Good pellets to feed a baby budgie

[GlassOnion]

Now we need some pictures of this cutie

[Michael]

Pellets may not be a suitable diet for budgies/cockatiels. It has been known to lead to premature kidney failure as the result of too high nutrition for birds that are accustomed to low nutrition diets in the wild. Perhaps they are starting to make pellets specifically for budgies but don't feed pellets formulated for larger parrots as primary diet.

[allirho]

Here's what the Harrison's description says for the high potency super fine pellets: Year-round formula for canaries and finches as well as budgies (parakeets) and other small parrots.
Am I safe to assume that this pellet is probably one of the safe ones for a budgie to eat then?

[GlassOnion]

Moderation is the key. A 20-30% pellet diet shouldn't cause any harm. It's also good to offer grains like rice, quinoa, barley, etc

[Michael]

I think high potency pellets are meant as a nutritional supplement as opposed to a staple diet. Probably good (or can't hurt) for 10-30% of diet being this. However, you may not be able to get your budgie to eat the right proportion or eat the pellets at all. Much more difficult to measure or control.

[Polarn]

id say if pellets normally are too high on nutrition, harrisons high potency is higher in energyvalues than the harrisons lifetime adult one... and i know there is a smallsize pellet of the lifetime adult one as well. but the high potency sounds weird to use for a bird needing less nutrition. When I visited my vet this week she recomended me to get the Adult Lifetime Coarse instead of the high potency ones due to the fact amazons have a habbit of getting abit chubby... and she wanted me to be able to use pleasent treats while training.

[allirho]

Yes, they do have a adult lifetime super fine pellet as well.
Actually now that I'm reading the description for that pellet, it says it's suitable for year round use for budgies as well after they've completed 6 months of the high potency diet.
But if budgies don't require all the nutrition contained in a high potency food, then it seems to make more sense to me that I should just skip the high potency and try to get my budgie eating the adult lifetime pellets instead for 10-30% of his diet.

[Polarn]

I think the biggest reason to start with the high potency ones is due to the fact that they are tastier, my vet sed that if he didnt like the lifetime course i could have some high potency onesi f i stopped by and mix them into the diet to get him to eat the adult ones... but my amazon really really liked the adult pellets and started eating them right away so I had no need for the high potency ones. However, I am not to familiar with what diets budgies need, so I can't actually recomend putting him on this diet, however I just thoguht the high potency one sounded strange instead of the normal ones with less nutrition, or energy values..

[Michael]

Like I said, I think high potency is meant as a supplement. It has too much nutrition in it to be eating pellets alone. But when consumed in moderate proportion to other stuff, it balances out. A reason for using it during transition is because parrots will often eat a bit of both. Lifetime is meant to be more balanced. However, if it isn't formulated exclusively for budgies, I'd be skeptical. Unless your budgie is already on a pellet diet, don't be so certain you'll be able to get it to even eat a single pellet. I tried for months to convert Duke and it never worked out. Getting yours to eat some of the high potency stuff from time to time as a supplement is a great start.

[allirho]

Ok, thank you all!!
your advice is all very helpful and is much appreciated