Hi guys. 4 out of the 5 of my flock love vegetables but Elsa will not eat any. I have tried spinach,romaine,celery,cucumber,pepper,pepper seeds. I serve it chopped up or by hand and she just seems to ignore it. She is a pretty shy bird. Any ideas?
She is healthy otherwise and will eat her seed and millet
It can take several weeks (or even months) for budgies to decide to try a new food.
Fruit is high in sugar content so vegetables are actually healthier for your budgies with fruits given only occasionally (once or twice a week)
Please take the time to read the Budgie Articles and the Stickies posted at the top of each section of the forum.
Most basic questions have been answered there.
You will find many different tips with regard to presenting vegetables and encouraging your budgies to try new foods in the Diet and Nutrition section of the forum.
The first vegetable which my budgies that had not been weaned to vegetables tried (and loved) was sweet corn kernels sprinkled with a teeny bit of garlic powder (NOT salt).
Budgies seem to love "spicy" tastes.
They also adored fresh basil, cilantro, chickweed, zucchini and red pepper.
When I introduced pellets to my budgie, my Avian Vet recommended using Harrison's High Potency Mash and sprinkling it on the budgie's seed mix every day. This way, when the budgie hulls the seed it tastes the pellet mash and ingests bits of it as well. This helps the budgie identify the taste as a food source.
Many members seem to find the easiest pellets to use for introducing pellets to their budgies to be the CANARY sized Zupreem fruity pellets. Most budgies like the taste and the "Canary" sized pellets are tiny enough for them to easily eat them. Once they've become accustomed to the Fruity Pellets, introducing the smallest "natural" pellets is then an easy step.
Other than when I was using the Harrison's mash, I've never mixed my birds' pellets and seed together. My birds have three separate dishes each with a different brand/flavor of pellets available to them 24/7. Their seed is rationed to approximately 2 teaspoons of seed per budgie each day. I give them seed first thing in the morning right after putting clean newspapers on the bottom grate of the cages. I sprinkle their morning ration on the paper so they can forage for the seeds. I then do the same thing in the evenings (after replacing the soiled newspaper with clean) and again allow them to forage for their seed.
All of my birds have the option to eat the available pellets whenever they like throughout the day and they all enjoy them!
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With a healthy diet, you should not need any vitamins or supplements other than Vitamin D3 which is used for birds who get limited direct sunlight.
I know it can be discouraging when trying everyday for a long time. Sometimes it does take MANY months for a bird to try a new food.
It’s good that Elsa has friends that enjoy what you give them. There is even a better chance of her eventually accepting new foods when she sees the others eat it.
How long have you been trying? It can take time for birds to try foods they’re not used to.
One way to make it less “painful”, and make it feel like you’re not wasting, is to regularly eat the same veggie’s yourself too!
Elsa is one of my favorite budgie colors! She’s beautiful. I’ve always been especially partial to the recessive pied yellow and blues!
Faerybee's advice is perfect, definitely take it to heart!
I just thought I'd mention, make sure you don't give up! Each budgie is so different, so it can take some time for some budgies to feel comfortable with vegetables.
My budgie Smol took almost an entire year to fully become comfortable trying new foods. His first success was broccoli, the florettes are small and easy for them to pick off.
Again you've been given great advice, good luck with Elsa!
Hi everyone Elsa had her first nibble of spinach today! She seemed to follow the flock and suddenly she was eating 🙂 including a photo of my flock all together
Budgie won’t eat vegetables
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