Food Samples.

[patdbunny]

Have you tried running the stuff through the food processor and then putting about 1/2 teaspoon sprinkled on top of their bird seed? If you look at the pic of what I feed my little guys, you can see the bits are pretty small.

Also, try egg food. It's a little drier so it might be more readily accepted for tasting. 1 hard boiled egg, 1 slice of multigrain bread - run through food processor until crumbly. Put 1/2 teaspoon sprinkled over their seed. Egg food doesn't keep very long so I'd toss any leftovers after 48 hours.

[kaylayuh]

Have you tried running the stuff through the food processor and then putting about 1/2 teaspoon sprinkled on top of their bird seed? If you look at the pic of what I feed my little guys, you can see the bits are pretty small.

Also, try egg food. It's a little drier so it might be more readily accepted for tasting. 1 hard boiled egg, 1 slice of multigrain bread - run through food processor until crumbly. Put 1/2 teaspoon sprinkled over their seed. Egg food doesn't keep very long so I'd toss any leftovers after 48 hours.

They seem to love egg, so I'll have to try adding the multigrain bread to it. I've tried the bird seed thing, but I'll have to try it again and see if I can trick them into it. I don't have a food processor or blender, so I usually chop everything by hand and make sure it's pretty small.

Have you tried using baby food at all? I've seen a lot of places recommending mixing baby food in with seed, but I'm not sure how well that works or how long it's safe to leave out for them.

[patdbunny]

They seem to love egg,

Use the eggs they love to start hiding food they won't try like pellets. Mix some pellets into the egg (I'm assuming scrambled?). They'll have to dig through the pellets while they eat egg.

[kaylayuh]

I got all three samples today and some of the things sent are quite interesting.

Lafeber sent four kinds of Nutri-Berries, two kinds of Avi-Cakes, and two sizes of their daily diet pellet. Pigpen and No Name got their pellets mixed in with their seeds and I'm pretty sure they've eaten some since they're a natural color. Cheney Bird got a seperate dish and didn't seem too impressed, but he did nibble the Avi-Cake.

Harrison's sent three sample size bags, two of the fine and one of the super fine. I'll try these tomorrow with them, but again they're natural colored, so they may not be a problem.

Oven Fresh Baked sent a decent sized sample bag of their medium pellets. At first glance, they're kind of weird looking. I kind of thought they looked burnt. When I opened the package, I smelled cinnamon right away. I'm not sure if they put cinnamon in them since I didn't see in on their ingredient list, but Cheney Bird did seem to nibble on them and enjoy them.


EDIT: It appears that I lied. I mixed the pellets in with the seed and hoped to trick them into eating the pellets that way. It appears that they are digging around the pellets for the seeds. I put Avi-Cakes and a Nutri-Berry in there for them as well, and the Avi-Cake was tossed to the cage bottom.

I don't think I'm going to change their food dish tomorrow and let them finish the seed and be stuck with the pellets. I'm hoping they realize the pellets are food and will eat them. Otherwise, I'm out $49 because I thought they ate them and ordered the ZuPreem 20lb bag of pellets and 10lbs of seed blend.

[CheekyandMalolo]

I wouldn't worry so much about the feed you're giving them at the moment, it sounds like they're getting a nice well balanced meal, which is just as good/possibly better (mentally) than pellets. Pretty sure conures need a slightly higher fat content than the budgies, so seeds shouldn't hurt him at all.
I wouldn't give up on sprouted seeds, but sprout your own so you're not wasting money, you can also sprout beans, I would mix sprouted beans, sprouted seeds, dried fruits, cheerio bits and seeds in a bowl for all three birds, you may find the mix discourages them from pooing in it. Especially if cheerios are in it since they're Cheney's favourite. I'd keep them all similar sized though so break up the cheerios. Correct me if I'm wrong, but cheerios are like sugarless fruit loops right?? Might have to find some for our birds, I think they'd love them!

[kaylayuh]

I wouldn't worry so much about the feed you're giving them at the moment, it sounds like they're getting a nice well balanced meal, which is just as good/possibly better (mentally) than pellets. Pretty sure conures need a slightly higher fat content than the budgies, so seeds shouldn't hurt him at all.
I wouldn't give up on sprouted seeds, but sprout your own so you're not wasting money, you can also sprout beans, I would mix sprouted beans, sprouted seeds, dried fruits, cheerio bits and seeds in a bowl for all three birds, you may find the mix discourages them from pooing in it. Especially if cheerios are in it since they're Cheney's favourite. I'd keep them all similar sized though so break up the cheerios. Correct me if I'm wrong, but cheerios are like sugarless fruit loops right?? Might have to find some for our birds, I think they'd love them!

Cheerios do have sugar in them, but it's listed as one of the last ingredients so it's quantity isn't huge. Froot Loops have a ton of sugar but are super yummy.

[Kirsten]

I wouldn't worry so much about the feed you're giving them at the moment, it sounds like they're getting a nice well balanced meal, which is just as good/possibly better (mentally) than pellets. Pretty sure conures need a slightly higher fat content than the budgies, so seeds shouldn't hurt him at all.
I wouldn't give up on sprouted seeds, but sprout your own so you're not wasting money, you can also sprout beans, I would mix sprouted beans, sprouted seeds, dried fruits, cheerio bits and seeds in a bowl for all three birds, you may find the mix discourages them from pooing in it. Especially if cheerios are in it since they're Cheney's favourite. I'd keep them all similar sized though so break up the cheerios. Correct me if I'm wrong, but cheerios are like sugarless fruit loops right?? Might have to find some for our birds, I think they'd love them!

Cheerios do have sugar in them, but it's listed as one of the last ingredients so it's quantity isn't huge. Froot Loops have a ton of sugar but are super yummy.

Plain Cheerios have sugar too? Anyway, I've been giving Skittles Honey-Nut Cheerios...she seems to like the sweetened flavor better. On another note...she loves peanut butter Clif Bars. They're also not crumbly or anything at all, which is rare for anything birds eat. They're healthy enough for us, but I don't think there's anything bad in there for her...correct me if I'm wrong though.

[kaylayuh]

Plain Cheerios have sugar too? Anyway, I've been giving Skittles Honey-Nut Cheerios...she seems to like the sweetened flavor better. On another note...she loves peanut butter Clif Bars. They're also not crumbly or anything at all, which is rare for anything birds eat. They're healthy enough for us, but I don't think there's anything bad in there for her...correct me if I'm wrong though.

Plain Cheerios do indeed have sugar. I've given Cheney Bird the Honey-Nut Cheerios, the Cinnamon Cheerios, the Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. Basically, I'll give him all of them except the Chocolate Cheerios. He gets four or five at a time every couple of days. Mainly he gets them if I need to trick him back into his cage or keep him off the keyboard or mouse and on one part of the desk.

I don't know what a Clif Bar is, but my general rule of thumb is this: if it doesn't have chocolate, caffeine, avocado, or something known to be harmful to birds, they can have it. I wouldn't feed it to them every day, but in moderation and with a proper diet, I wouldn't be too super worried about it. I'd be somewhat concerned about the sugar content in some foods only because it can sometimes cause yeast infections. But again, if it's not their sole dietary intake, I wouldn't worry too much.

My birds all came to me with poor diets that I'm trying to change. Anything I can do to get them to try something new, I'm pretty willing to do. I've even been considering making granola to feed them and see if they'll try some things that way.





Also, I've updated the original sample post with companies that have either responded or sent something. I got my Roudybush samples today and they were incredibly generous with them.