For you guys to understand what's going on I will first have to tell you my story (sorry, just bear with me ok? I really need some help with this.) When I was 14 years old, I bought a pet cockatiel on a whim. I knew absolutely nothing about birds and was probably the most unfit bird mother ever. Not knowing how best to feed my cockatiel Sammy, I just fed him the seeds that the pet store owner said he ate at the store. Sadly, Sammy died very prematurely at only 2 years old of unknown causes. It is only know that I know more about birds that I wonder if it could have been caused by his all seed diet. I spent over a year in mourning for my little feathered friend before I decided I was ready for another bird to help fill the hole in my heart. I couldn't stand getting another cockatiel since their distinctive feautres reminded me too much of Sammy. Instead, I opted for a Quaker which was similar in size and purchased him from the same pet store I'd gotten Sammy from. Unfortunately, I made the same mistake of feeding him only seeds as his diet. I'm ashamed to say that now, even though I know better, I'm still feeding Kiwi only seeds. Occasionally, I try to get him to eat some fruits or vegetables but he just attacks them. I'm afraid that his seed only diet has been so far ingrained into him that I'll never get him to eat something else. I'm terrified that his diet may cause me to lose him far before his time just like Sammy. If anyone has any suggestions on what I should try feeding him, please let me know. I really need your help. Thankyou.

Hi and welcome, check out the Important Topic heading just above your post. You will see a heading Seed Conversion. You will find a lot of good sugestions there. Good Luck

you can feed him just about anything you can eat, with a few exceptions (no chocolate, no avocado, no caffeine, no alcohol, no fruit pits, for example). quakers are like toddlers in that they usually require a certain number of just seeing (being offered) a new food before they will even consider trying it. one way to peak his interest is to NOT offer him what you are eating, but make a big deal out of how delicious it is. even turn your back so he can't see what you are eating. these guys are notoriously nosy buggers

be prepared to waste food before you find something he will eat. try different shapes of food (sliced, diced, shredded, etc), different textures (pureed, chunky, whole) and temps (never too hot, but some prefer cold over warm).

do investigate andie's conversion method. you can also try to call around to the various pellet companies and request samples. there might even be a thread or 5 on that

good luck! you guys can do this, and it's very important that you do. a seed diet will probably shorten kiwi's life considerably.

kris

there is a wondful "sticky" thread about converting from seed to pellet , i easily used it on MoJo my QP when he was just weaned , and had to try it twic eono my tiel who was rescued and on seed untill i got her at almost 5 years old!ive had her for 9 months now and just last month she started nibbling on pellets!!! now she is half way converted i had to do an extremly streched out version of the conversion but it seems to be working!! YAY!! good luck , QPs are picky but so sweet you gotta love em anyways LOL!

You might try soaking and sprouting seeds, which makes them much more nutritious for your bird. As soon as the seed shows a little tip of root sticking out, offer it to your fid.

Thankyou everyone for all your support and suggestions! I checked out the seed conversion method and I'll be trying it out as soon as possible. I'll also try making a big fuss when I'm eating fruits or veggies in front of Kiwi since he can definitely be a jealous boy . Hopefully this will help me make sure he stays around for many years to come. Thank you so much!!!

The only way I could get my Verde onto pellets was too eat them in front of him and not share at first. Act like they are so good you don't want to share. It will definitely pique their interest, and hopefully work. I think that Verde did not recognize them as food as his breeder had him weaned onto only seed. But now he is fully on the Zupreem. With seed once a week as a treat.

Thought it took a month for me to think of the idea of eating them in front of him- it only took him 2 minutes to try one- and just that one time, for him to eat a bunch! It was that easy. Then I just took away the seed.

They can only eat seed IF we give it to them. Stand firm. Good luck.

I tried getting my bird to eat pellets for a year. I didn't give her any seeds. Just pellets in one bowl and fresh food in the other. She didn't eat the pellets. She won't eat sprouts either. I hope you have better luck than I do. I started feeding her seeds again after she finishes her fresh food. I still try to give her pellets with Quicko egg powder and green powder mixed in during the day. She throws the pellets down and eats the powder

There are several companies that will send you samples of pellets and such -
I just am not sure which ones. Maybe someone else can remember and give you the names.

This will make it easier and cheaper to find out which pellets Kiwi will eat.

