Help changing IRN to different food?

[Sparky]

Hi there,
when I got Sparky he only came with cockatiel seed and millet spray, which he eats enthusiastically. (he's 3 years old)

Pellets here are too expensive and full of fake colours so I have been trying to encourage him onto 'soak seed' as a compromise. He picks out the peanuts straight away, and ignores the rest- sunflower seeds, corn, other yummy stuff- not interested.

Do you think it will be doing him any harm to stay on the millet spray and tiel seed until he gets used to the other? (He also eats our porridge, cornflakes and weetbix, with some stewed fruit too lol)

Any ideas on what I can do to encourage him to eat the soak seed eventually, without too much shock to his system?

Thanks

edited to add: he also loves apple and other fresh fruit & veges, so has a balanced diet in that way. Just the seed aspect I have questions about!

[lwis]

There are pellets that you can buy that do not have any artificial colouring. Yes, some of them are expensive, but you don't have to feed a lot of it if your birds diet includes many other things.
I like to feed my bird a mash diet made of soaked or sprouted cooked beans and rice and/or quinoa, sprouted seeds, and several different veggies and fruits. I give my bird a mash of about 15 -25 different foods, cut to similar sizes (pea size) mixed together with some mashed sweet potato. I freeze it into single serving portions and take out what I need when I need it. Before feeding I mix in some pellets so they are still crunchy. He gets a ton of variety and since they are cut up in small pieces or mashed, it makes it more difficult for him to pick out what he likes and leave what he doesn't. This way, even if he doesn't eat everything given, he tastes everything and eventually accepts them and even enjoys foods he may not have eaten before.
As for converting him to a different diet. I would ease into it. If you want to go the mash route, maybe try mixing the mash with whatever he is used to eating right now. Start with more of what he eats now and less of the mash (maybe 3:1) and increase the amount of mash, eventually phasing out whatever you don't want him to be eating. If you do this though, I would check the weight of your bird often to make sure he is eating and not losing to much weight during the transition.
My bird loves his mash, but he is young and seems to be open to trying new foods. Though, he is way more likely to eat something if I am eating it too. Sometimes I will pretend to eat something and that works.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Sparky]

Thanks Iwis that's really helpful, gives me something to go on
No I won't do it too quickly, don't want to make him ill or hungry. The mash is a neat idea!

[Shelby]

Peanuts are not good for birds. Peanuts and Aflatoxins

You can buy pellets online. Harrison's and Totally Organics are both popular organic pellets that a lot of birds seem to like. I also suggest sprouting seeds and beans. Very healthy and you can eat them too! You can try putting them on top of the other food in his dish or feeding them from your hand to get him started.

Sunflower seeds and corn have a lot of starch and fat with not much other nutritional value, so you should use them as treats. Actually, safflower seeds are a good replacement for sunflower seeds because they have lower fat.

[Acka]

im pretty much having the same problem but my budgie wont eat millet spray ive crushed it up and they still dont want it, whats wrong, ? ahaa