Technically, the term "formulated diets" is probably more accurate than the term "pellets," since these diets are available in many forms, including pellets, crumbles, nuggets, and others. However, the terms are often used interchangeably to refer to the spectrum of complete balanced foods now on the market for pet birds, and both terms will be used here.
Many birds are less than enthusiastic about switching to pellets, however. With patience and persistence almost any bird will eventually accept a formulated diet as a significant portion of a well balanced diet. The transition to pellets may take a few weeks or a few months, and some or all of the following strategies may be used. Most importantly: never try to starve your bird into eating pellets - this could be dangerous and definitely stressful. If at all possible you should monitor your birds body weight throughout as well to make sure weight loss is not a problem.
Tips
- Ideally, start young birds on pellets, since young birds are usually much more willing to try new foods than older birds who may be "set in their ways."
- Never starve a bird into trying a new food.
- Don't attempt the transition in a sick bird.
- Experiment with different kinds of pellets - some birds have strong preferences for different shapes or sizes of pellets, textures (pellets Vs crumbles) or flavors.
- Try to choose a pellet with few artificial colors or flavors if possible.
- See if your pet store offers small samples of different pellets
- Mix some pellets in with the seeds.
- Finely grind some of the pellets and sprinkle over the seeds or a favorite treat, with the aim of getting the bird to taste the pellets.
- Try moistening the pellets, perhaps with warm water. Remove any moistened pellets after a couple of hours though, due to the risk of spoilage.
- Offering new foods first thing in the morning is helpful, since this is when many birds naturally forage for food, Try offering new foods alone first thing in the morning, and then offer the more familiar foods a couple of hours later.
- Try hand feeding the pellets so your bird thinks they are a treat.
- Let your bird see you eat some of the new food if you can - they don't taste all that bad, and your bird might be tempted to try something he/she thinks is a special human treat!
- If your bird is not used to a variety of foods, you might want to work on introducing some new vegetables and other foods before introducing pellets. Getting your bird used to new flavors and textures may help the transition to a formulated diet. It is possible to introduce other new foods along with pellets, but to avoid overwhelming a bird with too many new things at one time, you may at least want to start the transition to a formulated diet a few weeks before or after introducing other new foods.
- If your bird is reluctant about switching to pellets, carefully monitor the number of droppings and the bird's body weight. If the number of droppings is diminishing and the birds body weight goes down by more than 1-2 in a week, back off on the new foods and offer more of the old diet.
- Remember there might be a change in the droppings (color, texture) when you feed pellets.