I would check out this receipe I use for my birds, they used to all be on seed when I got them I slowly added pellets to their seed and slowly more pellets less seed and always every morning give them the yum yum they all love see how to make it on my website within one month all my birds were off seeds except for treats and eating pellets and yum yum!
http://godscreations.weebly.com/

They definitely want to eat what you have and if I want Clyde to try something (Jade isn't as finicky as he is), I just eat it and make him ask for it instead of offering. He almost always does!

Try mixing pellets and seeds in the same dish and decreasing the seeds and increasing the pellets every few days until it's almost all pellets. Now I give Clyde a dish of pellets (again, Jade wasn't a problem with this -- she was a pellet-eater before she moved in) and just a few seeds for a treat. They both get millet about once a week and pumpkin seeds for treats a couple of times a day. If you can get your birdy to eat mostly pellets, a few seeds won't hurt. Neither of mine will eat fruit but they eat tomatoes and corn and rice and meatloaf and mashed potatoes and whatever we're having. We sit down with our supper and here come the Quakers a-begging.

Everyone has gave you EXCELLENT advice! And please, for you and your birdy's sake, look into it, b/c its very unhealthy for them...im sure you know now! It will take him time to adjust but he will...and you must be patient, and most importantly, PERSISTENT!! Ross had seeds as well before i got him, and did what everyone here suggested, "the seed conversion thread" and it worked! but i had to stay on top of it! Now Ross LOVES his pellets, and he gets seeds ONLY as treats!!! He will periodiocally (msp) dip his pellets to make pellet soup!

I agree you have been given very good advice......I was one of those that fed their quakers only seed when I first got Mr. Kiwi 10 yrs ago...after I had him for 4 yrs, he developed FLD (Fatty Liver Disease) from the advice of my great Avian Vet, I started feeding him pellets and NO seed. He got lots of delicious veggies and fruits and other healthy things. Thankfully after over a year, we were able to turn Kiwi's FLD around and he has been healthy every since. I use to give my 2 fids seeds as a treat but I ran out and decided to buy strawberries, apples, or melons instead. For the health of your bird........they definitely don't need seed and if you give it to them, give it to them as a special treat. When I did give them seed, Kiwi got a half of a teaspoon......

Hey everyone! I'm updating this thread because I've been running into a problem and I'm hoping someone will be able to help me with this. For about the past 8 weeks I've been following the seed conversion chart that was on this site and I'm still stuck at 20 minutes of seed in the cage twice a day. Kiwi doesn't seem to want to eat the pellets at all no matter how hungry he is and when I give him the seeds twice a day, he's so hungry he practically attacks the bowl. It's starting to affect his attitude as well and he always seems mad at me. I've tried offering some of the pellets by hand and he'll chew them up but so much falls out of his mouth that I'm not sure if he's eating them or just breaking them up. I've been feeding him the Zupreem pellets, first I tried the regular, than the fruit flavor and it's just not working. I'm starting to worry about his health. I never knew he could be so stubborn. I even tried to put some millet in his cage hoping he would eat some of that but he won't touch that either. I'm almost at the end of my rope here. Please help!

OMG! A huge breakthrough not even an hour later! I still can't get him to eat the pellets but I actually got him to eat a good amount of mashed banana off of my finger! I was so happy I practically bunny hopped around the room!

LOL I have eaten my fair share of pellets....enough for an adult female to live on for a day....at the very least...but it worked Anything new I want my QP to eat I eat a bunch if front of her and then the game is on

I'm experiencing the same problems with the qp I adopted a few weeks ago. She only eats a seed mix, and picks it for just the seeds. It's taken a long time for me to get her to eat pumpkin seed, dried papaya, and pineapple. I made oatmeal for her and left it in her cage for 2 hours, but she didn't touch it.

I think with these guys you just have to keep trying, and offering them new items often. They are pretty adaptable though, which is a good thing.



You know it is possible he doesn't like Zupreem, have you tried a different company? what about people food? Have you gotten him to eat anything that you eat?

Check out the recepe thread and make the sweet potato balls ...add pellets to them my boys Love them...
I use Roudybush crumbles they are small like a seed...

Keep trying ...Good Luck..

http://www.quakerparrots.com/forum/index.p...=12437&st=0