I want my budgies to eat fruit and vegetables

[umaxii]

I have been trying to let my budgies eat more fruit and vegetables. But everytime I put some in the cage they wont touch it. They look like they are afraid of this new object that invaded their home. I tried putting fresh cucumber in there until they would get used to it. Well they got used to it, but they just don't care it's there now. They still wont eat it. Do they not understand it's food or is this a mistake on my part? I tried eating cucumber in front of them too for 2 weeks but that didn't seem to work either. Any idea's on how I could get them interested in fruits and veggies?

[Hezz]

Firstly leave out the fruit, except for a bit of green apple, perhaps, and the odd grape. Birds do not need the extra sugar that is present in all fruits. They will eat fruits and berries in the wild but these are generally those that are quite sour and bitter to us.

Most birds will not recognise veggies as food if they have not been introduced to them as chicks. All you can do is to continue to provide them with them and hope that one day one will get brave enough to try. Try presenting the fresh food in different ways - some like large chunks, others like a finely chopped mixed variety. Try leafy greens to start with, more in line with what they would be eating as a wild bird. There is not a lot of nutrient value in the watery vegs such as cucumber, zucchini and lettuce, and these will make their poops watery as well. Try things like kale, baby spinach, asian greens, carrot and celery tops. Eating the veggies yourself will only work if the birds are bonded with you.

[samwiseg]

Hezz has given great advice here

In my limited experience try giving small amounts of veg are ideal as they can seem less intimidating - big pieces can seem rather scary

[ladybird]

My Charlie ( seven weeks ) is the same. I have tried putting a bit of apple in the clip and he just stays at the far end of the cage, or a few sprout leaves in a dish. I expect he will get there eventually.

[tootally]

My guys love their sweetcorn . They wont touch it still on the cob but i slice it all off and put in a trough . They have even got into the habit of banging the trough against the cage if its empty to remind me . I know the breeder where i got them all from used sweetcorn as an additive to their food so Im guessing thats where they got the taste.

Broccoli also goes down well . I just stick a floret in a food clip on the side of the cage . Same with watermelon slices .

Tried lots of other things in the 2 weeks since arrival but no joy

Steve

[kajus]

budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/thread/17415/list-veggies-budgies-make-vegies

I just made a thread about this maybe it could help you?

[miarobi]

Thanks for this discussion! I was very worried about my budgerigar that he did not eat fruit.
Please tell me the list of fresh vegetables that will definitely not harm my parrot and he will eat them. I don’t think that my bird is finicky, I’m just afraid to experiment with its feed. And if you have a 100% list, I will be very grateful

[tweetiepiesmom]

Seems that a lot of us are having that problem. I have tried several things with no luck. I have tried chopped kale mixed with chopped cabbage. I saw him go over and lick it but he didn't bite. I tried grated steamed carrot (room temperature, no salt or anything else on it). Again he licked it but I guess he really hated it because he immediately went to his water cup and drank some water - twice! Yesterday I picked a small strawberry from my garden and clipped it to his cage. He didn't even lick that. Its so frustrating! I'm going to try fresh grated carrot today.

[jellybean]

Try giving a piece of carrot (not grated)
and pin it to the side of the cage.

[ffiscool]

you could try eating the veg/fruit you want them to try, in front of them and making hmmmm noises.. they are inquisitive birds, so it could work, they want what you have

[tweetiepiesmom]

I guess my Tweetie Pie is not bonded to me enough for that to work. I ate a couple strawberries in front of him, saying yummy and hmmmm. He watched me but that was all. How do you "pin" a piece of carrot to the cage - do you have a picture to show what you do?

[jellybean]

Here you go:-

[tweetiepiesmom]

Great, hope my little guy eats the carrot like yours! - thanks!

[helenmat]

My two like spinach, red chard, tender stem broccoli and cabbage. Everything has to be green

[tweetiepiesmom]

I have the same clip as shown in jellybean's picture. I put a carrot in his cage next to a perch that he likes to sit on. No luck! He ignored it. I left it in the whole day.