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Hello, I have been trying to get my newly aquired Gould's to eat some fresh vegetables. So far they have no interest at all in, spinach, broccoli, cucomber or lettuce. I think it must be important for them to have something in their diet other than seeds. Any tricks to get them to eat these types of food?

kevensquint wrote:Hello, I have been trying to get my newly aquired Gould's to eat some fresh vegetables. So far they have no interest at all in, spinach, broccoli, cucomber or lettuce. I think it must be important for them to have something in their diet other than seeds. Any tricks to get them to eat these types of food?

My gouldians and most all are very picky eaters. I got some wheat grass seed and grew it in a little pot. They loved it and that started them eating greens. They mostly only eat the d ark green leaf lettuce. That is the only veggie that I can get them to eat. Sometimes they will eat wheat bread soaked in water which I am very thankful for because it is the only way I can get feather fast in them when they are molding. Good luck.

Maybe like Fairestfinches adds to their eggfood, a little garlic powder?
Sally's gouldians didn't like it until she added a pinch of garlic which I understand gouldians have a liking for.

other than cucumber and green seed my gouldians prefer to pick their own green food straight from the plants. for example herbs direct from the plants

Try giving them green seeding heads or sprouted seeds. Not too many finches will ignore these.

Other than that, here are a couple of methods to introduce new foods to picky eaters.

1. Teacher bird. Place them in the same cage as a bird that does eat the food you are offering and generally they will catch on. Societies are good teachers as they will accept a diverse range of food.

2. Place the new food on top of their seed or favourite treat. Make them push those veggies aside if they don't want them.


Matt

My Gouldians WERE very picky, but I wanted them to each vegetables. I started them on broccoli. I trim the tops - they come off in the correct size of little pieces - then I remove a little millet seed and sprinkle that on top of the borccoli. I put that in a shallow dish along with some crushed egg shell. It took a couple of days...but, now they REALLY, REALLY love it. They seem to wait for it each monring and dive in as I am pulling my hand out of the cage. I've tried that method with a couple of other vegies, such as corn kernals and peas (which I crush for them) and they are eating everything I give them. It may work for you....try it!

The easiest way to introduce new foods is to stimulate the birds to search for new food sources. You can achieve this by removing all food just before dark and then ONLY providing the new food you want to introduce to the birds the next morning. Leave the new food for an hour or 2 and replace their normal food after that so the birds don't starve. Do this a couple of days in a row and I guarantee you they will start to eat the new food, in fact my birds will now eat the wet foods first (broccoli, cabbage, spinach, carrots ect) before they reluctantly eat their seed mix after they've finished their wet food. Breeding birds are also more inclined to try new foods so this is also a good time to introduce this.

O, 1 more thing, remember to grate or finely chop the veggies you want them to eat. I use my mini blender for this.

My gouldian pair loves there vegetables more then any of the other finches i have. i just threw them a piece of broccoli earlier and they were the first to go for it. I remember though that for a day or two they wouldnt eat anything but the seeds and fruits pieces but as soon as they tried the veggies they were all over it.

My little gouldian will often try a new food if he sees my society eating it. So maybe you could put a "teacher bird" with yours? My society is very curious and will try any new food I put in the cage. She even tried orange juice once!

Lol, is it okay for them to drink orange juice?

It took me a while to figure out how my goulds liked their veg......they go absolutely bonkers for leafy greens cut into tiny, thin, grassy strips. Yummy!