Oats and groats should be fed to young birds never for older birds as they will get very fat. Unfortunately, the 10 year old has had repeated crop infections for several years that has baffled the team of avian vets we worked with regularly in another state (and who still provide consulting services long-distance). And we’ve had to learn some hard lessons along the way, but have been able to provide better and better care over the years to this wonderful birds. Organic is best (if not, I’d remove the skin). I hope I’m doing it correctly, I have rinsed all the ingredients, and now have them soaking overnight( covered bottle, and water covering all the ingredients until morning) my question is after rinsing in the morn. Don’t beat yourself up about it — most pet store staff don’t know about proper care and nutrition, so they don’t pass along this important info to new owners. The fiber in pumpkin seeds … This often makes them fussy eaters, and you may need to remove the seed trays for a few hours, until they have nibbled at the fresh stuff. Let the sprouting progress for at least 8 hours and up to 4 days. These things are poison to birds, and yes, veterinarians – even “avian” vets – are far too often just as ignorant of what constitutes a healthy diet for a bird, especially budgies, as just anybody walking down the street. So happy to hear that Woody and Ivy are doing well and that you are enjoying them :>) I honestly don’t know about feeding the roots vs the leaf. If you want to hand-train your bird, please refer to my training page for detailed instructions.This has helped me a lot and now I know what to feed my budgies.I live in a very rural area in Oklahoma and would need to drive hours out of my way to visit the nearest organic food store. We just lost one of our precious little guys three weeks ago at the age of 12 and have been debating about the best thing to do for his 10 year old cage mate who was left behind. We were given a little parakeet a few weeks ago and I’m just starting to actually pay attention to it’s needs (better late than later I suppose). Andy, our little 10 year-old guy has had a hard-to-diagnose underlying condition for years that has resulted in repeated yeast and bacterial infections showing up in his crop, along with bouts of vomiting. I bought organic dandelion root instead of leaf, and burdock root. And I spread them in the jar, is the jar to stay uncovered? I have 5 budgies and one of ours Toby was diagnosed with a tumour in his belly that is already 4g and quite large whats surprised us is that he is VERY active and playful eats properly and drinks but he has trouble flying because the tumour is heavy but he can balance perfectly fine. Thanks!Dry seed mixes are like a McDonald’s Big Mac… yummy junk food that is okay in moderation only. I do let them out. However, I have to disagree about the ‘No honey” .. my budgie was at the vet yesterday for his first nail clipping and I asked her how to get him to try new foods and she recommended rolling veggies in honey and then putting their seeds on it to encourage them to try it. 1 pair were rehomed so they are a bit more friendly, where the other pair were purchased at the local pet store, they aren’t as friendly yet but today is 2 weeks for the re-homed and Saturday will be 2 weeks for the pets store pair. We switched to a pellet only diet (grains and fruit in it). Your budgies eat better than I do!!! Parakeets should eat vegetables, fruit and sprouts — not just seed or processed pellets.Don’t let your feathered friend become a seed junkie. as I outlined in this post.Hey there! Our sole budgie eventually adjusted and he is eating and singing and playing but I just noticed yesterday that his blue thing above his nose is starting to turn brown. We put on the real movie and Alex was a happy camper for the next 3 hours. So c’mon, take a look at a few pictures. Tea usually has caffiene or sugar in it, so I wouldn't give it tea. While we’ve been very tempted to find a new cage mate for the 10 year old, we are wary of exposing a new bird to whatever the 10-year-old may have that has eluded a useful diagnosis. What could be causing this?I lost my budgie Tweety on December 22 of 2012 he was 17 years old a Harlequin Budgie yellow lime color with a long turquoise tail he was very playful very loving a good little guy with a big heart> When someone tried to break into my fathers car he was alerting us to let us know danger was abound he let out a ear piercing scream it took twenty minutes to settle him down he was 15 years old when this happen hewas very protective of me and extremely playful he died before Christmas I cried for three days. He seems to mount on her and tries to breed with her . I read on your website that you are taking a break from breeding til late in the year. If so, have you tried removing his food for 10-12 hours every night so it can completely empty? However, Andy has a strong competitive streak and can’t stand to be left out of anything. Alexandrines will eat an all-seed and -nut diet if given the opportunity. My grandma is unable to take care of her 3 parakeets and has given them to me, so I’m in a mad rush to learn their care. Case in point: We adopted 2 budgies from a rescue that basically viewed all fresh foods as alien. Did I do something wrong by giving them mealworms? Is there anyone out there who could tell me if you can mate a 10 year old budgie with a 10 month old younger budgie. So, I really want to feed my birds like you suggest but I’d like to know if you could email me the portions to make the germinated and sprouted seed mix. Please read the section titled: How to encourage your budgie parakeet to eat new foods” for suggestions on how to make the transition.Wow, thanks for all of the detailed information.