Question
About a month ago I adopted a peach fronted conure. Her previous owners didn't feed her anything besides pellets and the occasional bit of meat (which I personally don't want to feed her since meat these days is full of hormones).
I have been able to feed her bits of fruit & sunflower seeds from my hands, but I'd like for her to get into the habit to eat fresh food on her own, ie food that I place in a bowl in her cage, as well as eat more than just fruit such as leafy greens & other veggies.
How can I encourage her to eat out of her comfort zone?
Answer
On the bright side she's eating pellets! That's the hardest part to transition so we're off to a good start.
A good way to get them to eat greens is to cook it in a chop, mash or bread. Always add the foods she likes into the mixture (her pellets for instance), digging through it she will get a taste for the other things.
Chop
This is essentially dicing an array of vegetables, fruits and berries into small bits and mixing it with some grains like Quinoa, flax or millet.
Amaranth, quinoa, chia seeds, golden flax seeds, rolled oats, pumpkin seeds, carrots, broccoli, italian squash, orange and red bell pepper, dandelion greens, rainbow chard, green kale, sweet potatoe, 1/3 bag of Birdeez Buffet, small veggie pasta, zucchini and small bag of pumpkin cous cous.
Mash
This is my favorite to make as you can boil it all in a pot and mush it together. Looks gross but birds go bananas for this.
Red beets, sweet potato, celery, kale, white cabbage, yellow chili peppers, green bell pepper and boiled red lentils and quinoa
If you're lazy like me you can have also purchase some pre-made mash that just need to be cooked from Golden Feast or things for wings. I have personally purchased products from both companies and they were equally excellent.
Bread
If you have a grinder you can make your own flour out of the pellets she currently eats if not you can use Almond flour or Harrison's bird bread mix (note: Harrison's bird bread mix is literally ground up Harrison's pellets). Stay away from products with lactose.
my recipes include almond flour, water, eggs (no shell), blue berries, ground flax, sesame seeds, quinoa, apples, finely chopped kale and coconut oil to grease the pans ONLY (Coconut oil has too much saturated fat to be added into their diet) or use liners. Personally I find the mix sticks to the liners and I lose most of my muffin to it.
Eat the bird food
Yep! That's right! That's how I got my African Grey to eat the majority of stuff he eats now. I literally had to make a big deal out of eating carrots for him to eat it - the thought process is "If she likes it then I should too!". It helps with getting yourself eating healthier too, grab a bowl of veggies and chow down with your friend.
Answered By - Rebecca RVT