Lovebird won't eat veggies!

[lolsavannahh]

Hey all! I have a 6 month old Lovie who refuses to eat anything besides millet spray, his pellets, and occasionally when allowed, some seeds and stuff for foraging. I try every single day to get him to even try it but he just doesn't see it as food! He ate egg once... ONCE, but won't eat it again and hasn't even licked it. I want him on a healthy diet but it just won't happen! Any tips?

[spiritbird]

Do you have any other birds he could eat with? How you present the veggies I important. Sometimes bowls do not work. What have you tried so far? Wingman may have some suggestions for you.

[Lady]

This shouldn't be to difficult but it does take time. I would, and have, given my mini mac Lady veggies first thing in the morning, because that is when she seems to be the most hungry. You could even sprinkle some millet under or throughout the veggies so she has to touch and maybe even get at taste of the veggies. Just do small amounts. A piece of some leafy veggie, a carrot, whatever you have. It might even be a good idea to do one veggie at a time to see which one she might like. Most small birds like their food cut/chopped into small pieces as well. Leave them in there for a couple of hours so she almost has to try it. Use few millet seeds to make sure she doesn't just pick out the millet and leave the veggies untouched. I did it every day and after about a week Lady began eating her veggies. Next thought is are you to serve them raw or cooked?

[wingman]

get some fresh broccoli florets some of the tops of the little trees as i call them mix
top of the seed food bowl just chop the top not stems just the tiny greens on top with kitchen knife after the are rinsed in very warm water ...mine love it! Also Welcome and post some pics of your lovies.....

[Sucre]

I put my fruit on bottom, and do as wingman said and finely chop the broccoli and sprinkle on top of the fruit. With my gang, the fruit usually consists of grapes, pears and apple. None of my lovebirds like egg.

[Bird Mom]

I just chop the veggies up really small and lightly cover them wth seeds. This tricked my birds into trying them and they ate them on the first try.

[LunaLovebird]

Mine both seem to get into veggies, but they sure do take some convincing. Another option is to sneak it into some birdie bread. The last batch I made had banana, mango, chilli peppers, corn and grated zucchini in it, and Luna goes nuts for it. Generally I find that they love corn and leafy greens the most and I can feed those in larger chunks. Luna also loves to chew up sugar snap peas and green beans, but she doesn't eat most of it. I offer her whole ones and she basically just forages through it for the little beans or peas inside. Other things I have had to chop up very finely, as you have done. Offering with seed is a good idea. If it is working for you, I would stick with it and lower the seed portion of it over time. You could also start to introduce larger things, like corn kernels.

[bill-e]

Have you tried steaming? My Nike will not eat any kind of raw veggie so far. I have been able to get her to reluctantly eat sweat potato and squash, both steamed and mashed. If you want to try steaming this is an easy and inexpensive way to do it.

[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]]Plastic Steamer ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks])

[Doublete]

I agree with luna. My lovie goes nuts for bird bread and I can generally sneak just about anything into it.

[lolsavannahh]

Thank you all for the replies! I will try everything you have all said and see what's worked best! He is doing better and ate some carrot today ( I think.. ) so we are on the right track!