Changing the diet

When I brought Marvin home with me from my parents’ house in Massachusetts I was determined to get him on a healthier diet. I have done a few things to change his diet so far. First I changed the type of seed mix that he was used too, something with less millet (a filler) and more larger and a variety of seeds. he seemed to take to that just fine, no issues. there are some things in this new seed that he won’t/has not touched; whole peanuts, whole corn kernels, the larger pellety type foods, and some of the larger dried fruit bite, but with what I find that he won’t eat just pick out of his food and move it to my other larger parrots food and he seems to like them just fine. I have noticed him trying some sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds that are in his new food; which is awesome!

A few weeks ago I purchased some pelleted food (Zupreem fruit mix parakeet pellets) to mix in with his seed. By doing this he would get used to seeing them in his bowl and hopefully try them as well. I also put in a small bowl of just the pellets in cage so that I could see if there was any change in the food level over time, and also filled the food bowls on his play perch with the pellets. Well a few nights ago while on his play perch I witnessed him dining on the pellets in the bowl! Then this morning I noticed that the food bowl in his cage was almost empty of pellets! This is a huge leap forward in his health! for being a seed only bird for his entire life of 16 years, he has taken to it very fast. Normally with a new food introduction you start with the original food and add in small amounts of the new food. and over time you would decrease the old food amount and increase the new food, and eventually end up completely on the new food or a mix of 20/80 new old; which is what I plan for Marvin. I don’t want to take the seed away from him completely because it’s good for him to have variety and whole natural seeds, not just pellets. but the pellets can give him so much more than just seed can. We are still trying to get him to try whole fruits and veggies (cook corn, peas, sweet potatoes, etc.) but he still hasn't taken much interest in these.