Not eating eggs

newfinchmom · Post by **newfinchmom** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:13 am

I can't get my birds to eat the eggs. I tried removing all the seed and millet and they just tweet like crazy but don't eat anything. I tried adding broccoli to it last night and they still won't touch it.

Any ideas??? I thought of putting a small spray of millet right on top of the egg so they at least have to get close enough to check it out.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:44 pm

Introducing a new food can be frustrating as it can take awhile before they will even approach the strange looking item. I believe we are talking about Zebras here, is that correct?

If so, I would say they have either never had eggfood offered before now OR they are like many of my past Zebras and are only interested in eggfood when raising young. It would go completely ignored otherwise.

Keep offering it, especially early in the morning. Remove all other food for a few hours. Eventually they will give it a try... or not. I once had a Zebra hen that would starve before eating eggfood.

newfinchmom · Post by **newfinchmom** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 2:18 pm

I have a cordon bleu and a society finch. I hoped the society finch would be bold and check out the food, but he has not eaten any. I left it in the cage when I left for work and now I am worried because I forgot that I shouldn't leave it in their longer than 4 hours. If they won't eat it anyway, then they should be okay. I'm going to get some meal worms from Petsmart on the way home tonight and see if the bleu will eat those.

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:55 pm

Oh yeah, now I remember! So many posters to keep straight.

Yeah, I wouldn't worry overmuch, if they ain't eatin' it, then no harm done. The mealies are a good idea. My CB pair LOVE them. My societies show no interest though.

jonvill · Post by **jonvill** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:11 pm

Getting birds to eat new foods is difficult...

How did you offer the egg?
Do you mix it with anything?

I also wondering how long you cooked the egg?
Sometimes if the egg is cooked too long it gets that green tinge on the yolk and it smells like sulfur too. I don't think my birds would eat egg like that if I were to offer it. The wayI cook eggs is to add the egg to boiling water and cook it for 15 minutes. (You add the egg with a metal spoon so that the egg does not crack and remove it with the spoon too.)
This is how I do it, everyone has their own way.
best
John

newfinchmom · Post by **newfinchmom** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:09 am

Well. .. I checked the yolk and it was cooked perfectly. I added broccoli to it once. The first time I did not add anything to it at all. I put it in one of their food dishes on the side of the cage the last time. The first time, I put it ina small bowl on the bottom of the cage.

I offered mealworms for the first time last night and my bleu wouldn't eat them. She got close enough to look at them, but did not eat. AARGH.

jonvill · Post by **jonvill** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 12:22 pm

It's all about being patient your birds will eventually try new foods.
It takes about a week.
I mix my bird's egg with Orlux at the rate of 3 tablespoons of Orlux to one egg. To that I add Vita-plume during the moult. This mixture is spooned one tablespoon at a time into little foil packets that I then freeze until needed.

tina · Post by **tina** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 6:28 am

I mix my egg with bread crumbs, a tiny bit of cod liver oil and safflower oil and a bit of thier seed and they all gobble it down the minute i place it in thier cages. It does not last long. I have Zebra finches, and just got my first pair of society finches. They all eat it.

I know I have to make a lot of this when they have babies in the nest, and keep the excess in the freezer to keep it from spoiling when I have babies in the nest because my parent birds want to feed it to the babies all the time. But when they are not raising babies I can normally just make a little at a time.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Thu Oct 19, 2006 12:52 pm

hi tina
if you want to store your eggfood in the freezer without mess put it in the ice cube tray and then you can take it out one cube at a time

ken

newfinchmom · Post by **newfinchmom** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 9:25 pm

I put some broccoli in the cage last night and I saw the bleu eat some!! She even went back for seconds!! The night I left mealworms in the cage all day, I saw about four on the bottom of the cage, which means that the birds actually got into them!! WAHOO!!! The birds and I are learning together. Thanks so much for your helpful advice!!

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 10:29 pm

Good news!

Have you offered them green leaf or romaine lettuce yet? My birds all go nuts over it. Well, all except the budgie... I'm having a very hard time getting her to try anything new!

newfinchmom · Post by **newfinchmom** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:28 pm

I have read different things about lettuce. Some say to put large lettuce leaves in whole and other people say to cut it up very small (like in a food processor). How do you feed it to your birds, Tammie?

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 11:07 am

My canaries enjoy tearing into the leaf lettuce. My other birds... cb's, gouldians, societies, shaft-tails & strawberries prefer that I cut it up for them. Their previous keeper did this for them so maybe they are just spoiled.

I don't run the lettuce through a food processor though, just snip it into little pieces with kitchen scissors. Less to clean up that way.

You could try it both ways and see which works for your birds.

newfinchmom · Post by **newfinchmom** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 10:28 pm

Tammie. . .can you put a budgie in with a society finch??

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 6:15 am

i dont see why not!i have had a budgie in with a zebra finch with no ill effects

ken

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