Chop Chop, Show me what ya got. (Plz drop pics and additional advice!)
**I know a lot of people have issues moving their birds to chop/produce in general so here's a place to give all your experience and expertise!**
I know there are parts on this page that cover this, but a refresher is always good and for those new to the sub it's nice to get some advice!
Louie wouldn't eat veggies when we got him but now can't get enough. When he hears my knife choppin' away he starts screaming and running towards his food bowl 😂
Always heavy on the greens, crunchy veg, some sort of lightly cooked root veg/squash, sprouted grain and legume, some seed, a nut or two, and a bit of fresh/dried herbs and bird-safe spices. it'll last a few days for Louie and the 'keets. I try to keep it well rounded and at least like 10 ingredients for variety, texture, and health
I never make the same chop twice. I'm a rabbit myself and always have a fridge of produce, so him seeing me eat a ton of salads helped move him onto chop. I recommend keeping it seasonal. Its the cheapest, usually most local even in big grocery stores, and has the best taste by far. When the garden is harvestable "Louie and the 'Keets" gets a fresh garden in their dish every morning!
I'll try to get photosoh him in the garden this year! He loved picking green beans, dandelion and clover last year 😂
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I started him with banana because he loved it. Basically just bananas mashed into pellets to get him on pellets. He would eat pea/carrot/corn/green bean mix, too. But that isn't very rounded for a daily diet. So I made banana heavy smoothies
After a week or two of heavy fruit smoothies. I lowered the fruit content and upped the veggies to get my normal ratio of tasting like fresh cut grass (like I said, I'm a rabbit and I like my daily smoothies tasting *green*).
**Soak the pellets for 5 mins in a few tablespoons of the veg smoothie and he would eat them up.**
Eventually I was able to lightly puls the smoothie and give him chunks (before processing fully for myself, obvi) and after a few months of that, I was able to give him proper chop AND dry pellets! I love hearing him crunch through his roudybush(sp). It took him over a year to eat pellets dry. I mix 2/3 roudybush and 1/3 Topps. But he throws the Topps away and only eats the roudybush. But healthy pellets are healthy pellets. I can't even be mad.
Louie is fully off seed mix now! And only seeds/nuts as foraging exercises or training exercises!
The parakeets (with chop on face in photos 8-10) still get a portion of seed as their diet, as they have higher metabolism and require more seeds. They get chop and pellets. They were so much harder to get on veg! Just offered daily and after about 8 months they *finally* tried it. 2 years later they DEMAND IT. the yellow one is named Citrine Meringue Pie, aka Ms. Meri, and she will flick her beak on the veg dish until I fill it 😂 jasper (blue) still barely eats the veg 🙃😮💨 but likes berries and beets and cilantro 🤷
**TL/DR**
**TRY VEG SMOOTHIE SOAKED ON PELLETS, PROCESS SMOOTHIE LESS AND LESS UNTIL ITS JUST CHOP BUT WET, MOVE TO PROPER CHOP AS BIRD GETS USED TO NEW TEXTURES**