My cockatiel wont eat fruits or veggies how can I make him?

Seeds are fine. not all birds eat the fruit and veg.. Just try him now and again. there is enough nourishment in the seeds I promise you..

Hi there. Bird diets have really changed for the better these days. Even though there is no set standard yet, many find that a good pellet food, 10% seed and 10-20% fruits and veggies have really helped these birds to live to their full life span.All seed diets have been shown to lead to malnutrition and pellet food is far superior than seed because it is fortified and many add fruits and vegetables.Replace the seed with a pellet diet by 1/4 a week. I was having difficulty and discovered a technique that really worked. Since these birds are flock birds, you are perceived as flock leader. Eat or pretend to eat the new food and act enthusiastic and happy and excited in front of your bird. Talk to him like he is a small child or baby. This behaviour will perk your bird's interest and he will try the new food with some persistence. I also found that scientists realize that these birds are far more intelligent than once thought. After your bird gets settled with his diet, you may want to create foraging opportunities. This is natural and helps prevent boredom. I put food and a few treats in small wax paper rectangle pieces and twist the ends, I've stuffed food in pine cones. The possibilities are endless and yes, I had to show my bird what I was doing. http://www.cockatielcottage.net/ and http://www.cockatiel.com/Cockatielcare.html seem to be reliable sites. Have a great year and may your relationship with your bird bring you both joy.

It can sometimes take quite awhile for a bird to recognise fruit and veggies as food. Try this, cut up small pieces of fruit or veg into very small cubes, for example, Cut peas and corn kernels into quarters. Start with one or two veggies, mix a tablespoon veggie/fruit with a tablespoon of seed, place in your birds cage in a small flat dish and remove the plain seed. He will pick through the mix and eat the seed to start with but will be tasting the fruit/veg at the same time. You will need to change the food morning and night as it will sour easily. Hopefully he will start to eat the fruit/veg in a week or two and you can then feed it to him on its own and try a new variety. I would try corn or apple first, birds seem to like these if nothing else.

http://www.cockatielcottage.net/

This site has a lot of good information on feeding cockatiels.

Let your bird see you eat fruits and veggies. For example, slice an apple up. Let him see you eating the slices, and then give him his own slice. Sometimes it is "monkey see monkey do." Birds will eat things they see their "flock members" eating.

You can start to switch him to a pelleted diet, which is more nutritious. My vet reccomends 80% pellets, 15% fruits, veggies, and other healthy human food, and 5% seeds and treats. I feed Roudybush or Harrisons. Both are reccomended by my vet.

http://www.roudybush.com/ If you contact them, they will mail you a free sample. They also have ways to convert seed junkies to pellet eaters.

http://www.roudybush.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bird...

My cockatiels eat the mini pellets from them and really like them!

Be very careful with soaked seeds. They grow mold VERY quickly and that is toxic to birds! Done properly, it makes a great treat, but you will still have the problems with your bird being on a seed only diet.

Most cockatiels on a seed only diet will develop fatty liver disease wich is fatal to birds.

Man, my cockatiel never did eat fruits or veggies. She'd pick just a little bit at leafy greens, but she woudn't eat them. No fruits, no veggies--she wouldn't even eat all the seeds in her seed mix. She was super-picky.

But she was fine until the day my mother accidentally let her fly away. It's nice, but not essential. If they need the nutrients from fruits or veggies, I think they'll eat them, but if they don't dig variety, don't bother.

Besides, it's a total pain to MAKE a bird do anything! I never figured that out! I was doing good to get my bird to sit on my finger, since she bonded with my mom.

My Alex eats anything that I eat, or at least he wants to. I would recommend eating veggies and fruits around you little bird, and soon he will become interested. DO NOT take any out of your mouth to give him. Give him his own cockatiel sized portion of fruit. Larger portions tend to scare birds. Also I have found that Alex loves cooked sweet potato. I mash it up for him, but Don't put butter or anything else in it, as most birds are lactose intolerant.

Don't make him eat fruiits or veggies when he don't want them. there are some things need to know about couple things about birds. I rasie and own three cockatiels myself. Just give him time to get use to the fruits and veggies and let him make decison what to eat or not to eat. Some birds are very (really very) picky what to eat.

I have some websites that I found on net.. hope this helps.

This sounds really gross, but it worked for me- let the bird watch you eat a piece of fruit or something, saying Mmmmmmm, and take some of it out of your mouth, onto your finger, and put it up to its' beak. Always worked for me, and since it is young, you will develop a special bond with it.

If your mouth is clean, it's OK, I don't know where you heard saliva is deadly, if so, then 20 years and 6 birds would have been long gone.

My aunt has had birds for years and I was always amazed at their color and shine. Far more than any others I have seen in captivity. She always soaked her seeds in water to sprout them before feeding to the birds. They are a lot more alkaline that way and full of living energy. I advise you to try this.

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