How do you switch to pellets??

[Tashk]

Alright everyone, I need your help.
I was given a lovebird some while back, and I am trying to fix her diet. But she is not giving in.
She will ONLY eat seeds, is scared of any type of vegetable put in her cage - big or small. So I am trying to convert her to pellets, which she totally ignores.
What is the secret to getting her to take just one little bite of a pellet??
All of my other birds think pellets are candy!

[Copper]

Try oatmeal or cornbread. If she likes either, then you can mash some of the pellets in with it, and as she is getting into it more, you can decrease the amount of the meal, until she goes right for the pellet.
Don't get frustrated if it doesn't work right away. Even babies in the wild need to learn from their parents.

[Tashk]

Cornbread is a no-go to her already... Have not tried oatmeal yet.
But should I put JUST the (whatever I am trying at the time) in her food bowl? Or mix it with her seeds? Put it on her seeds? I've already tried those two for the past few months .
She is such a booger.

[ray1457]

Try giving pellets (ONLY pellets) first thing in the morning; your fid will be hungry then and more likely to try different things.

[Sally]

Keep trying bird breads of all kinds. They are nice because you can add veggies to them. I don't worry much about pellets since Chipper eats a variety of foods. She doesn't eat them often, but I do put them in the bird cookies I make. Can you mix them with whole wheat pasta? Chipper loves pasta.

Keep offering a variety of foods. Chipper used to only eat seeds, now she eat everything! They just have to get used to the idea that the new foods are OK.

I can show you the cookie recipe with seeds and pellets if you like.

Getting them to eat good veggies takes time, just keep at it. Fresh food is the best.

[SDavid]

My TAG was the same way. She had access to a variety of foods while she was being weaned but chose to eat only seeds. It took time but eventually we did convert her to pellets.

Birds are cautious and before they try something, before they even touch it, they will spend time observing it. Keep pellets in your birds cage everyday so she gets comfortable seeing them. She'll play with them eventually and this is progress. But in order for her to eat them she has to be motivated by hunger. The method that worked for my TAG was to keep pellets in her cage all day and to offer her seeds for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes a day in the evening. Eventually she began nibbling on the pellets during the day just a little. The job is done at this point because she now knows they are food. After this, one day, I didn't give her seeds in the evening (just to see what she would do) and she ate the pellets with enthusiasm. After that, we discontinued the seeds altogether.

If your bird is a picky eater I'd stick to trying to convert to one food at a time. It worked for me. It's good that youre trying to convert her because pellets are a more balanced meal than seeds and birds don't have the ability to choose a balanced diet on their own from variety. We have to do it for them. In the wild they get balanced nutrition automatically. Good luck and I hope this helps.