FINCHforum

I’ve tried feeding my two zebra finches strawberries, watermelon, carrots, broccoli, and spinach. So far they’ll only eat the seed mix and spinach, I can’t get them to eat anything else, not even a mineral block or crushed up egg. Any suggestions?

I'm not sure if I can give much info but I do know with my own birds they do prefer veggies over fruit. I found when I fed them chunky veg such as carrot or a lump of melon unless it was grated/chopped finely they had little interest. Seeing as they enjoy spinach you could introduce other leafy vegetables such as kale, cabbage, celery leaves, fennel leaves or peas from the pod are a lovely treat. Mine seem to love cucumber or fresh parsley in moderation as well. There are a few egg food recipes online that also include fruit or veg, crushed egg shell, all disguised in the egg food mix. I think if you just keep trying different fruit and veggies in time will be able to tell what they do/ don't like as they can be fussy! Hope this info helps!

Best of luck!

Mine really enjoy water cress or lettuce I have an aviary with about 30 birds and not one of them touches the carrot or any thicker types of veg like stated above

LunesEMartes

There's a few things you could try. Remove their seed dish and replace it with one filled with cooked egg and vegetables (cooked veggies are softer then raw ones), and push the millet into the softfood. They'll still try to pick out the seed, but might get a mouthful of vegetables and figure out it's not bad.

Remove the seed at night and put softfood in the same kind of dish and in the same location in the morning. The birds should associate the dish with food, so might be more likely to try new foods that are in there. Birds are also most hungry after they wake up, so morning is the best time to offer new food. Give them the seed back after a couple of hours. Riced raw vegetables may be the best option for this technique, since they will look and feel more like seed than any of the other choices.

A lot of animals are afraid of novelty, so simply seeing the food multiple times could make them comfortable enough to try some. Just keep offering the food using the methods above, and eventually they should start eating more of a variety.

Mine don't like mineral blocks and aren't keen on cuttlebone, but will eat crushed oyster shell. If your birds are male or non-laying females, they won't need to eat additional calcium often, so you probably won't see them eating it for a while.

Finches should always have seed available. In addition, try frozen vegetables that are simmered for about 6 minutes and cooled. Peas and corn seem to be a favorite. You can add some shredded raw carrot or shaved broccoli tops to it. Be sure to rinse well any fresh produce used to remove pesticide. My Societies love some fresh organic dandelion greens clipped to the side of the cage.

I got them to eat a bit of broccoli and carrot, thank you for the suggestions!

I agree with the previous poster regarding removal of the seed and replace in same dish the desired food or mixed with millet. Some birds wait to see a more aggressive bird to show them it is okay! I have watched one bird repeatedly try to convince new fledglings to give it a chance. Don't leave it out long....then revert back to seed. I use a special dish and location to teach them it is a treat.