Picky Eaters

[mrski]

My picky eaters are leaving me frustrated. I'm new to this, so I bought a seed blend that I thought looked good. It is Ecotrition Essential Blend, which has several types of seed as well as a HUGE variety of dried fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and stuff. My birds pick out the white millet seeds and leave everything else. They won't touch the red millet, canary grass seed, oats, rapeseed, flaxseed, or niger seed, and if they eat any of the fruits and veggies, it's hard to tell.

I have been excited about the recipes you have shared for making egg food and other treats. I started with the simple egg food recipe on FinchInfo.com, but they just look at me like, "What is this? Where is the real food?"

I chopped up apple and carrots. Same reaction. Broccoli and kale. Not interested.

They loved the first millet spray that I hung from the ceiling, but I bought a second spray that looked yummy, with honey and vitamins added, and they ignore it.

They haven't touched the cuttlebone.

I think you get the idea. I was just really looking forward to giving them treats and mixing up their diet. I'm venting a little and seeking your advice. Thanks.

[Sheather]

Unfortunately birds taken from the wild, eating from wild grasses and hunting insects, have pretty much no idea any of our prepared foods and treats are edible. Nobody serves chopped cooked chicken eggs or vitamin supplement millets in the jungle! It can take literally months for them to try something if they have nobody to show them it's okay and they have never seen it before. If you had a couple of domestic birds like society finches who were avid eaters though you would probably see the cordons catch on really quick. Your best bet might be to keep offering the fresh food and just mix in a lot of seed. Eventually they'll try it.

[Sally]

BCCBs aren't big fruit eaters, and many of the treats sold at pet shops are bound with honey, too sugary for many of our birds. In the wild, Cordon Bleus eat a lot of insects as well as seeds/plants. Mine love my homemade egg food, kale, broccoli, cucumber, romaine lettuce.

Your birds may prefer a much drier egg food, try adding some dry commercial egg food, some hand feeding formula, or even some yellow cornmeal to dry it out a bit. Then, add some freeze-dried bloodworms (you will find them in the fish food section of pet shops) to the egg food. Most waxbills love these bloodworms, as they are very high in the protein that they would ordinarily get from insects.

My CBs prefer a basic good finch seed mix without all the extra goodies in it, and then the egg food with f/d bloodworms, with a side of chopped broccoli or other green veggies. Spray millet is relished by most birds, but plain spray millet is best, rather than those sugary millet treats.

[lovezebs]

mrski

My Pet Shop, has large bins with different seed mixes. There are several mixes for finches, several for canaries, budgies, and on to larger birds.

I will pick the simplest mixes for my birds, because I don't like all the little coloured bits and what nots that are added to a lot of the fancier mixes. No one eats them, and it's just a waste.

I also buy bags of wild finch seeds, plain canary seed, red millet, oats and groats, and white millet.
To all this, I add some wheat, and Polish canola, and mix it all together for all of my birds.

All of my birds (from the tiniest Waxbills, up to Canaries and Budgies) do very well on this mixture, and the left overs are tossed outside for my herd of Sparrows.

In Spring, Summer, and Fall, I collect different wild seed heads and these are added to their diet as well.

I don't buy pellets (don't believe in them).

I feed a large variety of greens and some fruit. Hard boiled eggs, mixed with crushed freeze dried mealworms and spray millet crumbles.

To the species that enjoy live foods (a catagory into which your Cordons would fall), I offer small mealworms and flightless fruit flies, which they enjoy tremendously.

I would recommend offering some live foods, and some insect pate mixtures to your wild caught birds, along with seeds and a variety of veggies.

I think the more variety the better, offered in small amounts.

Good luck

[mrski]

Thank you all SO much. I appreciate the good advice. Mostly I just want to keep them happy and healthy, with the proper diet.

Yes, this fancy mix is a waste. I'm going to have to drive further than our local Petco to find the right seed.

I'll keep trying the egg food with worms. I hope I can get them to eat some greens.

