My birds won't eat anything but seed...how do I fix this?

Uzi-Bobuzi said:

I'm a noob to owning a budgie so take my advice with a grain of salt.

That said, our budgie was on a poor seed & dried fruit diet when we got him. I started mixing pellets with human-grade millet in the morning (because millet is his absolute favorite). I experimented with a few pellet brands and found that the Harrison's high potency superfine was something he'd gobble like the millet while he was pretty indifferent to Roudybush and Top's. He's now eating that in the morning, I give a human grade seed mix I make myself in the afternoon, pour it in with the pellets and he eats some of everything. I'm also working on getting him on fresh foods, he'll eat some things (they have to be small, like sprouts or cut up fine) and he also will nibble dried bird greens.

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Cody said:

It can take a long time to get them to try pellets because they do not recognize them as a food source, what you should never do is try to force them to eat the pellets by removing the seed, you will starve them to death. There are many techniques to introduce them to pellets, you might try crushing them up and sprinkling on top of the seeds so they get a taste of them. Same thing with veggies, they do not see them as food and sometimes it can make a difference in the way they are presented to the birds. Try chopping some romaine lettuce and or kale into small pieces and add some finely shredded carrot and place it in a dish of its own and see if they will try it. Fruits have a lot of sugar in them so do not offer to often, veggies are better. Safe Foods for Budgies

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Cody said:

What brand/size pellets do you have? Millet is seed, try breaking off a few small balls of it from the main stem.

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vrabec said:

Pigeon: as a different perspective for time, my little rescue dude took a couple weeks to learn not to fear millet spray, four months to begin tasting veggies, and now we're at 9-10 months and he still won't eat pellets (and I've tried nearly every method, taking time, nice and slow). Occasionally he'll munch on one if I present one to him. It can take tremendous amounts of patience; if you don't expect results overnight, you'll be fine, just perservere. Maybe your quartet will change over quickly, maybe not Good luck

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FaeryBee said:

It can take weeks, or even months, for budgies to decide to try new foods.

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, dill, 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.
It worked for my all of budgies and lovebirds

Many members seem to find the easiest pellets to use for introducing pellets to their budgies to be the CANARY sized (XS) Zupreem fruity pellets.
Most budgies like the taste and the "Canary" sized pellets are tiny enough for them to easily eat them.
Once budgies 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 Zupreem Fruity Pellets, RoudyBush Mini Natural Pellets, Dried Herb Salad and Miracle Meal available at all times.

Their seed is rationed to approximately 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons of seed per budgie each day.
I give them seed first thing in the morning right after putting clean packing paper 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 paper with clean) and again allow them to forage for their seed.

You can also simply ration the budgie(s) food into morning and afternoon portions utilizing the food dish(es).

A Healthy Diet for your Budgie
Quality Seed Mix
CuttleBones, Mineral Blocks and Manu Clay Roses
Safe Foods for Budgies
The Truth about GRIT

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