With Budgies it can be tough, because not a lot of companies make pellets that are small enough for them to eat. Some Budgies do fine with larger pellets, breaking them up with no issues, while other Budgies are very intimidated by pellets in-general and won't touch them...And unfortunately most Budgies are not weaned-onto pellets, and a lot of the time they aren't even weaned onto fresh veggies or dark, leafy greens. However, the nice thing about the seed-mixes made for Budgies is that overall they don't contain a lot of the really fatty junk that usually make larger bird seed-mixes high in fat and low in protein and other nutrition...For example, most Budgie seed-mixes don't contain any Sunflower Seeds, nor any Nuts, nor any Dried Corn Kernels or Dried Cracked Corn, simply because Budgies can't usually handle eating these things...
So that being said, if you have a pet/captive Budgie that was weaned onto seed-mix and not pellets, it's not nearly as bad as it is for larger birds weaned onto the really junky seed-mixes...I have owned/bred both American and English Budgies now since I was a little kid (my mom bred Budgies before I was born with my grandmother), and I currently own the very last clutch of Budgies that I ever bred and hand-raised myself; they are a clutch of 8 American/English hybrid-Budgies, 7 males and 1 female, and they are now almost 6 years old....I hand-raised them from 2 weeks-old, and I Abundance-Weaned them onto lots of fresh dark, leafy greens (collard, mustard, turnip, and dandelion greens, Arugula/Rocket, Bok Choy, Swiss Chard, Romaine and the other dark, leafy lettuces, etc.), lots of fresh Veggies chopped-up into tiny little pieces like Broccoli (they usually love Broccoli if you cut off the flowers into little bits), Green Beans, Peapods (they LOVE the Peapods cut up into tiny bits, along with the peas chopped up too, both Sugar-Snap Peapods and Sweet Peapods), Brussel Sprouts, Bell Peppers (red, green, yellow, and orange Bell Peppers, along with the seeds), any types of Squash, such as Butternut, Spaghetti, Acorn, Yellow, and then also Zucchini, and pretty much any type of FRESH Veggies (never canned) EXCEPT for Onions or anything in the Onion family like Chives, Leeks, etc. as they are all toxic/poisonous to birds...
They get fresh fruit very sparingly, 2-3 times a week along with their fresh Veggies and Greens, and any fresh fruit EXCEPT for Avocado, as it's toxic to birds, and NO CITRUS FRUIT, as it enhances their absorption of Iron, and birds cannot handled much Iron in their bloodstream at all, they develop a serious and fatal condition called "Iron Storage Disease/Syndrome", especially very small birds like Budgies, Parrotlets, etc. So avoid ALL Citrus Fruit, including oranges...But any other fresh fruit is fine, in small quantities and only a few days a week, as all fruit is very high in sugar, which is turned into fat and stored in their livers, just like the fat from Nuts and Sunflower Seeds is...
****So as far as the "Staple-Diet" for Budgies, I highly recommend that you choose a low-fat, high-protein, FORTIFIED seed-mix that is the correct size for Budgies, and that contains NO Sunflower Seeds, NO Dried Corn of any kind, and NO Nuts of any kind...And if your Budgie was weaned onto seeds only and not onto any pellets, then I suggest that you choose one of these healthy, low-fat, high-protein, fortified seed-mixes as their daily staple-diet, give them this fresh every morning so they have it throughout the day, and then in the evening at dinnertime you give them their daily serving of fresh Veggies and dark, leafy Greens. They should get both a "staple" food AND fresh Veggies AND Dark, Leafy Greens every single day...So like a 60% healthy seed-mix and 40% fresh Veggies and Dark, Leafy Greens diet for them...
****And if you want to transition them onto a HEALTHY, LOW-FAT pellet as their staple-diet, or what I would rather recommend is that you simply ADD a healthy, low-fat pellet in with their healthy, low-fat seed-mix, so it's a 50/50 split of pellets and seed-mix as their staple, along with the same daily amount of fresh Veggies and Greens...
Here's the thing about pellets though, and this is very important: If your bird is eating a healthy, low-fat, high-protein, varied seed-mix as it's daily staple-diet, the only pellet that is going to be healthier for your bird is going to be a NATURAL pellet; "Fruit-flavored pellets are absolutely LOADED WITH SUGAR, which turns into fat and is stored in their livers...So a "Fruit-flavored" pellet is actually much worse for your bird than a healthy, low-fat, varied seed-mix is!!! So there is no reason to switch your bird to a sugary fruit pellet from a healthy, low-fat seed-mix.
However, if you want to transition your Budgie from the healthy, low-fat seed-mix to a Natural, low-sugar, low-fat pellet as it's staple-diet, then that's the way to go...Harrison's, Tops, Zupreem Natural, Kaytee Natural, etc. are all good pellets, and I would slowly add one of these (Budgie-size of course) to your bird's healthy, low-fat seed-mix...There are many of these seed-mixes as well: Tropimix, Higgin's California Blend, Volkman, etc. You mentioned "Dr. Harvey's seed-mixes, which I believe are sold by Dr. Foster's and Smith (possibly other places too, I'm not sure)...I had someone ask me about Dr. Harvey's seed-mixes once a while ago, and I remember looking into them, and the only issue with them, specifically the Dr. Harvey "Best Parakeet Blend",
which is their only Budgie food, is that it is LOADED WITH TONS OF DIFFERENT NUTS!!!
As I recall, the Dr. Harvey's "Best Parakeet Blend", their only Budgie food, contains a ton of different types of nuts chopped-up in it, including Filberts, Brazil Nuts, Almonds, Cashews (terribly fatty), Macadamia Nuts (terribly fatty), Walnuts, Hazelnuts, etc. It's a shame because the rest of the ingredients are fantastic, it's a mix of all kinds of healthier seeds, grains, legumes, herbs, veggies, and a bit of fruit, exactly like the Tropimix or the Higgin's California Blend, but for whatever reason they added in a TON of different Nuts, not just one nut but an array of 5-10 different nuts, and that's just WAY TOO MUCH FAT!!! The Dr. Harvey's also has Coconut in it, and that's just adding sugar to the bunch of fat from all the nuts...If it was just the Coconut then that would be fine, but as your bird's regular, daily staple-diet, I don't at all recommend that you feed your bird the Dr. Harvey's, as it's just got too many nuts in it...
I have seen them nibble pumpkin seeds cut up, and the big birds pellets, of which I have almost all brands offered.
(White Male Budgie)
(Yellow Female Budgie)
( Peach faced lovie)
(Green Cheek Conure)
(Male White faced Tiel)
(Female Grey Tiel)
(Female Latino Tiel)
(B&G macaw)