[mrski]

Please tell me how you prepare and serve kale, broccoli, cucumber etc. Amounts, how often, mixed or on the side. Thanks

[Sally]

With veggies like kale or broccoli, I have a mini Ninja Express chopper ($20 at Walmart), and I chop the veggies into tiny pieces. I mix these into my egg food, but you can also serve it on the side. I slice cucumbers just like you would for salads, in rounds, but leave the skin on. They will eat all the inside, leaving the green ring at the end of the day. Cucumbers aren't supposed to have a lot of nutrition, but mine enjoy them so much that I give them slices regularly. Daily veggies, but I rotate what I give them so they aren't getting the same veggies every day, though they may have the same for several days in a row. Hard to say on amounts, I just mix in till it looks good, probably a 2 egg food/1 veggie mix? I offer a teaspoon full (not a measuring teaspoon, but a teaspoon from my every day silverware) for a pair of birds each day. Since my egg food is fairly dry, I leave it out all day, even when I have mixed veggies into it, and never had a problem with that.

[lovezebs]

mrski

This is how I serve veggies and fruits.
And this is my hard boiled egg mix.

[mrski]

lovezebs, that looks SO awesome. What a salad! And beautiful birds.

[lovezebs]

mrski

Thanks
Just some examples of the types of greens, veggies, and fruits that can be offered.

Once birds try these things, they usually come to love them.
These are healthy choices that can be offered on a daily basis. With only a few birds, of course you offer smaller amounts. Chop them, offer smaller pieces, larger pieces, find out what your guys like, sprinkle some crumbled spray millet on top, anything to get them to try new stuff.

Check around pet shops or on line where you can find things like flightless fruit flies (I think your guys will love them.

Good luck

[finchboy]

U

lovezebs, that looks SO awesome. What a salad! And beautiful birds.

I am beginning to suspect that MrSki may be keeping his finches in a cage. I do and I am experiencing the same problems as he.

While it would certainly appear to me that birds kept in a flock in an aviary will readily gobble up anything offered to them in the full buffet laid out for them, I suspect a pair of birds bought from a pet shop and kept in a cage will present a completely different set of psychological problems to overcome which aviary keepers may never experience at all.

My two finches only pick and eat one type of seed though I had caringly offered them a good variety of goodies like those mentioned by members here.

[mrski]

A little update. I keep trying different things. I have found a new seed mix, which is a little better, without so much waste, so that's good, but my birds still won't eat anything else. I have made egg food and tried giving lettuce and broccoli, but they don't touch it. I bought some live meal worms and then even found some mini-meal worms, thinking maybe the first were too big, but so far nothing interests them.

I'd like to start breeding them, but worry about them not getting the right nutrition on only seeds.

They seem happy and healthy though, so I won't worry too much and will keep trying.

[tt101]

A little update. I keep trying different things. I have found a new seed mix, which is a little better, without so much waste, so that's good, but my birds still won't eat anything else. I have made egg food and tried giving lettuce and broccoli, but they don't touch it. I bought some live meal worms and then even found some mini-meal worms, thinking maybe the first were too big, but so far nothing interests them.

I'd like to start breeding them, but worry about them not getting the right nutrition on only seeds.

They seem happy and healthy though, so I won't worry too much and will keep trying.

Keep trying. Hopefully they will finally accept something! I had my gouldians, they were the pickiest things ever! They finally started accepting eggfood after 2 months of trying. They would not touch any leafy greens. It was so frustrating.

[lovezebs]

mrski

Good luck.
I find that a lot of it is just trying small amounts of different items, until you hit on the things they like, or they finally try something and discover that they like it.

It is difficult with only two birds.
I find that birds really have a bit of a herd mentality. They do what they see other birds doing, they eat what they see other birds eating, they bath if they see other birds bathing, and so on.

Without that, it all comes down to trial and error, and lots of patience.

Good luck

[Sally]

I find that birds really have a bit of a herd mentality. They do what they see other birds doing, they eat what they see other birds eating, they bath if they see other birds bathing, and so on.

Absolutely agree, so true!