Would you be able to help me how to minimise wastage from pellets please. My cockatiels are eating the pellets but leave crumbs behind to the extent of 50%, making their pellets 2x the price. I have tried to rebake them with a bit of an white of an egg and a bit of olive oil. However they seem to know what they like and they definitely do not like my cooking! They also have other foods which they reject eg greens etc. As to date for 2 years they have not been interested in any except for a bit of cooked rice. Did I introduce them too early to the pellet diet, they were 3 months and are now 2 years. (PS been buying pellets from Vet)
Unfortunately there will always be a small amount of waste with pellets (however it is much less than if you were using a seed diet). The size of the pellets will make a difference to the amount of waste you get. The general rule is the bigger the pellet, the more waste you will get. We recommend feeding Vetafarm Nutriblend Mini Pellets, as the size has been designed specifically for cockatiels. Vetafarm Maintenance Pellets and Vetafarm Parrot Essentials will also be suitable, however the pellets are a little bigger.
In regards to your question about being introduced to pellets too early, this is not something to worry about as the earlier you can convert them, the better it is for the bird. If the birds are eating the pellets, this is something that you should definitely encourage as diets such as rice and vegetables do not contain enough vitamins, minerals or calcium to sustain the birds.
Thank you to our good friends at Vetafarm for this information.