What do you feed baby parrots?

Parakeets (budgies) need a wide variety of different foods to stay healthy. Unfortunately many people still keep budgies on all seed diets, which dos not provide a balanced diet, which in turn makes an unhappy, unhealthy budgie. But if seeds are so bad for budgies why have we assumed that this is all they need? Budgies are native to Australia, and all our domesticated budgies originate from there. In the wild they spend much time foraging for food. Budgies do eat seeds in the wild, but this seed is much different to what we feed them. In the wild, the seeds are fresh and young, and have not lost much of their goodness. Packaged seeds which we buy for our budgies are old and brown. The reason most people are still feeding their budgies old seeds is because it "has always been this way". In the wild budgies forage for food. Seed has a high fat content and because the wild counterparts are continuously on the move, foraging, migrating and so on, they get much more exercise than a domestic budgie would. Feeding only seeds to a budgie with no out of cage time will lead to many health problems, obesity and a shortened lifespan. If seed is so bad what should I feed my budgies? The best choice is a pelleted (or crumbles, nuggets ect.) budgie food. Remember conversion from seed to pellets is a long, hard process but its definitely worth it. Budgies also should have a variety of vegetables, fruit and other fresh foods. You can find lists of safe foods on the internet (note: parsley is safe! Mine love it). Foraging One of the main activities for wild budgies is- foraging. This provides stimulation for the bird, they are not bored. Without stimulation budgies can develop mental problems. Be creative, hide treats in hard to get places, slowly add more and more beads to your birds food bowl so they have to work with their food (never do this straight away, they may not look around the beads and die from starvation) Seeds Just because old seeds are bad for your fids (feathered kids) it doesn't mean that fresh ones aren't Did you know that the packaged seeds can actually still germinate? (yes, I've done it). You could always grow them and give them to your birds as a treat. Wild grass seeds and millet are both something budgies love. Some people feed a 50-50 diet of seeds and pellets. This is entirely up to you. Grit This is a very controversial matter, some people argue that because budgies eat seeds they need it to help grind them up in their stomachs. But budgies do not eat seeds whole, they hull them, so grit is not needed. To much grit can actually cause health problems and in some cases death, so feeding grit is not advised. == Parakeet food -- they mainly eat seeds -- can be purchased at most pet stores (and even at Walmart).