Question: How do I make Pellets more palatable?

[Frozone]

OK, so, I have the most beautiful blue budgie that I could imagine and I really want to do right by his diet so he lives a long and healthy life. I've bought (for starters) at least 3 different foods from each of the groups. But so far all he has eaten is millet. And when I say eaten, I mean pigged out. This can't and will never be a complete diet so my question is, How do I teach him that these other foods taste great, and you should eat them? (I think I saw a thread on this but I couldn't find it again, so please don't slap me)

So far, I've had two ideas, but I think I need a Plan C, D, E, F, and G.
1. Wait him out. Let him get hungry and try the pellets.
2. Mash the foods in a food processor and roll the millet in the mash. If he goes for the millet, he'll have to eat at least a small amount of the good stuff. (I think...)

So please help me out here people! Thanks in advance!

P.S, As an update on my lil guy, he lets me get within 2 -4 inches of him no problem, but he hasn't yet warmed up to the idea of eating millet from my hand. He's not so scared of me though, just a little weary sometimes.

[marie83]

Personally I use harrisons pellets and used liz wilsons article to convert my birds onto it. http://www.northernparrots.com/successf ... et-blog43/

Don't feel you have to follow it strictly, tailor it to your bird if need be. My cockateil wont touch anything wet or damp so the mash idea didn't work. I eventually converted her by slowly reducing the amount of seed in her diet and replacing it with pellets.
Some other people have suggested using fruit juice to get the pellets moist and add flavor. That may help kick start the transition but I wouldn't do it long term because juice has a high concentration of sugar.

What I will say is don't give up no matter how long it takes.

If your bird really loves millet only offer it when your taming and training, don't leave it in the cage.

[GlassOnion]

Only give millet as a treat, otherwise he will always only eat that...

I do this and it works:

Offer seeds for 30mins in the morning and the evening, then offer pellets all day. Slowly over a span of two weeks, shorten the seed time so he sees seed as a treat. Pretend to eat the pellets yourself and make yummy noises while playing with them, he might pick up that it's food.

Also, get a gram scale from a department store, you can get one for under $20. Weigh your bird everyday and if he loses more than 2 grams, stop the feed schedule.