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[lovebirds]

Since I put Digby on a diet the variety of things he eats has actually improved. What I've done was to stop giving anything else during the day apart from the pellets and pellet bread.
His schedule is at 7am and 7-30pm he gets mash (veg plus pulses) and a tablespoon of sprouts, sprinkled with ground up linseed (for Omega 3) and sesame (good calcium source).

So for 12.5 hours he only has pellets available and he eats them now really well. When we eat our dinner I cook a slice of carrot, a floret of broccoli, sometimes some french beans too for Digby. He eats all of them. He never ate broccoli before but he does now! He ate a whole floret today (apart from the green bits, he seems to prefer the stalk!). He is a lot more keen on cooked carrot too (cooked carrot is better than raw for vitamin A)

I've cut down on fruit during the day too. he gets half a grape but I need him to really want it and to eat it fully because it is his medicine carrier. On top of that i tried him the other day with Kiwi and he loved it  even though he never wanted to eat it before no matter how many times I offered. 
He also now loves blueberries but wasn't bothered before.

So the new foods he eats:

Broccoli
Kiwi
blueberries
leafy greens at times
microgreens
and eagerly eats pellets

I am happy 


just to clarify - I didn't starve him for 12 hours when I wasn't sure whether he would eat pellets well or not  - I just gave him bird bread made of pellets as I knew he would eat it and offer him some pellets too during the day. And now I am cutting down on the pellet bread and he eats more pellets instead.

[Mandi]

do i remember rightly that Digby was a real fussy eater and he had to have certain meals at certain times, all cooked previously by you and frozen
he seems to have come a long way 
theres always hope for a diet change  no one should ever give up xx

[lovebirds]

to start with he only picked sunflower seeds out of his seed mix so I cut out a seed mix straightaway. He ate some corn and peas and then I started sprouting for him but he would only eat certain things from the mix, whereas now he eats all of them. But because I didn't give him any seed mix and he didn't really eat pellets well for a while and then only a small bit I had to be there at the right times to give him his mash otherwise he would starve. Whereas now I am not worried about being a bit late as I know he will eat his pellets.
On tuesday, when I went to volunteer I was gone from 9-30 until 13-30 and Nicholas was at home and he said Digby went quite a few times to his pellet bowl to eat 

[lizduncan]

  that's great news Irina.

That's pretty much what I do with Nico. she only gets pellets and pellet bread through the day and a cooked meal for brekkie and fresh veg for dinner.

[Lesley]

Thats really a great improvement in Digby's attitude to food - your hard work has definitely paid off!!

Because Im out all day I leave Flint with a breakfast of some power treats, a teaspoon of seeds and a little chopped nuts as well as a skewer of veg with one bit of fruit eg slice of apple. Also he has his pellets and a few seeds hidden around his cage for foraging.

This morning Im late with his breakfast but he is happily eating his pellets. He also went back in his cage no problem last night for a few power treats rather than his usual mash then ate pellets again.

Maybe they are more flexible than we think!!

[ChrisnJulie]

Teddy gets his mash and pulses in the morning , pellets are always in there . I go to work at 8.30 , come home at 6 , he goes out in his aviary where he forages for seeds I've hidden , he comes back in once we,ve eaten. He has not got the art of flying back to his cage for food so when he goes back in at 9ish he has a few pellets and retires straight to bed . I always offer him water when he's out of his cage . I want him to go in his cage when he's hungry so he knows that every time he goes in there the door isnt getting locked . Every so often we put him in his cage and leave the door open so he knows he's free to come and go but he's not got the idea yet , it will come . He gets fruit some days , he loves mange tout peas cos he can hold them , he likes a whole carrot to rip to bits .
Me and Chris sat on the settee eating Harrisons last week , he came over and we wouldn't let him have any , we put the bowl on the floor like we'd finished with them and he flew down and ate some , so now he's on his Harrisons . 

[Karmen]

In the morning, Buku feeds his chop to the dogs. He then has pellets all day, which he enjoys and eats. In the evening the dogs get another serving of parrot mash. I am pretty sure my dogs get all the nutrients they need on a daily basis.  

[ChrisnJulie]

Thats  funny Karmen 

I sometimes wonder by looking at the state of the floor when I come home just how much of it he's eaten (the mash that is ) plus I think I spoilt the last lot I made by putting chillies in it , he's not that keen , he's been getting it every day for the last 3 weeks and its still not going .

[Shivvym]

I think you win some and lose some on chop and mash Julie, Zeb isn't so keen on latestchop but will eat it (too much seaweed) but the chop is a big hit.

Way to go Digby great news

[Lesley]

I still use the odd splash of orange juice or honey if Flint isnt to keen on a particular mix 

[karen (bella;s mum)]

That's good news Irina   bella has breakfast then pellets during the day. She has mash at teatime, and a handfull of seed, well thumbfull with half a grape and 1 monkey nut for bed time, she loves her pellets

[ChrisnJulie]

Oh no ! Hugh is everywhere I go !! 

[karen (bella;s mum)]

    at least i can show jason exactly what i was trying to do, and not sitting there like a saddo googling hugh 

[lovebirds]

thanks everyone, I am pleased with it too, not sure about Digby though 

[ChrisnJulie]

I think re-trying them with foods works too . If they dont like it the first time around try them again in a few weeks time . Teddy has done that with lots off foods , he loves pureed foods that are still a bit warm so I've started putting pureed butternut squash on top of the mash he doesnt like and BINGO ! He's eating it .