I would recommend getting a bag of pellets separate from the seeds. 1) most all pellets in seeds are colored 2) you can tell better if they eat the pellets 3) you do not throw away costly pellets because they have eaten the seed.
There are many ways to start a successful conversion.
This is something I posted in another thread, part of it deals with veggies too:
Keep trying but personally I would put the pellets in a separate dish. That way you are not throwing out costly pellets.
There are so many ways to introduce and change over to new foods. I know I have posted on this thread before so forgive me if I repeat myself.
My boys did the conversion to veggies with first using organic baby foods. I would sprinkle seeds on top and gently push it down in, that way, even when they are just picking the seeds off of the top, they still get the taste of the veggies while hulling them. While you are offering this (maybe 2 hours or so) you can remove any other food because you do have some familiar seed on the top so you shouldn't have to worry about starvation or anything.
Once they got to where they were eating some of the baby food on purpose, I started adding very finally chopped veggies. After a while they would eat the veggies with out the baby food or seed (though they still love a dish of baby food w/seed mixed in.)
Once they were eating the veggies good chopped up, I slowly started putting some bigger pieces in there. Some veggies they will eat whole (corn, broccoli flowers, romaine lettuce) and some I still need to chop.
Pellets you can start sprinkling them on the baby food too. Crush them fine and add them in. When you buy them, be sure they are small. Most brands, you will want to get the canary/finch size. If you get Harrison's, go with super fine.
As far as what is "right", I went through the same frustrations. What my vet said was that even at the aviary seminars he has been to, he can go to one "expert" and they will say one thing, cross the hall to another and they say something totally different.
I feed mine pellets 24/7-some will say that is not good. I feed veggies all through out the day and seeds intermittently throughout. Mostly the seeds are sprinkled on something or in a foraging toy. The foraging toy they always have access to when they are out of the cage-most of the day.
Too much protein is not good - can cause gout. Pellets have mostly about 14 grams of protein in a "serving". This is where the controversy arises as to if they should be offered 24/7 or not. I have yet to find anything that says how much protein is TOO MUCH. One of the top avian scientists worked on formulating the Harrison's pellets to most closely resemble what they would get in the wild so I have a hard time believing that the 14 gr. of protein / oz is TOO MUCH. That's me
There are other good ideas on that thread. Read more here:
http://www.wineintro.com/forum/ubbthread...Search=true#topAlso, just type "pellets" or "conversion to pellets" in this sites search and you will find many threads on the topic.
A good conversion to pellets is a must for your budgies health.
Do your guys eat veggies? That is equally important. Veggies, pellets & seed are all needed for a good healthy diet.
