cockatiel is eating pellets!

[karrieluvsbirdies]

i've been trying to get him to eat pellets for months now,but he's stuck mostly to seeds.last night i bought zupreem avian entrees,and he loves it! now i just have to work on the fresh fruits and veggies.

[Conure & Macaw Mom]

Congrats. Its always great when they eat something you want them to. Crystal

[Ginich]

My tiels love Zupreem Harvest Entrees as treats. However, the boys pick out only the ones they like and leave the rest. Fortunately, Ladybird does the same thing in her cage so I usually switch the treat dishes because they pick out the opposite colors!

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Ginich

My tiels love Zupreem Harvest Entrees as treats. However, the boys pick out only the ones they like and leave the rest. Fortunately, Ladybird does the same thing in her cage so I usually switch the treat dishes because they pick out the opposite colors!

\

Sounds like me a nd my siblings and our lucky charms and or starburst preferences.

[Lisa B]

Thats great, but please continue to give them seed also besides the pellets.
Research has shown that Tiels for some reason do better on a seed based diet then a pelleted one. I dont remember EXACTLY where I heard that, but it was a long time ago, when I shared my home with 17 tiels.
Hopefully someone else will add thier info here.

[bustersbuddy]

It has been suggested in a number of recent posts on this board and others that pellets may contain too much protein for many of the Australian grass parakeets and cockatiels. Since I am having a hard time coming with a solid periodical that deals with "advanced" bird issues such as this, I can only use what I've read here and a couple of other places (i.e. books) plus my common sense and "grower's intuition" to say that make sense to me. When you look at the natural diet of these birds in the wild, it is primarily seed grains of one sort or another, supplemented with some green shoots, eucalyptus leaves, nuts and flowers etc. There are not a lot of heavy protein sources such as palm nuts, nuts in general or grubs/worms in their natural habitat. This contrasts with birds from the rain forests in Asia and Central/South America where all of these protein sources are readily available and consumed. I don't think a "one size fits all" diet works with tropical birds anymore than it will work with tropical fish. I would encourage you to keep seeds as a part of your birds overall diet and limit the pellets to no more than about 30% of the overall diet.

[Ginich]

I agree that seeds should be part of a tiel's diet and I do give them 2/3 seeds (no sunflower seeds) and 1/3 pellets in their food dishes. The Harvest Entree is available as a treat, if I don't have fresh veggies in their cage. Also, they get millet once/week as a treat and there is also a seed mash in BIRDIEBREAD.

[karrieluvsbirdies]

but my vet told me to get him off the seeds and on the pellets.

[bustersbuddy]

You'll have to do your research and make your own decision about that. I have decided to give up on pellets because Buster will not eat them. I did all the "right" things to introduce them to her, followed all the "right" steps and she still refused to eat them. I bought the best seed mix I could find that contained some pellets, a wide variety of seed, but no sunflower seed. This seemed to be the best I could do at the time. In the meantime, I joined this board, did some research on what cockatiels have available in the wild, went back to a couple of good books by Matthew Vriends and visited the Aves International Website. What I discovered in all these sources was that a sprouted seed diet with cooked grains like rice, barley and some beans, vegetables and fruit seemed like the best choice. I purchased a copy of Rachel (?) Deutsch's "A Healthy Bird Cookbook" and started working on moving Buster to an entirely "fresh" diet. She took right to it with no problem. I offer her freshly sprouted seed mix and a grain/bean/veggie mix in the morning and dry seed with birdie bread in the evening. Most of the really experienced cockatiel, grass parakeet folks on this board seem to think that seed is an important part of the diet for these birds. Most experts feel that a pellets only diet for these birds provides too much protein for the birds.

But again, I stress you must make your own decision about this matter. Some vets feel that seeds are too fatty and have too much carbohydrate content. I'm not truly comfortable with pellets and other "manufactured" foods but that's me and you may find your research leads you to a different conclusion. Sorry that's not the concrete answer you were looking for, but at least it is truthful!

[karrieluvsbirdies]

i'm very glad to know your opinion!maybe the vet wanted me to get him on pellets because he refuses all fruits and veggies,or because he already has a vitamin deficiency that was caused by the seeds.