Live from Austin!

One-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To sit on his perch all day.
One-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To relax in an avian way.
He’s got two feet,
He can climb and tweet,
Chew on his toys and play;
But one-foot budgie only needs one foot
To sit on his perch all day.

He wakes up every morning,
Stretches out his wings.
Stuffs his face with bird seed,
Sometimes even sings.
If the sun is out, he’ll jump about,
And use his time exploring.
But if it’s gray, he’ll spend the day
Being rather boring.

[Chorus:]
‘Cause one-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To sit on his perch all day.
One-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To relax in an avian way.
He’s got two feet,
He can climb and tweet,
Chew on his toys and play;
But one-foot budgie only needs one foot
To sit on his perch all day.

Sitting on his play gym,
He preens his fluffy rump.
It’s surely been ten minutes,
Time to take a dump.
He’s got a beak, knows how to shriek,
No training is required;
He may not talk, but he sure could squawk,
Except that he’s too tired…

[Chorus:]
So one-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To sit on his perch all day.
One-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To relax in an avian way.
He’s got two feet,
He can climb and tweet,
Chew on his toys and play;
But one-foot budgie only needs one foot
To sit on his perch all day.

His disco ball is very small,
But still extremely shiny.
Although he is a parrot,
He’s really rather tiny.
He’ll gladly stand upon your hand,
As long as you’ve got millet;
But he’s got a crop that just won’t stop,
So you’d best be sure you fill it…

[Chorus:]
So that one-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To sit on his perch all day.
One-foot budgie only needs one foot,
To relax in an avian way.
He’s got two feet,
He can climb and tweet,
Chew on his toys and play;
But one-foot budgie only needs one foot
To sit on his perch all day.

Lola will eat pretty much whatever I feed her so long as it looks like bird food. Chester, however, is a picky eater. I’d done the research when we got him, and knew I wanted to get him on a pellet-based diet, as it’s healthier in the long run.

With this in mind, I started off with Kaytee Fusion . It’s a blend of seed and pellets, designed to help convert your bird to a pellet-based diet. Result: Chester ate the seeds and mostly ignored the pellets. When the seed ran out and he was left with a pile of pellets, he scraped them out of the food dispenser onto the floor using his beak, and squawked angrily to demand something tastier.

So, I used a colander to sift all the pellets out of the mix and turn it into birdseed. I fed the pellets to the wild birds in the back yard. I got some Zupreem AvianMaintenance fruit blend pellets , which are pricier, but made with natural fruit and vegetables plus supplemental vitamins. I mixed these in with the bird seed. Result: He ate a few, but mostly stuck to the seed, and still threw a lot on the ground.

Next I tried Roudybush parakeet blend, on the recommendation of a local pet store worker and parakeet owner. It’s an all-natural pellet, with no food coloring, unlike the Zupreem. Results were slightly better: a few more pellets eaten, less waste.

I was seeing a trend: the more expensive and natural the food, the more acceptable to Chester. So to replace the seed part of the birds’ diet, I picked up some Ecotrition parakeet blend . It’s a blend of all kinds of seeds and vegetables, plus some egg, and very little coloring. For the pellets, I ordered a pack of extra fine pellets from Harrison’s Bird Foods . They’re certified organic, pesticide free, and the resealable pack recommends refrigerating them to keep them fresh.

So far, results are promising. No beak-scraping to get rid of any of it. Not much on the floor of the cage. Hopefully we’ve found Chester’s brand.