Question ...

[LolasMomma]

So I wanna start Lola on a pelleted diet .... But I dont think I can mix them with her seeds, she'd just pick the seeds out. Can I give her straight pellets, will she eat them or starve before she even touches them?

Also what is the whole bathing in the water dish thing? I came home from work yesterday and was chatting with her & she started bathing in her water dish and talking happily to me.

[Peanutbutter]

i read on here about putting pellets in a food processor & grinding em up... that way when u dump em on the seeds they have to actually touch some of em... and possibly eat the crumbs.
I grided up about a cup and have been going for a week now. (took a LOT of pulses on the food processor to do it....)

[shosh]

Yes, they can starve themselves so it's best not to force them if they don't want to.
What I do is mix in pellets with the seeds....yes, they go for the seeds first because they are familiar and taste better but they should try the pellets.
Some suggest gradually increasing the ratio as time goes on. You can also alternate seeds with pellets throughout the day to make sure she eats but also tried the pellets.
I found that hand-feeding a few pellets to my lovebirds also helped...got her used to it and since it was from mommy, it made it more interesting.
Water dishes are great fun to bathe in...mine do it all the time. Sigh....but God forbid I put a real bath in there...they look at it like it's some spawn of hell.

[Michelle & Fids]

You can offer her pellets in her cage half of the day and seed the other half.

My Quakers and Caiques love to bathe in their water dishes. The Caiques will leap in the bowl, then leap back out real fast, make a lap around their cage and then keep repeating the process until they are done.

[birdlover912]

Almost all of my birds were "seed junkies" before I adopted them, so I've had to deal with this many times! What I've found that works best is to keep a dish of pellets in the cage at all times. You can put small toys (bits of paper, wooden beads, or anything that your bird finds interesting) in with the pellets. Then I would give them a teaspoon of seed in the morning and another at night. It doesn't seem like much, but their stomachs are very small. With the seed snacks, you know your bird isn't starving or anything. Before long, they start eating the pellets!

Daily weighing of the bird is a good idea to ensure that he/she doesnt' loose too much weight. If you notice a weight change, give the bird another meal or two of seed. A trip to the vet might be a good idea too.

Remember that pellets aren't really a complete food--fruits, veggies, and other bird safe foods are important to a well-rounded diet. :)