Cage Bird Food

A seed mix offers variety but relies on your bird eating across the different seed types rather than picking out favourites, which doesn't always happen in practice. A complete pelleted diet is formulated so that each individual piece carries the same balanced nutrition, removing the selective-feeding problem altogether, since there's nothing to pick around.

Some owners feed a mix of both, using pellets as the nutritional base and seed as a smaller part of the diet alongside treats, which is a reasonable middle ground if your bird is reluctant to switch to pellets entirely.

Budgies, canaries, cockatiels and other common cage birds have some differing needs, so a food built for one species isn't automatically right for another — check the packaging specifies your bird's species or type rather than assuming any cage bird food is interchangeable.

Treats, from millet sprays to specific fruit or seed bars, are worth keeping as a genuinely occasional extra rather than a significant part of the diet, the same as with any pet.

Birds can be reluctant to change an established diet, particularly moving from seed to pellets, so introduce a new food gradually alongside the old rather than swapping suddenly, and watch that your bird is actually eating rather than just sitting in the cage.

If your bird loses weight, stops eating, or seems unwell during a food change, go back to what was working and speak to a vet experienced with birds rather than persisting with a switch that isn't going well.