Parakeets

[tararrogers]

I bought these two little precious parakeets from PetsMart about a month ago. Of course they were on a seed mix ( with pellets they said) and millet diet only . I bought a bag of what they told me they were eating. The little sweeties won't eat anything else. I have tried all the foods that I feed my conure and CAG, but they won't touch it. I even ground up the birdie trail mix I make for my others really fine, and they still wont eat anything. I try taking their seeds away during the day and only giving them other things, but they won't eat at all and I dont want them to starve themselves. Anyone know how to switch a parakeet's diet?

[pchela]

All I know to do is to patiently keep trying. It can take quite a while for a bird to try new foods. Have you tried eating something in front of them and acting very excited about it?

I've also heard of mixing some of their seed with pellets that you want to give them and use a bit of warm water to mix them up and smash them into a ball. The theory is that they have to eat some pellets to get to the seed they like. Maybe you could try that with the trail mix you make?

[HyperD]

Will they eat from your hand? Michael suggested in another thread to hand feed the pellets and once that is accepted fine, then to only give them pellets in their cage.

http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2521&p=13723#p13723

[tararrogers]

they are not ready for me to touch them even hand feeding. they are shy shy shy, but I have been letting them out of their cage for about an hour a day and they are getting used to me putting them back in and allowing me to carry them to their cage. I tried the wrapping of their seeds in some birdie cornbread with veggies and it seemed to work. Thanks SO much for that helpful tip. Also the cornbread and veggies crumbles well so they are eating it also. I'll have to work on the trail mix later, but at least they ate the bread.