Quick Diet Tip For Your Parrot

I get tons of my students asking questions about all sorts of topics related to parrots, in my inner-circle membership forum. And from time to time I like to share those responses with you, as customers can come up with fantastic ideas, that are just too good to keep hushed away in my forum. So I wanted to share this question from a lady in my forum, who's name I do not know, as she uses a code name... "Hi if anybody has tips on how to get my parrots to eat pellets instead of the mixed seed diet please can you let me know...I have been trying to do the 50% pellet and 50% mixed and that is not working...i dont think the pellets are that hard that they cant eat them cause their beaks are strong... ...also now ive tried soaking them a bit to make them soft and that is not working either....What can i do to get them to move to the pellet diet, please help me in anyway u can :-( Because the sooner i can get them to move to the pellets the sooner i can start taming them and training them... " Now listen to a suggestion one of my other students gave her, that combines the strategy of using the Lafaber brand of parrot treats called "Nutriberries"... but with her own, very ingenious twist: "Hello, I converted all my cockatiels to pellets by trying the parakeet size pellets, breaking the Nutri-berries and then reforming the balls with pellets mixed in. I would only give a few of the nutriberries/pellet balls at a time, but I left just pellets in the bowls all day. It also helped that I knew how many nutriberries my birds ate, I counted the balls I placed in the cage and subtracked what was left (before I even tried mixing in the pellets). That way I could make sure that they didn't get too much nutriberries and not have an appetite. I also counted the loose pellets I would leave in the bowl, to help keep track of how many pellets they ate. They would get a couple of nutriberries in the middle of the day and the rest of their daily allowance in the evening. This didn't work quite as well for my meyers parrot, as she would pick out the pellets and throw them on the floor, but she did get some... now she eats them well. I did use the brown natural pellets after trying the colored pellets, the natural Zupreem goes over best, although they will also eat Harrison pellets. My parakeets also converted well to the natural zupreem... they do not like any of the colored pellets and I don't like feeding my birds dyes anyways. Even after converting to pellets, make sure they still get fruits, vegetables, eggs, chicken/protein, pastas. Do not give chocolate, avocados, coffee... cheese you can give in very minute quantities as parrots are lactose intolerant, My cockatiels will kill for a ham and cheese sandwich. Pellets aren't a cure-all for nutritional deficiencies... " Cyndi Isn't that a great idea? Cyndi took what we taught her, broke the pellets up, and put even healthier pellets into the Nutriberry balls, then were already in there, and now even her parakeets are converted... that's awesome! And her birds will enjoy a doubling of their lifespan because of it. Just thought you'd want to hear some of the stuff that goes on with my students behind closed doors!