195 replies to this topic

[Spoiled Buddy]

I am new to the forum (see Buddy), but I have a question. After 2 days of Buddy being home from the breeder, I phoned her because I thought he had fallen in his cage and suffered brain damage. He was clinging to the bottom of the cage, flapping his wings continuously, and bobbing his head up and down. After talking to her I felt like an idiot and realized that he was STARVING. I put a bowl of seeds and pellets on the bottom of his cage because that's where he was used to looking for them. Since then I have kept both available to give him time to adjust. I have now had him for a week. He munches on the pellets occasionally, but definitely prefers the seeds. How long should I give him before I start weaning the seeds to twice a week and treats??

Thanks!

Denise

[hoovershounds]

I just wanted to add that this conversion method really works (& I am Not a paid actor ). I used andie's method to the tee except for I did not choose just one pellet. I used a mix consisting of all the samples (Hagen, Roudybush ect) that i had received & Zupreem wild & spicy. By week 4, Zeek was completly converted.
Amy

[Sandi Kiwis Mom]

I have to agree to hoovershound. I am not a paid seed converter either but Andie's method works. Just a little at a time and it definitely works.

[PaulaJayne]

I got Mr. Pickles last week and I mixed the zupreem with seeds. Of course, he has not eaten any of the pellets. He throws them down on the ground.

SO, I need to have a bowel of pellets by itself and then do this with the other bowl of seeds like you said?

What if he will not eat the pellets at all? THen what do I do?

[miss1mouse]

We inherited a 13 yr. old Quaker Parrot that has eaten seeds all his life. I tried the method mentioned above, but he didn't touch the pellets for a week and kept saying "Tweety wants food". I bought Pretty Bird Select medium sized pellets. Where do I find Zupreem? The pet store owner hadn't even heard of it, but I'm not too impressed with him anyway. He trimmed Tweety's wings for me and I think he went too short. Poor bird looks like he has a bad haircut. He just left him the 2 blue feathers on either side. And how do I know what flavor to get him? He's very picky. He doesn't like apples, strawberries or blueberries. He only likes grapes and wheat bread and I just read that grapes are bad because they have too much sodium. I'm running out of things to feed him!

[Andie's Mom]

You can find Zupreem at places like PetsMart and Petco and they come in several flavors now.There's a plain vegetable one or its called natural now. THere's Fruit blend and then several other mixes as well.

I haven't heard that grapes are bad...I feed my birds grapes periodically

You state he's very picky...in that case I guess I'd start out with a small bag of the natural...you can always sprinkle some orange juice or apple juice on it that way they can't get color specific and only pick out certain colors and leave the rest or throw them out on the floor. As Andie said have them in his cage 24-7 and his reg seed in his cage twice a day for 15 or 20 minutes to start with...do that for a week...then lessen the amount of time the seed is in there by 5 minutes per week... then go to once a day for 5 minutes and then do that a couple of times a week and it will become a real treat!

My Double Yellow Headed Amazon was on a Horrible diet when I got him. mostly all seed with a few cheap pellets thrown in...he'd sift through all the seed and leave the pellet...So when I started weaning him off of it he wasn't a happy camper...but they seem to have this survival thing going for them and they will eventually start playing with it and dunking it in water etc...Most of my birds love to make Pellet soup....UGGGGH...but hey at least they are eating it.

Good luck.

Feel free to Ask more questions if you need to...

[miss1mouse]

Thanks for the advice! Especially for telling me specifically what kind of Zupreem to get for a picky bird. I think I read that grapes were high in sodium in "Guide to the Quaker Parrot" I think Not sure cause I can't seem to find it now. I'll look for it when I have more time tonight. Anyhow, thanks for the info. I'd hate to spend more money on pellets that he would hate.

[luckygirrl]

Hi Andie,

I am trying your method and I am on my second week...
She is soo stubborn and soo smart... Too smart, my luck I
had to get a smart bird...She refuses to eat the pellets,
I got The Zupreem, the fruit shapes one.. I even tried to
switch the feeder so to fake her out maybe she would try
the pellets by mistake... Too smart, she doesn't even go
for it, she goes wherever the seed one is.. I am hoping
this gets better, but I am afraid I don't want her to get
sick.. Is there a better food for me to try giving her??
Should I just stick to this, not to confuse her anymore..
I feel even worse that I keep throwing out perfectly good
food, sometimes I save it and give it to her again...
It seems fresh, so I thought what the heck...
I know you are the expert on this soo please help me and
everyone else having problems...

Thank you, in advance..

