How do I get my tiels to eat their veggies & fruits?

[My Peanuts]

I'm guessing I just have to keep trying, but maybe there are other suggestions out there. My cockatiels, Alex & Danny, have had fruits most of their lives (well at least while I had them). However, I do admit to getting a little lazy with it. After Alex's health scare I increased the fruits and veggies a lot. Neither Alex nor Danny has much to do with the new foods. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

[My Peanuts]

Should I take the seed out for a while until they give in?

[K9soul]

From what I have read, Tiels are notoriously finicky eaters. The books I read said not to take their food out because some tiels will starve before resorting to something new. It went on to state you just have to keep trying in hopes they get curious and try a nibble, at which point if they like it, it becomes easy.

I would try sprinkling seeds or millet on the fruits perhaps to try to attract them to try it. With Dawn, I've also had her out and would nibble on something myself and that would sometimes spark her curiousity to try a nibble too.

Hopefully my information isn't wrong, I know many times different books will tell you different information on this, but this is the info I have gone with :)

[popcornbird]

No........don't take the seeds out. Feed them fruits and veggies *out* of the cage, like on the cage-top or elsewhere. Fruits and veggies can spoil within hours sitting out there, so they should be thrown away after the birds eat it...after an hour or 2.

With my birds, I would always offer them veggies on top of their cage, in a seperate plate. I would hold a piece in my hand, *pretend* eat it in front of them, and then say *mmmmm, yummmmmy*, constantly, until they started showing interest in what I was bragging about. :p Eventually, they started trying broccoli, peas, carrots, corn, lettuce, and whatever I offered them. Now they just LOVE veggies and wait for me to give them some every afternoon.

Do your birds eat pellets? If not, that is also something you should introduce to them. Do they have cuttlebone in their cage? That is very important for their calcium, and females who lack calcium in their diet are more prone to getting egg binding problems, so if they don't have cuttlebone, do get some of that too. Hope this helps!

[My Peanuts]

Thanks a lot! :) I'm going to try the feeding on top of the cage thing. They do have a cuttlebone, but I smash it in a bag with a hammer and mix the seed with it. They get their calcium and don't even know it ;) Also, Alex is on Calcium Glubion everyday and the vet gave me a pretty big bottle. When I go in on Friday I'm going to ask if she should take it for the rest of her life. There's enough in this bottle for a year I bet. She only takes .01 cc's a day.

[Logan]

I usually feed the vegetables and other "treats" on top of the cage too. They love to come out to stretch and eat together. Sometimes I use the lettuce as a toy and weave it in and out the bars of the cage. They have fun with that. I bought some small low-sided bowls that they eat out of. Mine do not enjoy fruit too much, but do love lettuce, brocolli, kale, and a few other things.

Good luck!
Logan

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Mine enjoy vegetables much more than fruit too. Corn, broccoli, and collards seem to be their favorites.

[K9soul]

I keep both a cuttlebone and mineral block in Dawn's cage. It keeps her beak conditioned too to gnaw on those. Though she is "in love" with her mineral block. :o She rubs her head on it all the time, and sleeps next to it, and gives it little grooming like nibbles LOL.

The other tiel Moms seem to have given great advice though. :)