Ate vegetables for the first time today

[Barry]

Hi Y'all,

Couldn't be more proud as I sat watching Brokko eating anything other than millet or seed mix for the first time.

Brokko has been difficult to feed from the get-go (a month old when I got him/her). While luckily I wouldn't have to force-feed millet and seeds, vegetables (20+ kinds) and fruits (15+ kinds) remained untouched, regardless of what I did with them, and believe me, I've constructed the craziest things out of fruits and vegetables over the past couple of weeks just to get him/her to try anything. I know a bird needs fresh fruits and vegetables, so it was definitely making me concerned, and I know some bird owners face the same issue and feel helpless.

This is what did the trick for me eventually:
-Remove all current foods. All of them.
-Wait a day or two. This is the hardest part, but for me, it turned out to be necessary.
-Offer new food in the morning when it's hungriest, and have your bird watch the preparation
-Don't offer anything it has already been around and rejected, but rather something fresh and exciting. 100% the bird will at least be watching and thinking "ok, where u going with this..''. For me it was a salsa I made from finely chopped cilantro, spring union, bok choi, jalapeno pepper seeds, and tomato, with slight pepper/salt seasoning and his seed mix sprinkled on it.
-Profit, hopefully. It took less than 5 minutes for Brokko to start munching down, and he's still going as I type this.

Good luck to all you out there with picky birds! If I helped half a person by sharing this, it will have been worth.

[ladybird]

I am not an expert, so I am interested to see what they have to say.....But one thing I couldn’t do is deprive my budgie of all food unless it was medically advised. My Charlie doesn’t particularly like fruit and veg, except fot basil and rosemary and the occasional piece of orange....they don’t need fruit anyway..... He gets offered veg regularly but I would never try to force him to eat it. Also why are you putting salt in the mix? As I say.this is just my opinion ......so over to the experts to advise.....

[Marianne Marlow]

I don't think you need to "season" food for a budgie, their taste buds are not the same as ours.

Also I wouldn't deprive them of "all food" to try and get them to eat something new.

[jellybean]

Agree with both of the above.

Budgies are not big fruit eaters.
As regards the veg, try it different ways, grated, cut into chunks, try a mix of carrot, broccoli, sweetcorn, maybe blended with the yolk of a hard boiled egg sprinkled on top.

But please don't deprive your bird of it's seed mix.