Cockatiel and food

[xxlazaro]

Hello. So as you may know I have a four month old tiel and he seems to be doing okay but I have been trying to get him to try some fruits and veggies but he is actually scared of those foods (unfortunately ). So I was wondering if you may have any advice on how to get him to eat better.


Any help is appreciated

[marie83]

Good luck, I'm still trying with my 'tiel after many years but yours is much younger so in theory it should be easier.

What are you trying to feed? I would only try one or two things at a time to begin with and in seperate bowls. If you put them in together and he tries one he may automatically assume the other tastes the same and not want to try it.
How tame is he with you? You could try eating some in front of him and see if that tempts him.
How are you presenting it? Big pieces may scare a small bird so you may wish to chop it up smaller. Try putting it on a birdy kebab stick and hanging it in the cage. That was it may look like a toy, the bird accidently tastes it and decides he likes it.
Offer foods raw and cooked in various different ways (not fried/roasted though).

Hope this helps. Good luck and don't give up no matter how long it takes.

[hooligan]

My GCC is a big fan of fruit, but I've been working on getting her to eat veggies. She's extremely suspicious of new foods, and it's been pretty tricky.

Unless I'm giving her something she knows she loves, she's less likely of eating something if it isn't cut into tiny pieces. Also I've found it helpful to eat a piece myself and show her that it's food, it's delicious, and it's safe.

Sometime's she'll reject things, but come back to them later for weird reasons or no reason at all. Like, I figured out that she doesn't like warm foods, so anything I cook for her needs to be refrigerated before she'll actually eat it. Sweet potatoes she didn't want to try at all (I think because of how soft they are), but eventually she changed her mind for no apparent reason and now she loves them.

The best advice I keep hearing is to be patient and keep trying.

[xxlazaro]

Thank you very much for the help. I am willing to keep trying no matter what. I have yet to try the birdie kebab, it sounds like a very smart idea. I had also heard that tiels are scared of most things. Oh and may I ask you one more thing do you have any advice on how to train a tiel.


Thank You so much

[pennyandrocky]

the best way i found to get my birds to try new food is to eat it with them.mya prefers hot food but penny will eat anything he sees me eating.all our veggies are fresh or steamed so i fix their bowels when we eat dinner,and i eat plain oatmeal and fruit with them for breakast.

[marie83]

regardiong training a 'tiel, the same methods can be applied to other parrot species. Michaels blog is an amazing source of information. Start with simple things such as target training

http://trainedparrot.com/Taming/.

This is an excellent article to read even if your birds already fairly tame. Further along in it is some info on target training. Target training may seem pretty boring but it's an excellent starting point and can help in the future with training other things.

Here is a list of some of the other articles Michael has written, if you click on the ones your interested in the links to the full article will be on that thread.

viewforum.php?f=24

[DanielA]

Well, my bird has the opposite problem as you, he will only eat some fruits and veggies, but won't eat seeds. Well good luck with your problem, and another good luck for me.

[xxlazaro]

Hello thank you all for your advice I tried the eating in front of him and got him to eat lettuce papaya treat and some pellets! Thank You all for your help I will keep trying to get him to eat other healthy foods. Oh and do you know little games to play with him?



Thanks alot

[pennyandrocky]

the games i play are peek a boo with mya she's also fascinated with my fingers and will hop on my palm and move them around and try to catch them when i wiggle them. penny likes when i go to different rooms in the house and wistle for him to fly to me.

[marie83]

Mine like bottlecaps, we wash and save them. Every now and again we spread them out over the floor and hide treats under certain ones. Ollie then runs round them all flipping them all over to see which has a treat underneath. The game started with 3 bottlecaps, now theres well over 20 in the game. Keeps him busy for a while because he will double and treble check them all. We make it harder from him by putting smaller caps inside larger caps or spreading them round the room for him to find.