Hobbies And Interests
Canary Seed
Parakeets need lots of carbohydrates and this is provided, at least in part, by a seed mix. Canary seed is a large part of a seed mix for parakeets. Canary seed is yellow, shiny and pointed, and comes from the plant phalaris canariensis. The seed has a lot of starch and is about 14 parts water, 3.5 parts minerals, 11 parts protein, 51 parts carbohydrates and 1 part fat. Canary seeds can be purchased as Moroccan canary seed, which is large kerneled, and Turkish, which is smaller. Canary seed is easy for the parakeet to shuck and should be a quarter of a seed mix.
Millet Seed
The next ingredient in a seed mix should be millet seed, small seeds from cereal crops. There are several types of millet seeds for a parakeets, including Japanese millet, a species of Echinochloa. Parakeets prefer white seed millet, which is sometimes mistaken for canary seed. Weed seeds might also be added to the seed mix as long as they don't hurt the bird.
Oat Seed
Oat seed also provides carbohydrates and fats. Oat seed is whitish yellow and marketed as broken or hulled oats. It's easy for the bird to digest. Broken oats contains 14 parts water, 3.3 parts minerals, 8.9 parts protein, 4.5 parts carbohydrates and 3.2 parts fat. Unhulled oats should be fed to parakeets in the winter. It's a good diversion for them, and strengthens their beaks.
Testing Seeds and Seed Mix
One way to see if the seeds are fresh is to fill a small dish with water and sprinkle seed over it. Put it in a bright window and change the water regularly. The seeds should sprout in three days. If they don't, the seeds were no good. The seed mix for a parakeet might be 60 to 70 percent millet, 20 to 25 percent canary seed and 10 to 15 percent whole or hulled oats. This of course is only the seed mix. Parakeets need much more to have a balanced diet. They need fruit, berries and other sources of nutrition. They also need grit, as they don't have teeth and grit is used in the gullet to grind their food.