If your bird has not been offered a variety of foods from the very start, or if she has become a malnourished "seed junkie," it is important to work with the avian veterinarian while reforming her "fussy" habits. It will take time and patience, along with regular weight and overall health monitoring, to achieve success.

A widely recommended method of reform is to gradually expand her dietary choices - increase the amount of new food provided - while decreasing the amount of seeds mixed in. If she doesn't get her fill in seeds, she should start to taste the new foods in her bowl. When converting to pellets, you might try sprinkling the pellets on top of her seeds. While working through this layer of new food, the finicky eater will eventually take a pellet in her mouth and find it to be quite tasty.

When introducing new foods, sprinkle or stuff them with a few seeds. For example, sprinkle a few of your bird's favorite seeds over a piece of fresh fruit, or hide them in a spinach leaf or broccoli flower.

Withdrawing the old food and immediately replacing it with the new is not recommended, since the picky bird might not eat for a few days. It is also possible that she won't recognize the bowl of pellets as food, if it doesn't resemble her usual meal.