Convincing Tiels to Try New Foods

[Whiskers]

Hi once again!

What my tiels currently have on offer in their cage: A shop-bought seed/nut/dried fruit mix combined with vitamin 'crumbles' (I guess just pre-ground pellets) and some tropical bird treats put through the blender. Around the cage they have millet, cuttlefish, apple, carrot, a whole corn cob, lettuce. They also get a share of any vegetables we cook.

What my tiels currently eat: The seeds, the cuttlefish, the millet. And they only pick out the smaller seeds, at that.

I'm stuck! I've tried eating the foods near them, saying yum yum etc., mincing the food up smaller - most things I've read on this site for this problem, in fact. Sakai's an incredibly healthy looking bird and doesn't seem to have any problems, but I'd like to at least be able to offer him a variety of foods without seeing it all go untouched. I've only had Chen a few days, but he seems to be shaping up in exactly the same way and I'm thinking now's the best time to take action.

Anyone have any thoughts? I want to try some of the recipes I've seen in the recipe forum, but not until I think I have half a chance of them sticking their beaks near it!

[birdlady49]

First thing in the morning, offer the foods you want your 'tiels to eat. Don't put the seed/millet in the cage. At mid-day, offer the seed/millet but take it away after an hour at the most. Put the foods you want them to eat back in the cage (freshly made ... not the same as what you offered first thing in the morning). In the evening, take the fresh out and give them back the seed and millet.

An alternative: Put the seed/millet at the bottom of the food bowl and the food you want them to eat on top of it. If nothing else, they have to push it aside to get to the seed. But eventually they'll have to taste it in order to get to the seed.....

[tielfan]

Here’s how I got my tiels to start eating a better diet. I got a special food cup and put a small amount of their very favorite treats in it, along with some new foods I wanted them to try. At first they mostly ate the treats but eventually started eating some of the new foods too. It helps if you can half-bury the treats under the new food so they have to touch the new food to get at the treat.

It helps if the new foods don’t look too different from the seed diet they’re used to. To get them used to moist foods I gave them some cooked whole grains (from the local natural-foods grocery) then switched over to sprouted seeds and grains. Sprouts are easy to make and are an excellent source of nutrition. They’re best when the root is just barely starting to emerge, and they still look a lot like a seed at this point. Since sprouts are already moist, they’re a good vehicle for red palm oil and other supplements that you can add just before you feed them.

I also taught my birds to take treats from my hand and sometimes offered new foods this way. Sometimes they wouldn’t take the new food, but sometimes they would!

With fruits and veggies it pays to experiment with the presentation. Some birds like stuff cut up in chunks in a bowl and others like it some other way. My birds mostly prefer their veggies whole and hanging up. They prefer certain shapes too. In the wild, cockatiels eat a lot of seed and also chew on the stems of grass and other plants to extract the juices. My birds like vegetables that resemble either a seed or a stem. They don’t like big broad leaves, and cutting big leaves into thin strips doesn’t fool them.

Their very favorite ‘vegetable’ is lawn grass (chemical free of course). Unripe seed heads are a definite plus. We humans can’t digest it but it’s part of the birds’ wild diet so I think it’s great. They like ‘stemmy’ or narrow-leaved vegetables like asparagus, dandelion greens, carrot tops, green beans, and cilantro. They also like seed-like vegetables: corn kernels, peas, broccoli (the florets look like unripe seed heads). Try cutting some corn kernels off the cob and put them in a dish, your birds might like it better that way.

Don't expect anything to happen too fast. It took me two years to get mine to eat fresh carrot. They enjoy a lot of the dehydrated items available at Just Tomatoes, ETC.! which you can also find at some whole-foods groceries. They especially like the corn, peas, and any kind of berries. It's dry and crunchy, not soft and moist like the 'dried' fruits you find at the grocery store. It's also preservative-free, unlike the moist stuff which usually has sulfur in it (not good).

[Whiskers]

Birdlady, I think that is a GOOD idea. I've tried putting their seed down the bottom and I think it's gotten them to try it a little, but taking it out entirely? Genius!

Tielfan, I will have a look around for some of the things you suggest. I forgot to mention that they have peppermint tree leaves in their cage (It's a eucalyptus, we live on a street covered with them and I've always given them to my birds - NB: Just reread your post and thougth I'd mention they're very long thin leaves ) and they eat that for sure. So maybe if I hang up the other green vegetables around it, so it seems like part of the same thing? I don't have a lawn and I don't want to risk stealing from someone else's until I know it's chemical free so I might leave that for now.

They've started eating a little of the cob now it's drying out, but I will try hack some off of it tonight and see how it goes. I'll also start giving them the carrot tops rather than the carrot!

The berries they have in their seed mix are dehydrated like the ones you describe - I've been trying to hunt down a separate source though. Will be looking at that site!

Thankyou both for your help. I'll let you know how it goes!

[tielfan]

Eucalyptus is part of the native diet of cockatiels and other Aussie birds, so it looks like their natural instincts are kicking in. I planted a eucalyptus tree in my back yard last year just to have a source of leaves for the birds. So your idea of hanging up thin veggies near the euc leaves sounds very promising! Don't expect miracles on the first try, but if they have to push past other things to get to the eucalyptus they'll probably end up taking a bite of the new veggies sooner or later.

When my tiels finally decided to try asparagus, they INHALED it at first. It was like the asparagus magically disappeared. They're now kind of cyclical in their veggie eating and eat more on some days than on others, but every day they eat at least a little.

[Whiskers]

Hehe, living in Australia makes it much easier to find a source.

I assume you use fresh asparagus over the weird tinned stuff?

[Whiskers]

I just put a mix of broccoli, corn and treats into their seed bowl, topped with a sprinkle of seed to get them interested. Sakai is nibbling the broccoli!

[tielfan]

Originally Posted by Whiskers

I assume you use fresh asparagus over the weird tinned stuff?

Yes, it's the fresh stuff. Their favorite part is the tip because it looks like an unripe seed head, but if they're in the mood they'll devour the whole stalk.

[tielfan]

Originally Posted by Whiskers

I just put a mix of broccoli, corn and treats into their seed bowl, topped with a sprinkle of seed to get them interested. Sakai is nibbling the broccoli!

Success!! They're probably like the corn too once they get a good taste of it.

[Whiskers]

Well, my boys are doing MUCH better!

They now have in their cage: 2 food containers, 1 with seed/pellet mix and 1 with the day's meal, either bird bread or omelette; skewered broccoli and corn, a stem of asparagus, knitted corn husks (I got bored ), occasional millet spray and cuttlebone. And they eat ALL OF IT!

It's still the seed that gets the most attention, but they're getting pretty excited when they see me cutting up their vegetables. The turning point came when I saw them nibbling at seed spilled on their playgym, and spread out some of the omelette over the newspaper on that. They went nuts - I swear they still have bits of omelette on them two days later!

So I just really wanted to thank everyone for their thoughtful and clever suggestions, because I used each and every one and I don't think it's any one thing that achieved success - a little bit of each trick was, a-ha, the trick!