How Can I Convince My Cockatiels To Eat More Healthily?!?

On our birds we feed them a pellet and a seed diet. With fruits and veggies. It takes time to change their diets, and you should not just change everything over night. But a gradually change to their diets are the best way. Some times this can take months. You need to keep trying, and don't give up. And if they are nibbling at it, then their are trying it. Maybe it just not what they want, there's a lot of fruit out there. My Grey loves cantaloupes, apples, oranges, grapes, bananas, pears, watermelon. So keep trying different fruits and veggies. Some fruits like grapes and bananas, contain a lot of sugar, so just a little bit will do for them. Birds can get diabetes, just like people can if they get too much sugar in their diets.

Make sure that the fruit is cut up in small little bite sized pieces for the Cockatiels. they don't seem to eat with their feet nearly as much as a larger bird does. My Grey, and the crazy toos (cockatoos) use their feet for almost everything they eat. While our Cockatiels do not. So when we feed out big birds treats they are larger chunks, because they hold them in 1 foot while eating. Maybe that will help them want to try it more, if you chop it up in smaller pieces.

On my African Grey it take forever with her, but it helps if she sees me eating what I'm trying to feed her. The reason it takes her so long is that in the wild, new things can be bad things. So she is just protecting herself by taking her time to warm up to a new item. It does not matter if it's food or a toy. so let the bird see you eating the fruit, and let them know your enjoying the fruit. It my peak their interest, and make them want some. It works like a charm with my Grey.

I see you say that they eat about 15% of the fruit that you give them. That's not too bad to start with, and remember they eat a lot less then you or I would. Make sure your not trying to over feed them. On my Grey if she eat 1 slice from a medium sized orange then I'm happy with her. A Cockatiel could never eat that much, maybe about a quarter of that would be good for a Cockatiel.

Good Luck, I hope this helps with your Cockatiels.

Don't force fruit on your birds. I have 8 cockatiels and 3 of them are 24 years old. These birds never ate fruit because they just don't like it. I give them romaine lettuce leaves along with bread and white millet and sunflower seeds. Cockatiels are Australian birds. They are originally from a semiarid region in Australia and are not tropical parrots that are used to having a lot of fruit around. In their native environment they endure temperatures from 32-110 degrees F. I have been breeding cockatiels for 30 years so I know what I am talking about. Cockatiels can live up to 30 years old.

Try eating in front of them, then offer them a taste. Cockatiels are curious. It may take some repetition, especially with older birds, but sooner or later they'll decide they like some of the new offerings. Our male, Rex, tries to steal food out of my mouth anyway (bad idea for hygienic reasons!) so getting him to try new things is pretty easy. I got him to eat orange and apple slices this way, and once he started, the rest of the flock followed.

Cockatiels seem to like greens and vegetables more than fruit. They'll strip all your houseplants given the chance. Unfortunately, many plants are toxic to birds: http://www.cockatielcottage.net/houseplants.html

Broccoli and celery are sure bets in your refrigerator. I've never seen a cockatiel refuse either of those. Some birds like carrots. Ours will nibble on fresh green beans, bread, some pastas.

Another possibility is sprouting some birdseed in a pot and letting them mow it down. You'll need a few pots to rotate if this is going to be a significant part of their diet.

Egg is another non-seed treat. Once or twice a week Rex flies to my shoulder and imitates the "beep......beep......beep" of the microwave to let me know he wants a cooked egg.

Why don't you give them a mix of fruits and seeds each meal? If they choose to only eat the seeds, try giving them all fruit next so they won't have a choice. But if they still won't eat it, just give them supplements, I think you can buy those stuff that you can mix with water. Teaching old pets new habits is very hard -next to impossible. I hope I helped you.

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we used to put vitamin blocks in the cage,and red peppers and chillies ,any red fruit or veg has more goodness in them don"t know why just advised by the vets,but ours would eat anything .but dont ever feed exotic birds avacados as they can kill them!!

mix un healthy food with healthy food and slowly switch it to only healthy food it will take time