I wet the feed as they would not eat the dry crumbles. In a week or two 'll start weaning them to the dry food. I think birds can see more colors than we can actually but don't quote me on itI dipped her nose out of the incubator and he/she I don't think ate but sure had fun throwing the food out of feeder. I also read somewhere you should start with red feeder and water. I thought birds and animals were color blind, but I did it anyway.