How to introduce new foods?

[Doyle'sMommy]

Okay now that Prinny is all settled in at our house (and doing GREAT! :woohoo: ) I am going to start working on her diet. Up until now I have just been letting her eat seed, millet, and birdiebread because I just wanted her to get comfortable around us before we made any more major changes. How can I introduce her to new foods? I would love to see her eat more veggies and fruit but everytime I put new foods in front of her she just hisses at it. I have got her to try some spaghetti but just once and obviously that isn't great for her, lol. Also does anyone have any healthier recipes for bird bread that don't require jiffy mix (it has alot of salt in it :eek: )? Any suggestions would be great!

[Tiki]

Does Doyle eat veggies? Tiels are copycats, if she sees him eating, she will want some too. Birds also like to steal YOUR food so try eating some veggies in front of her.

[Kateykat]

my tiels eat broccoli and sometimes spinach leaves, they are very very fussy when it comes to veggies (they love their pellets though). I found it best to hang bunches around the cage, or clip it through the bars so they can pick at it rather then putting it in a bowl. HTH

[Tiki]

Katie, I have tried offering my tiels pellets, they won't touch them. I don't even buy them anymore but if I am at a bird fair, I often get free samples.

[tielfan]

I think I'm starting to win the pellet wars with my tiels. They wouldn't touch them in the bowl so I started offering pellets to them by hand, interspersed with some of their favorite treats like dried blueberries and millet spray. They reject Roudybush and Harrison's but quickly accepted the Zupreem fruit blend - I think the artificial colors convinced them that it wasn't good for them! Fast forward a few weeks, and I won a bag of the Zupreem natural-colored pellets at the bird club raffle. The tiels accepted it immediately - I couldn't believe it. It probably tastes a lot like the colored ones, but the size and shape are different. I only know for sure that one bird is actually eating pellets out of the food bowl, but all of them are more than happy to take them from my hand.

[tielfan]

P.S. Texture means a lot to birds, and mine generally prefer dry crunchy stuff. Try offering them dehydrated fruits and veggies - mine particularly love the berries from http://www.justtomatoes.com/ I recently bought a dehydrator so I could make my own.

[Doyle'sMommy]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Prinny is in a bad mood tonight and keeps hissing at me. :shrug:

[Kateykat]

mine are on Vetafarm maintence, the one with the tiel on front. They absolutely love them. I can really notice a difference with them now that they have been on them for awhile. My IRN are eating roudybush.