My picky budgie only eats millet. How to balance their diet?

Just like people- birds can become picky eaters. We love to eat potato chips over our veggies, and many birds will enjoy millet over their regular diet! You may need to remove all the 'extras' to see if it will encourage Pepper to start eating his diet again, or mix a little millet in to his regular food (however some birds will pick out their favorites). If he's acting ill in addition to not wanting to eat his regular food, and isn't still improving as you mentioned, or he absolutely refuses even if all millet is removed, seeking vet care is always a good idea to rule out an illness or something such as GI upset that could be causing his preferences to be changed. Until you can get to the vet, keeping him warm, in a separated hospital cage, and with easy access to food and water can help.

Since she is young, consider transitioning her to a commercial pelleted diet such as Harrison's, Lafeber, Pretty Bird or KayTee Exact. You can still supplement with a bit of a fortified seed mix and fresh vegetables and fruits. Moisten pellets with warm water to make a mash and offer to Luna daily. Mix the pellets into her food and gradually increase the amount over a week or two until she is eating mainly pellets.

Hello. Pedro should be eating 70% compete pelleted food like ZuPreem or Roudybush. A high quality seed mix or nitro berries worth fresh vegetables can make up the remainder of the diet. A diet of only millet with some greens and herbs is deficient in many important nutrients (protein, vitamin A, etc). I’d strongly recommend an exam by a veterinarian soon to assess overall heath and work diligently to transition him to a pelleted diet. Your vet can provide guidance in this transition, but you can also read more about it here: http://m.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?articleid=121

The only way i know of that works is a pretty simple one. you mix the pellets with his old food mix. first day 10% pellets and 90% old food. every day you increase the pellets by 10% and decrease the o;d food by 10% until you switch to pellets completely.

If at first you don't succeed, try try again! Patience and retrying are your best bets. Birds can be picky eaters, and sometimes it takes several introductions of the same thing over and over before they decide to try (and like) it! You may want to try introducing those treats again at different intervals or times of day to see if they eventually start to check it out. In some cases, a bird may never be interested in it, especially if they weren't exposed to it when they were younger, and as long as they have a balanced diet otherwise, that is OK- toys or attention can work great for enrichment as well!

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I recommend providing both grain/seed mix or pelleted feed and fruits/veggies every day. It is not necessary to provide fruit and veggies daily as these are considered enrichment, and not necessary for nutritional requirements. Keep in mind that budgies tend to be neophobic, or do not like new things in their environments, so they may not respond well to new food items. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!

A good quality commercial pelleted diet such as Harrison's, Lafeber, KayTee Exact or Pretty Bird can provide complete nutrition. You can supplement with small amounts of a fortified seed mix as well as a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.