seed eater and pellet eater

[ringo]

is training pellet eater parot easier then training the seed eater?

i find that pellet eater is easier to train...they are more willing to perform for the treat...may be they crave for seeds as their diet is pellet?

is it true to the rest?

[NotEnoughTime]

Hmmm - good question.

I limit seed in my girl's diet and she loves to have a sunflower seed - which I give *only* as rewards for training.

Usually you can find a treat that your bird is *crazy* for - and remove those from their regular diet and use them for training. Sunflower seeds are common - but I've heard of others (almonds, millet and so on).

I wouldn also try to switch my bird over to pellets if it was seed eating. Seed diets are not healthy in the long run. Switching a bird over is pretty easy - but it takes time. You offer seed only once in the morning and once at night (twice a day) for about an hour. You make pellets available the rest of the time. It can take quite a while for your bird to actually try pellets - but if you stop you will not get the bird to switch over.

[ringo]

i tried to switch my tiel to pellet, but he is not eating...wierd is,when i offer him pellet on a plastic spoon,he will eat...(whileim still holdingthe food)

i tried to change like gradually, but he just wont touch the food...
he is the 1st seed eater i have and i have a big probem in training him...he is more to ignoring me and does not really tempted to food

i feed him millet
but for reward, i use unsflower seed and millet sprey
the rest are pellet eater and doing fine in training...and look more eager to be trained and perform...also more receptive to new trick

[Monica]

Cockatiels usually don't do well on a high pelleted diet anyways, however fresh foods such as sprouted seeds, veggies, cooked/sprouted grains and legumes, and some fruits can greatly imrpove the diet.

I've trained one pellet eater using pellets. The only difference was the fact that the pellets I was using were smaller shaped than the ones he was eating. Otherwise, it was the same. Pretty similar to training a dog new behaviors using his regular dog food. It's not really a good idea to do this all the time, however.

[ringo]

i think what important most is howmuchthe bird like the treat,ifthe bird really really like the pellet, then it should possible to use the pellet as reward,but,in general, most parrot like seeds, especially sunflower seed and millet sprey...other then that, they also love other seeds like millet

from what i think, those bird who eat pellet will have more craving for seeds compareed to those who is in seeds diet...there fore, the training pellet eater using seeds as a treat become easier...

its what i think, but im not too sure how correct it is...

[NotEnoughTime]

Originally Posted by Monica

Cockatiels usually don't do well on a high pelleted diet anyways, however fresh foods such as sprouted seeds, veggies, cooked/sprouted grains and legumes, and some fruits can greatly imrpove the diet.

I believe, from this thread flight trianing that he has a ringneck not a cockatiel.... See the pics on page 2.

No arguement about adding fresh foods to the diet however!

Originally Posted by ringo

from what i think, those bird who eat pellet will have more craving for seeds compareed to those who is in seeds diet...there fore, the training pellet eater using seeds as a treat become easier...

Even with seeds some seeds are more "favourite seeds" than others. Like a child, a parrot will eat its fill of the seeds it likes best and leave the rest. For instance, if I give my girl a seed mix with sunflower seeds in it - and she can eat her fill from the mix - she will simply eat all the sunflower seeds until she is full. Leaving all the other seeds.

Therefore sunflower seeds are highly motivating even if she eats other seeds with her pellets.

I don't think there would be much difference if she was "seed only" or "pellet only" with respect to her motivation for a sunflower seed - as long as I don't allow her to have sunflower seeds except for training - she is highly motivated to work if a sunflower seed is at stake...

The trick is finding the food-reward that your bird will be highly motivated to take - and that can be sometimes troublesome... And depends on the species and bird...

[Monica]

NotEnoughTime, Ringo mentioned trying to switch their "tiel" to pellets, and that is the reply I made in regards to cockatiels.

Ringo, I've got a conure who can eat pellets easier than he can eat seeds - and this is due to a beak injury. With a reward, you want the bird to be able to eat whatever it is you give them quickly, but only giving a very small amount so that the bird doesn't fill up on the treat. I don't have any unhulled safflower or sunflower seeds (I don't even feed sunflower seeds), and regular safflower seeds were taking just too long - so I tried using pellets instead, and it worked.

I've got a cockatiel who isn't even a fan of millet - she just doesn't recognize it as a big deal of a treat - heck if she's the only one eating it, she'll ignore it completely.

And as far as rewards go, it doesn't have to be a *food* reward! It could be a scritch, a praise, or perhaps something else that the parrot enjoys. It's a good idea to use a variety of rewards that the parrot finds enjoyable, thus to keep the bird further interested in the training.

[NotEnoughTime]

Originally Posted by Monica

NotEnoughTime, Ringo mentioned trying to switch their "tiel" to pellets, and that is the reply I made in regards to cockatiels.

Ahhh - yes... I stand corrected... I am "working both threads" hence the confusion in my mind...

And yes - the reward can be attention rather than food... Both can work just as well - it depends on the bird...

[ringo]

thansk guys... great info...
i did not know reward can be form of attention, but i know my tiel love to be cuddle...i always give him for free...hehe
he is a big fan of seeds...all my parrot love seeds, but i make them eat pellet, only the tiel is actually refuse pellet almost at all...he is also the most reluctent to perform

its very difficult to get his attnetion...may be i should try give him a scritch instead

[LovelySydney]

My parrotlet refuses to eat anything now BUT seeds. He used to love veggies and fruits and pellets and now he only wants seed. I have tried to break him of this habit but, like someone else posted, he wouldn't eat at all. Im at a loss of what to do - I want him to eat other things and I know an all seed diet in the long run is NOT healthy. Any suggestions?