how to feed a lovebird human food?

[tyro2001]

my 5 month old love bird is doing well, i am trying to play with it everyday to make sure its happy and make it less scared. but i heard that feeding love birds healty human food is good for them, well i tried feed it some carrots,cabbage, apples, but all it does is just nibble for sec then stop, i cut the food in very thin slices. am i dont some thing wrong or should i try to chop the food in little peices.
thanks

[Love Bird B]

It's been my experience that lovebirds are seed eaters and will shun just about everything else. I say "just about" because I got mine addicted to Vanilla Honey Peanut Balance Bars that I share with her every morning. I eat most of it though.

[Gems]

patience is the key. Keep offering and eventually he will try something he likes, which will open the door to trying other things. Start off with fruit and things that have interesting textures. My lovebirds all eat a full dish of fresh food every day. Even my finches and canaries eat fresh food.

[Jenny]

Yes, just be patient and keep trying. I've found that my lovebird (and budgies and conures) actually prefer things in larger pieces; for instance, a slice of apple rather than some teensy diced pieces. Then other foods such as carrots they like better in extremely thin slices I cut using an apple peeler. So just experiment with different sizes and looks of the same food you offer. Sometimes I hide food in toys, or weave it through the cage bars, or skewer some different pieces of foods onto a stick and hang it in the cage- anything to make it fun and different. My lovebird will eat just about anything now or at least give it a try, it just has taken patience. In my experience my birds will all copy each other. If 4 out of the five are scared of a food but the 5th one tries a bite, the rest usually follow. Since you only have one bird you can play the role of the others, by eating a certain food in front of your lovebird and making a big deal over how good it is. Many times that'll get a birds curiosity enough to try it. My green-cheek conure usually doesn't like to eat leafy greens, yet if I'm eating a salad there's practically nothign I can do to keep him from sneaking bites!

[tyro2001]

thanks il start with some of those today

[Kaye]

My advice would be to cut it up in very small pieces if giving it them them whole doesn't work. I've found that's the only way to get my two to eat fresh foods. Also, I'd try just giving them one kind of fresh food everyday for 2 weeks wether they eat it or not, and eventually they will try it and eat then, then switch to a different kind. Sometimes if you mix all the food up together right away they don't understand what it is. My Oliver is extremely picky, but he's starting to give in.