an all seed mix vs a seed, pellet fruits and veg mix?

[r2pn23]

I went to pick up the new little guy today and i had the food container filled with the food that George use to eat, its a Paradise Blend cockatiel and lovebird food and it seeds, fruits, nuts high performance pellets and it says its vitamin and mineral enriched. George loved it and he was so much healthier on it than when he was on just seed

when the guy saw it in the dish he said to me i had to buy the food that he was used to eating at their shop. it was just a bland peachface seed mix and it was $6 for 2kg. i didnt want to buy it but i just did it to humour the guy.
The guy was worried that he wont eat if i feed him my stuff and that i should take a few weeks to gradually introduce it to him.

should i take his advice and give him the bland seed mix with no goodies in it that hes use to?
Ive left the good stuff in there for now but he doesnt seem interested in touching it yet, though he did spend the whole car ride sitting in the food dish and flicking seed on his cage floor, just like his big brother use to do!
he hasnt moved from the perch since we got home and he still seems to be shaking. im just worried that if i leave the better stuff in there he wont eat as much as he should be, especially being a baby who needs to keep up his weight

What would you guys do?

[sweetrsue]

I would mix what he made you buy with what you want to feed. That way you will slowly change his diet which is really better than a sudden change.

[atvchick95]

yes it is best to feed them what they were eating then gradually change it by mixing the new (what you want to feed) in with what they were used to eating

I came really close to loosing a budgie because He wouldn't eat the fruit blend pellets the rest of my birds ate, by the 4th day he looked 1/2 the size he did when i got him (he is Part English Budgie and Part american Budgie and he is just about as big as a full blooded english budgie) he wouldn't Or couldn't even hold open his eyes and when he did open them they were cloudy and didn't look right at all The cage mate - who i got at the same time same place was eating the millet but The other one wouldn't even touch that

called the breeder - He fed them Roudy bush pellets Which is all tan all the same color and size and shape Where fruit blend is multi colored

i had no roudy bush, But I did have samples of some that were "natural" color so I put that on top of the fruit blend I didn't mix it together or nothing just covered up the fruit blend

within seconds he was digging in and looked like a dog who found food after not eating for a week He ate Fruit blend and the Natural by the time he was done

So i filled it up again with natural and fruit (more fruit than natural) by the 3rd day he was eating nothing but the fruit blend


Also even when you put in the food he's used to he probably won't eat right away - it's normal for them not to eat for a while (normally a day or 2) when they come to a new place, right along with not moving off one spot, and making no noise

but as they get used to the new place that all changes with time Some only take a few days some take a few weeks to settle in completely (of course they normally start eating by day 3 but with the roaming around part showing their real personality and such some times takes longer

[r2pn23]

thanks Sue and ATV, you are both a wealth of knowledge :)

I will ditch what is in there and put a little bit of the good stuff in the bottom with what hes use to on top and hope that he digs and finds the nice blend,lol

with George i would put a regular seed mix in half the dish and then put the paradise blend on top of it because its $12 a kilo and if i used only the paradise blend he would waste too much of it

[r2pn23]

i decided to put what hes use to on top of what was already in there (Georges old mix plus regular seed under that) so he now has 3 varieties to choose from
i held his food dish next to where he was sitting on the wood perch and after chewing the dish a little he actually ate a little bit of seed, then he jumped from the perch onto the dish while i was holding it, then when he had enough he jumped onto my hand briefly to get the side of the cage. he also took a seed from between 2 fingers.
I think it'll take him a little while to get use to where his food and water are, at the shop there was a dish in the middle of the floor that they would all sit on so he probably expects it to still be on the floor

[atvchick95]

i decided to put what hes use to on top of what was already in there (Georges old mix plus regular seed under that) so he now has 3 varieties to choose from
i held his food dish next to where he was sitting on the wood perch and after chewing the dish a little he actually ate a little bit of seed, then he jumped from the perch onto the dish while i was holding it, then when he had enough he jumped onto my hand briefly to get the side of the cage. he also took a seed from between 2 fingers.
I think it'll take him a little while to get use to where his food and water are, at the shop there was a dish in the middle of the floor that they would all sit on so he probably expects it to still be on the floor


since there was a dish on the floor at the shop - add one to his cage but also leave the one up on the cage ( i normally put them as close as i can to the perch the bird is sitting on the most ) both of those are just until he gets used to his new home

once he is only eating out of the dish by the perch and ignoring the one on the floor then you won't need to use that one any more

That is how I do it with my hand fed babies, My brooder is a fish tank - so i can't much less put dishes on the side of it :p So i use a ceramic crock (that is meant as a cat dish) on the floor of the brooder when i start to introduce solid foods to them

when they get moved to a cage that dish goes right with them and gets put on the floor of the cage, Then since they're still young and clumsy I put their dishes as low as possiable and gradually move them up as they become better coordinated

[tielfan]

since there was a dish on the floor at the shop - add one to his cage but also leave the one up on the cage

Yes, right now job one is to make sure he's getting enough to eat. You can take out the floor dish after he's comfortable eating from the regular dish.

Is he a hand fed baby? If he is, then he might feel comfortable eating from your hand. This could be a good way to introduce the new food mix, since a handfed baby often finds it more natural to eat from a hand than from an unfamiliar dish.

[xxxSpikexxx]

I would put a bowl of food on the floor as well. Thats great that he took some food from your fingers :)