FINCHforum

Newbie here, so please bear with me... ;)

After watching this youtube clip of heaps of zebras enjoying a hard boiled egg and salad treat ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US7r38A2coI

... I prepared something similar for my pair or zebras ...



However, they did not touch it at all, and being out for most of today I have had to remove it as it was no longer fresh.

Any ideas why my zebras refused to eat any of it at all? What did I do wrong?

Hi Magna_elite,

Birds can be very suspicious of anything new. I have three birds. My canary and zebbie have always tucked in voraciously to greens. My star finch, Merl, has only JUST started eating greens, and I've had him for two years! He saw the other two eating it, and started nibbling. Before this time, he would NOT go near it! Give them time, and put it a number of times. They may ignore it, poop on it, or sit on it, but eventually, one of them may start eating them. My birds do the same with egg food - they ignore it completely. I've only had one bird that would eat it.

Good luck

Kind Regards

Zebrafincher
Proud owner of:
“Kevin the King”, groutchy, cranky canary – 12 years
Beaky the Zebbie – 9 months old – a real, real cutie!!!
Merlin “Merl” the Starfinch – 2 years – and “bossy as anything for such a small fry!”

I have only had mine 2 weeks. They wouldn't touch it either. I hated seeing all of my hard work go down the disposal each day. So one morning I took their pellets away for an hour. They started eating it then, lol
Now if I am late with egg I get scolded at by the society finch.

My guys have enjoyed it from day one.
I hardboil my eggs and mash them shell and all into their egg dish and they get right to it. I Put it in a seperate dish from the greens. If you only have a couple of birds, you could use half an egg and fridge the other half for next day.

If your babes were not fed eggs where they came from, then it's simply something unfamiliar to them. Therefore something not to trust, but eventually one will get brave and have a taste and go: Hey , this is yummy, and then the rest will follow his example.

Finchie see finchie do...

Like the others have said it may take a while for them to try new foods. If you mash the egg into fine pieces or run it through a garlic press like I do you may have better luck and not waste so much. Only put out about a tablespoon per pair and leave the rest in the frig. You might wan to add their favorite seed to the top to entice them into trying it. Hard boiled egg is very important to their diet so keep trying
good luck

All my birds eat greens, veggies egg is made into small pieces...sort like a fine chop. I take the greens and whirl it a few times in a food processor. Eggs get grated with a fine cheese grater.

magna_elite
...i mash the egg up....i have 100+ zebras ....they only eat one egg a day....my birds eat very little egg...but they love cos lettuce...and fresh grass

I found that chopping food items small enough enables the birds to manage the foods easily and their is less waste. Mine eat yellow squash, peppers, mixed veggies, kale, collard greens, romaine, carrots, baked de-skinned sweet potatoes. Eggfood is finely grated into small pieces that resembles small mealies...much more manageable. When parent birds are feeding young they need to be able to eat quickly and a lot...I find that mashed or grated is better than offering it in a whole egg/halved form.

I have not quite 150 birds, and I can easily go through 6 eggs a day, more when I have a lot of babies. I do tend to offer more than they can eat though, because I found that my waxbills are so demanding for their egg that they would toss babies when the eggfood supply was low. I don't have a single bird that won't eat egg, and they usually attack it as soon as it is put in their cage.

I mash my hardboiled eggs, shell and all, but putting them through a garlic press or grater as debbie276 and cindy do will make them more appealing to birds who aren't used to eating eggs. As the others have said, it may take time to get birds to accept new foods.

Also, maybe start out with much smaller amounts for now. Rather than a whole sliced up egg, or mashed up egg, just put a little bit on a small plate (or I use plastic jar lids, perfect size), and one leaf in a separate place. That way this Scary New Thing isn't so big and scary and imposing. Once they decide it isn't going to rear up and crush them in its scary jaws of death, and start eating it, then increase the amount slowly until it's the right amount for them.

magna_elite wrote: Newbie here, so please bear with me... ;)

After watching this youtube clip of heaps of zebras enjoying a hard boiled egg and salad treat ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US7r38A2coI

... I prepared something similar for my pair or zebras ...

[ http://i.imgur.com/zqvqYxol.jpg ]

However, they did not touch it at all, and being out for most of today I have had to remove it as it was no longer fresh.

Any ideas why my zebras refused to eat any of it at all? What did I do wrong?

I noticed in your pic, the eggs do not look cooked through completely. My finches won't eat eggs that are not hardboiled so they don't look wet or bright yellow-orange. It could contribute to illness if eggs are not fully cooked. Also, as others suggested in previous posts, chop, process, grate to make new foods easier to eat and less threatening.

Thanks for all the feedback! Really appreciate it. I'll give it a go

Goodluck. Stick with it. In time, it will come.