Won't eat pellets

My Beowulf refuses to eat pellets of any kind. he has done so for a2 years now, and there does not seem to be any way to persuade a bird if his mind is set against something.
With that being said, it sounds to me like you are giving Pidge a perfectly adequate diet ! I do find however that sometimes a bird will turn up his nose at a fruit or veggie when raw, but will gobble it up if cooked or dried . You can also try giving him fruit juice. My Beowulf loves apple juice or mango juice!

Of course you could always offer him "Forbidden Fruit !" Many parrots of all types adore to eat with their owner. And if you happen to leave some food on your plate, which conveniently is placed close to Pidge< and then you suddenly became utterly fascinated with the wall paper on the other side of the room, I would not be surprised if you might discover that some of your food had disappeared when you looked back at your plate! After all, every parrot KNOWS that Mommy or Daddy keeps the Best food for themselves, and it Always tastes better if a parrot can sneak some of that goooood food for themselves ! :-)

Good luck finding some new treats for Pidge !

Try softening the pellets by soaking them for a short time in good quality water or unsweetened fruit juice. This often helps introduce pellets to parrots not used to eating them, and can help with parrots who are reluctant to eat pellets. Even parrots like my two who eat dry pellets also enjoy the softened ones. Give it a try and maybe it will work with Pidge too.

Soaking works pretty well or you can make sure that a water source if very close to the pellets. My fids (feathered/furred kids) will dunk the pellets into the water to soften them sometimes as they are eating. And if you have the time to hand feed them - one pellet at a time, that is a great way to spend quality time and help to get rid of fears. This is also a great way to introduce Pedge to someone that (s)he is afraid of - like family or friends who come to visit from time to time. Especially if your fid is or is starting to become a "one person bird".

Since Pedge loves the food that you prepare in the ice cube tray - you could crush the pellets into a powder (you could use a blender, bullet, or coffee grinder) and add a about a teaspoon to each cube - mixed into the rest of the "formula". For example, if your tray has 12 compartments, you add about 12 teaspoons of crushed pellet to the mix and blend it so it's part of the mixture. Then when you fill the tray, you'll know that Pedge is also getting the vitamins and minerals from the pellets.

I started crushing ZuPreem® VeggieBlend Bird Food, ZuPreem® FruitBlend Small Bird and ZuPreem® Natural Small Bird and adding it to the formula when my babies were almost ready to fledge. Adding a little more pellet mix to the formula each feeding until it starts to eat the pellets on its own.

Variety seems to be the best method to keep the family happy. After all - would you want to only eat (fill in your favorite meal here) every day - day after day after day? I have found that if I present all three flavors to the fids - they each eat different parts from day to day. One day they may eat all of the veggies and only the yellow fruitblend and not even touch the natural, and another day eat all of the natural and only green fruitblend and not touch the veggies. Some days, they eat a little of all of them.

Just like when I train - I allow the fid to choose what to use as "treats". I also give millet spray as one of the choices. I put one of each of the blends and one seed from a millet ball in a semicircle and put the fid I'm going to train one on one that session in the center. Whichever the fid chooses, that is what I use for that training session. I find that each bird will pick different "treats" for the training.
(I'm not affiliated with ZuPreem, It's just the best brand I can get on the island)

Another thing that you might try is to wrap a few pellets in a couple of sheets of toilet paper (non-scented) and somewhat hide them. When Pedge finds the toilet paper ball and rips it apart - you might see that the pellets get eaten. Kind of a reward for 1. finding and 2. ripping up the ball. I also take toilet paper roll and cut it into thirds and put 2 or 3 pellets inside and crush the roll to hold the pellets and then hide it. Or tie a string to the ball and hang it from under the cage or table or whatever is available just beyond the fid's reach - and watch the various ways they will come up with to get the treat. Again variety is the spice of life. This is helpful for me because my fids get to roam around the house scavenging for toys and treats instead of crawling all over me while I'm doing chores - it's hard to fold clothes when two or three of them want to be on my hand or help fold or unfold the one I just folded (maybe I didn't do it right).

I know this was long winded, but I hope you find the info useful.

Have a great day today and a better one tomorrow - and remember that 10 minutes of training is worth hours of enjoyment.