having trouble switching diet

[jeep21243]

hello all, im trying to get some tips on changing my Greys diet. He is approx 2 1/2 years old and had been mostly on a diet of 50/50 seed to pellet ratio. I have been progressively trying to mix it over to an all pellet ratio but he seems to not be liking it so much. I started to buy the Kaytee Exact diet which gave a 2 week progressive guide on shifting him to the new food, but ive noticed that Jack flings all the pellet out of the bowl and digs for the seed and eats hardly anything else.

 

now that its started to almost no seed he seems to be getting irate. He flies around a lot more than normal and has been screaming quite a bit plus hes started biting... He also flies over to the basket where his food is stored when i walk out of the room looking for his seed.

 

I have read that continuing to give him seed can lead to liver complications further on down the road so i dont want to give in and let him go back to the seed diet, but at the same time hes getting really angry and he doesnt seem to be eating very much other than the fruit and vegetables im giving him. Is this just withdrawl that will pass in time or should i consider putting him back on some seed and progressing its phase out over a larger period of time?<br><br>Post edited by: jeep21243, at: 2008/05/08 18:34

[Tari]

Fruits and vegetables are great that is fine. You do still want to keep some seed in his diet about 10 to 20 percent.

I rarely feed pellets anymore cause of all the additives and most don't really care for them when they have fresh food in the cage.

It took me 6 months to get my Que off an all see diet. It might take even longer with an older bird.

BTW right now let him have all the seed he wants sounds like he is hungry and a hungry bird rarely tries new things.

One of the things that helped is offering foods in different ways. On a stick, masked, diced, cubed, chunked, hot, warm, cold ect....

Also try eating stuff in front of him and make lots of yummy sounds. When he tries to get it play keep away until he is almost standing on his head to get you to let him have some then let him have it. This works well with Que and getting her to try new fruits and such.

Good luck

[lovemyGreys]

My four greys will not touch pellets, so if he is eating some then thats fine,still let him have some seed Fruit & veggies are great, here is a link for trying out new foods...

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/bird-food/53831-tips-for-getting-your-grey-to-eattry-new-foods.html