Stephanie,
aka Ari's mom

[Alyssa]

Apparently I was seriously misinformed , I thought that seeds were supposed to be a normal diet. Oh goodness... if I switch my bird now how much dmage will I have done? He's only two! Will he be okay? I really hope he's fine... I want him to be alive for the time I buy my first house!

[LuxyLyx]

Here are some methods thathave been suggested that may or may not work:

1. Make birdy muffins with crushed pellets and other healthy food that they like. It may help them get used to the pellet taste.

2. Pretend to eat them (or eat them) in front of the bird, then offer it to them. That is how I got my QP to eat them and he was used to eating a diet of purely sunflower seeds.

3. Place the pellets on a mirror, then offer it to them. I dont know if this works or not, but Ive heard some people have success with it.

4. Try a product called avicakes which have pellets and seed mixed in them.

And Alyssa, I wouldnt worry too much about the diet so far. My QP's diet before I got him was horrible, but the sooner you change it, the better.

[brandylaw]

Yep, Alyssa, dont panic....just start converting now He is young and now you know.
In the beginning, I used a natural peanut butter (though not good in large quantities as it is high in fat) mixed with pulverized pellets. Did this in a food processor. That was so I knew he was getting SOME good stuff. It took a while for my qp to convert, but he did.

[nikki9093]

OMG....my little guy Pedro, is eating pellet now! I cant believe it! Tonight we just put that in there and off he went munching away. We usually add it to his regular seed, but tonight we just did the pellet, and Im soooooooo happy now! He goes back and forth from the cup, grabs a pellet in his little foot, then walks over to the his water cup, munches , then goes back to the food cup and grabs another and does it all over again....lol....its toooooo funny....

[BoogersMama]

Bumping this up for the new babies....

[sally]

Hi, new to this forum. I picked up a young quaker from someone who was tired of the "yell". Of course they were feeding seed and I felt sorry for the bird but because He/she is still young I was certain he/she would be easy to convert to pellets. All my birds eat harrisons fine with the high potency coarse as a treat. After 2 days of not eating anything, I decided to give in and give him/her some sunflower seeds. She ate so quickly I was afraid I was starving her but I didn't want her to only eat trash food. She has been very scared as well. Today though she finally took an egg from my hand and some cheese and a chicken bone! YEAH! I was taught to put the pellets in the same bowl as the seed so as they move the pellets out of the way to get to the seed they would get the feel and touch of the pellets and then get used to them and eat them. She actually took a coarse pellet and chewed on it for 3 seconds. Any helpful hints to get this baby secure? Knows to step up but runs away first. Thanks. Sally

[Jodi L.]

I'm going through the same thing. He learned to hold out for sunflower seeds at a previous home, so I did the 20 minute thing, two times a day. didn't quite work, so I went down to a handful, once a day, in the same cup as the pellets, at the end of the day.

guess whos eating pellets? too bad its only the red ones

but, hes started eating eggs first, so I mixed pellets seeds and eggs all up, cooked it, and started with that. he ate the pellets outta that, kinda. He also will now eat peas, pasta, baby food-more or less, if he sees us eat it, hes willing to sniff it, and if it smells good he'll try it.

and then the one day he snuck a bite of chocolate icecream-NOT recommened, but he will do anything for that

[Cheekys mum]

Im going to try this pellet conversion and I
know it works. But Cheeky wont eat any pellet. Ok I am going to try other brands yes but as long as he has fresh fruits
and vegs table food etc He wont touch them. So what will I do?

[CindyL]

I am going to try this..
Since I read that just a seed diet for QP's is unhealthy. This weekend I bought some Zupreen pellets and I'm started them on conversion. I started with seed with a little pellets. Thank you!!!
CindyL & mojo

[spacecowboy97]

Hi guys,

I got my quaker parrot for a month and a half (Baby Jaffa), and his mix came with seeds and pellets. He'd just select the sunflower seeds ONLY, and if i offered him the pellets, he might place it in the tip of his beak, just inside, I think he tries to crack it like a seed ? So as you may guess, it falls out of his beak, or he breaks it to pieces and it all crumbles to the floor.

Its not very efficient his eating, pellets or fruit/veg, alot of things he lets fall out if he picks it up.

Any tips on feeding veg/fruits? he loves corn and sunflower seeds, those things he wont let fall out of his beak. I think a small tiny bite size piece of veg or fruit works better, as he gets it in his beak, but just inside. Hes a 14/15 week old baby still, and really doesnt eat that much of fruit and veg that i offer and go to great lengths to make.

I will start Andies conversion from tomorrow onwards.

Another note, he eats egg sometimes, but most of the time he is breaking off pieces and tossing them off his beak :S His cuttlefish he doesnt eat, but sometimes i feed it to him and he licks at it a bit.

Thanks guys,
Bircan