everyday do you mean a different new food? It may take a couple of days presenting the same new food to get them to try it. Crystal has a few tips on her website about introducing new foods.

Breeding birds need the extra protein and calcium so the mashed egg (with shell) should be given daily. What kinda birds? How many?

My female zebra wouldn't try any new food, her mate was less finicky and when they had four fledglings they ate anything and everything that I offerred. (they never were big on fruit, tho)

THere's lots of debate on feeding soaked seeds. Some say never ever because of the risk for bacterial growth. Some say it's the best thing you can give your birds. *shrug*

edit: just read your post where you say you have 4 related societies. Even if you remove the eggs, the hens still need the eggfood to replace nutrients they lose when laying. A couple of times a week should do. (Flush diets can induce breeding)

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:06 am

hi ndan
have you tried dandelion leaves,that have not been sprayed with any pesticide.or broccolli or frozen peas thawed out i dont know whether you can get wwild chickweed in your part of the world but i bet if you tried them with that you would have a job keeping them supplied...there are some case where because the birds have not tasted any green food or softfood they are slow on the uptake but they will eventually get the idea

ken

NDan · Post by **NDan** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:17 am

I will concentrate on the egg food I think. I can get them to eat romaine lettuce and spinach so I can keep those going.
I was worried about the loss of calcium with the egg laying.
Thanks for the suggestions!

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:14 pm

you can get calcium into your birds by putting up cuttlefish for the birds to peck at.or you could get a calcium powder from your pet shop to dust the lettuce or spinach leaves with or put it in your eggfood mix

ken

Post by **Hilary** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 6:54 pm

You can also buy calcium supplements over the net to add to the water a couple of times a week, plus I keep a dish of eggshell in all of my cages (nuke the shell until brittle to kill any uglies then chop it up into little pieces). They go nuts over the shell!

Hilary

TammyS · Post by **TammyS** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:52 am

Here are a few suggestions to try and get your birds to try new things:

1 - remove their seed and just offer the eggfood in the morning. After a few hours, put their seed back in the cage.

2 - sprinkle a small amount of seed or millet on top of the eggfood to try and encourage them to eat it.

How are you preparing the eggfood?? Did the breeder you purchased the birds from give them eggfood? If yes, I would check with them to see how they prepared it and try to do something.

zookeeper · Post by **zookeeper** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:37 pm

Just keep trying.

Uncle Molly parakeet would not touch any greens until one day she discovered how much FUN it was to shred my favorite begonia plant. Since then she will demolish and consume any green leafy veg I care to give her.

susie · Post by **susie** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 2:07 pm

Hello
I am new to the board and was reading the posts.

I would boil eggs and put the shell pinched up in the cage and the zebra finchwould devour them.

I didn't know about this website,so I tried allkinds of fresh fruits and veggies.
I read online not to give them
avacodo but I didn't know that you weren't supposed to.

I also made sure they had a cuttle bone attached to the cage.They loved Millet .
I learned to put the nest up at the top instead of the bottom of the cage.
I changed the paper floor everyday as well as their drinking water and food trays.They were my babies.