Help with parakeet nutrition & feeding

Hello everybody!

I'm new to this forum and birds in general - so please bear with me.

A week ago my father gave me three Scarlet Chested Parakeets (2 boys & 1 girl). I was planning on getting a Alexandrine this year once they had been weaned and had been researching for months about their appropriate care. So you can imagine my horror when out of the blue I now am responsible for 3 birds and have no idea what they require.

I was wondering is you could help me? Or guide me in the right direction?

I'm very worried that I'm not feeding them right and they aren't getting the requirements they need.

They are aviary birds (sigh) but are getting better being around me. They live in my room next a window so they get sunlight and fresh air every day but also shade during the middle of the day. I let them out whenever i'm home so they can fly around and explore until bedtime.

I got given some bird feed with them. But in my opinion has far too many sunflower seeds in it. So this evening I'm going to a supermarket and will purchase a sunflower-less seed mix and only give them sunflower seeds as a treat but they have access to their seed mix & fresh water at all times.

I rotate between the fruits/vegetables of: Apple (without the seed), rock melon (with out the seeds), banana, grapes, strawberries, orange (with out the seeds), cooked silver beet, spinach, snow peas & carrot. Is there anything else I can give them to spruce up their diet and give them better nutrition?

Since they are grass parakeets I hand pick the flowering grasses/grass seeds (I live in Australia and the grasses I pick are not harmful in anyway) and hang it up in the cage as well as fresh millet, cuttlebone and some vitamin calcium hanging chew thing I got from the pet shop.

Right now I placed a small amount of cooked white rice into their cage.

Am I even looking after them correctly? I'm worried about trying new things because some people say 'feed this' and others say 'don't feed that!'

ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED

First, let me say I have no idea the specifics of this species, but I have budgies and cockatiels which are at least from Australia and eat grass seeds, so realize that what I am about to say may not be true if your specific species is different in some odd way, but this is general parrot nutrition stuff.

First, what a frustrating gift! Your dad is probably so pleased with himself for getting you birds Sounds like you are making the best of it though, and I hope you all come to love one another.

My first thought is that you need to find out what kind of mating patterns these birds have. I have never seen a situation where males outnumbering females was a good idea - you may actually need to buy another female, or sell one of the males. Look into it though for your species.

As for food. You are going out and picking the grass? That's great! Be careful not to pick anything that has been sprayed or that you don't recognize.

Ease up on the fruit. Fruit is very high in sugar - feed fruit more as a treat a few times a week and use veggies as a staple food. Also, when you get your seed mix, go ahead and sprout it - that is much more nutritious than dry seed. You can feed dry seeds as treats Some would suggest switching them to a pellet diet, but I am of the opinion a fresh food diet is healtheir than a dry processed one (And more fun to eat!) I do think it is a good idea though to teach them to eat pellets so that when your schedule gets crazy they still get healthy food.

Fresh is better than cooked except with beans - beans need to be either sprouted or cooked to be safe for birds, but sprouted is healthier so I do that. I would stop feeding the cooked rice, there is very little nutrition in it, but they may fill up on it anyway.

Best of luck! We are here when you need us. Post some pics??

From what I've read about them and other similar birds is that their needs are quite a bit like budgies. They live much the same in the wild, so a seed based diet with greens and veggies is the way to go. Some fruit is a nice treat, and I concur about sprouted seeds. And I think a little rice is fine, just not as a daily food. All my birds love rice, though I do like to give them a blend with a variety of rice types, including brown and wild rice. Variety is never a bad thing.

I know its frustrating now, but I can tell you, those birds and other grass parakeets are hard to come by where I am...so I'm actually a little jealous. They are very lovely and with time can become tame, though they probably won't be cuddly. But then again, your original chosen species isn't known for that either.

I think you're doing fine

Thank you so much for you help. My apologies for my late thanks, school has been rather busy lately.

I have taken all your information on board and my birds greatly appreciate it

I'm planning on constructing an aviary for them this coming holidays.

Once again thanks.

They are beautiful.

Wow, they are so beautiful! I've never seen those around here. Sorry, I cannot really help with nutrition question - I just feed my budgies regular top quality seed mix which you won't even need there.