Roxy has decided to stop eating seed or vegies during the day and holds out at night for the mashed egg with the rearing food mixed into it. I have thought seeing she likes the egg and her rearing food i would try giving her soaked seed with the rearing food mixed into it and mashed egg with grated vegies mixed in. I hope that when she is picking the rearing food out she will get some seed as well and the same with the egg, hopefuly she will eat some vegies while she eats the egg. I tried it today and she ate the rearing food and left the seed behind but did not touch the egg and vegie at all. I hope it will eventually work and she will learn to not be so fussy.

Hope it works for you too mate ...

You know since Roxie is so in tune with you I did this with Merlin when he went on his seed strike. I placed seed on the table and I pecked at it with my fingers on the table and made that pecking sound and pretended I wanted it was amazing how fast he ran over to see what I was doing.

 

What you are doing is a good idea, I did that to get my birds to eat veggies they would pick out the seed this is just the reverse so I hope it works. Try the idea above in the beginning it may not work but try it for a couple times a day especially before you give her the good stuff and see if she responds to the natural instinct of budgies eating together.

Thanks Elly that is really great advice. i tried it this morning, i scattered seed in the bottom of her cage and started pecking at it, straight away she jumped off the perch and started eating. She did not eat much but she ate some which is a start. I will do it a few times a day. Thank you so much for your help Elly.

:sadsorry: if you can do it 3x a day most in the morning and right before she gets her good stuff that would really entice her even more , budgies follow other budgies, you are her budgie leader/mom and what you pretend to do she will try and do too. . Keep us updated Deb...she is such a doll.

Great advice Elly and I am hoping for great results for you Deb :sadsorry:

A solution ...

 

Well done Elly !!!!!

Edited October 20, 200816 yr by Neat

I have tried again a few times this morning and she has decided it is more fun to sit on my hand and watch me peck seed then eat it. I kept taking her off my hand and putting her near the seed and she kept climbing back on my hand.

Edited October 20, 200816 yr by deb

I have tried again a few times this morning and she has decided it is more fun to sit on my hand and watch me peck seed then eat it. I kept taking her off my hand and putting her near the seed and she kept climbing back on my hand.

Put the seed on your hand too Deb

I have tried again a few times this morning and she has decided it is more fun to sit on my hand and watch me peck seed then eat it. I kept taking her off my hand and putting her near the seed and she kept climbing back on my hand.

Put the seed on your hand too Deb

 

 

I have tried that before and she justs takes the seed of my hand and throws on the floor.

Precocious little madam isnt she

I have tried again a few times this morning and she has decided it is more fun to sit on my hand and watch me peck seed then eat it. I kept taking her off my hand and putting her near the seed and she kept climbing back on my hand.

 

Did she just eat anything else? Peck it in your hand too that does work :hap:

Did not have a very sucessfully day with the seed yesterday with Roxy but i will just keep trying Elly's method .She did eat some of the egg and vegies though. I did not give her soft mix last nigt so i hoping she will wake up hungry this morning so we will have more sucess with the seed.

fingers crossed

The finger tapping seed is a very successful method when weaning babies as they learn by mimicking what the parents do - good luck

I was wondering how long does it usually take for this seed tapping method to work? i have been doing it with Roxy and she still just sits on the table and husks a couple of seeds but that is all and then when she is in her cage does not touch her seed at all. i stopped giving her soft food a couple of day ago and was hoping if she got hungry she would eat the seed but it is not working. All she is doing is picking the egg out of the vegies to eat. Her poos went watery today because she is hardly eating so i have had to give her rearing food and as soon as i opened the cage she jumped out and landed on the container and started eating.

Deb ....

 

Are you able to speak to an avian vet .... let them know what happened with Roxy when she was born and etc ... and how you have tried everything to wean her but she starves her self ... They may have a solution that we aren't yet able to think of or give at the moment ....

 

 

Best of luck with it mate .... and your little spoilt princess

Edited October 25, 200816 yr by **Liv**
typo mean to wean

Oh mate... what a little ******* lol.... She is determined isn't she. I wish I had an answer.

Maybe you could stop making the rearing food enjoyable, can you still crop feed her? You could crop feed her a small feed once a day and then just have seed in her cage so she never sees the choice. Eventully she'll have to give in and that way she won't starve atleast.

Does she eat millet Deb?

Suggestion.....start mixing the budgie seed into her rearing mix....a teaspoon at a time. Each day a little more seed and a little less rearing food. Till the mixture changes.

Yep, I think we discussed that but that is more detailed Kaz, excellent suggestion.

She has millet in her cage but she does not touch it. I have tried adding seed to her mix but she used to pick the rearing food out and leave the seed behind so i stopped adding it but i will try Kaz,s suggestion and see how she goes.

I have an idea. What about if you and the kids sit around the table of an evening, and de-husk each individual seed, then pass them all onto your hubby, to individually ground each one down into dust... then make your own 'soft food'. You could bribe the kids with money, toys or lollies from that fabulous shop around the corner from you!!!!

 

All jokes aside, good luck with her... I really hope she gets that she should be eating seed, and you can relax and not worry about her. Hugs mate

We have finally made some progress, I have been adding the rearing mix to her seed and have tried this before and normally she eats the mix and leaves the seed behind but this time once she has ate all the rearing mix she starts eating the seed. Today i saw her husking the seed and i look at her container and it had heaps of husks in it, i have never seen husks in her container before.