Thanks everyone for all of this valuable information. I'm trying to build up a better diet for my Cheeky but it's gonna take time. First thing I did was throw out the Kaytee forti-diet. Found a local pet shop that makes their own bird seed with no dyes/coloring. Also got her used to carrots and broccoli (I know, not too much broccoli). Going to my local grocery to find some alfalfa, garlic, and cayenne. I'm just going to feed these to her fresh, sticking them in between the cage bars or holding the food in front of her since she's used to this already. Also hoping I can find some Quinoa to mix with the seed. Not too fond of ordering this kind of thing online so I'm hoping to find all this stuff locally.

Can you give me some tips on how to use this site? Not sure im doing it right. I posted something about getting a new budgie, but not sure it went anywhere? Sorry....not good at this stuff!

Quinoa can be found at many health food stores and stores like Whole Foods and my local supermarket has it in the natural foods section - I actually bought a 4# bag of organic quinoa at Costco

Chuckie,
If i'm not mistaken quinoa is high in protein so you would want to go light on that if you do feed it.
Try to keep protein level on the low side. Add a little more protein rich foods during molts for healthy feather growth.
Not so sure about the garlic..i think i'd skip that.
Crushed red pepper, parsley flakes, celery flakes, sometimes you can find dried cilantro..or fresh of course.
If shopping online myspicesage.com has lots of herbs n spices much fresher than store bought and prices aren't bad either. There you can even find carrot n beet powders
Good to see you're starting to find a better way to feed. That seed mix you found looks pretty decent. Does it give a break down of nutritional values? Like how much protein?

im not sure why cuttle bone in food but thats ok if they eat it that way for sure but i certainly as mentioned would NOT do garlic or quinoa to your keet wayyyyyyy to high in protein for them and you dont want to start the bird off with tumors and organ issues ...so id stay far away from that...also sunflower seeds can be very fattening...but its a start...and like kksuns said check out the

http://www.myspicesage.com/

go up to where it says shop spices by name...very user friendly that way and i get ALL my herbs/spices/powders from them they are much better and fresher than ANY grocery store and send you also free samples of a decent portion...

beet and carrot powders from there are a must as vitamin A is crucial in a birds diet...

Got it, no quinoa or garlic. I tried feeding my Cheeky garlic but she really didn't like it, anyways. I was hoping to find most of this stuff at my local Vons but I didn't even find a fourth of what I was looking for. I was really hoping to find some Alfalfa and Aloe based on this website but no luck. Also couldn't find any Cayenne pepper, though I did see red bell and chili pepper. Would it be better to just get some cayenne spice and sprinkle it on the seeds and vegetables she eats? Would it be okay if I just cut a fresh cayenne pepper in half and feed it to her fresh that way? I'll continue to check local stores first and check out myspicesage if I can't find anything.

Right now I'm feeding her carrots and broccoli, in addition to the birdseed. I know I shouldn't feed her too much broccoli but I think she has hyper-keratosis and it's the only thing I have right now that has vitamin A. I used to feed her celery hearts and she seemed to really like it but I stopped after learning it didn't really have any nutritional value. I really wish I could find some alfalfa and aloe. I saw other little green plants like chives and parsley but I don't know if those are any good.

Though after reading up a bit on alfalfa, apparently it was part of some salmonella outbreak a few years ago. Do you guys worry about that sort of thing? Other than thoroughly washing them, do you guys feed alfalfa or other raw vegetables to your birds?

Also, can you give them raw rice or does it have to be cooked?

@kksuns: I only remember seeing ingredients on the bag but I'll check when I get home.

always best to buy organic or wildcrafted foods...then no pesticides or growth enhancement chemicals are involved...why do you want aloe...?

just pick up some of the red pepper seeds you would put on top of pizza or sauces...and yes sprinkle some into the seed mix and no it doesnt burn them they actually LOVE the stuff.

be really careful BEFORE feeding something to your bird what you offer chives is of the onion family and ya dont feed onions...

here is a COMPLETE list of EVERYTHING GOOD or bad

http://www.parrot-and-conure-world.com/non-toxic-for-birds.html

only COOKED rice not raw.

What makes you think she has hyper keratosis?

The leafy part of celery is fine now and then if she likes it. May not be the most nutritious thing going but it won't hurt. Now the celery itself..is mostly water and will cause runny poops.

My 2 love crushed red pepper too(stuff you would sprinkle on pizza) and it's good for them, high in that vit A you are looking for . It should be pretty easy to find in the spice isle. Something else you could look for in the spice isle is fennel seed and anise seed. You can add those to your seed mix too.

Oh, fresh parsley or parsley flakes(you can add to seed mix) are fine too.

You really should check out that myspicesage.com Chuckie. The beet powder and carrot powder they have there is a great way to sneak veggies right in to her seed mix

Here is another site you might be interested in.
http://www.bulkherbstore.com/Herbs
on this one if you click on a certain product it will give a description of the benefits of that herb or spice.
Even if you don't buy from there it will give you an idea of what is what.
They do have quite a variety of good stuff tho

Hey Chuckie,
I can't believe I forgot to mention this...
One great product that I think every bird should have access to is Herb Salad. I and others highly recommend it.
You can find it here
http://www.twinbeaksaviary.com/home.html
Read all about it and i think you'll see why it should be part of every bird's diet.
After reading about it, if you decide you would like to get some click on Buy Now..then on the left you will see "Authorized Dealers" There you might find one closer to you that charges lower shipping rate.
Also if you contact twinbeaks and ask for a sample to try it out they are usually very good about sending a sample

Thanks again for the suggestions.

@illusive Fantasy - I misread the Aloe entry on the Kitchen Physician site. Looks like Aloe is for physical injuries or detoxifying only so there's no need for it at the moment.

@kksuns - Her nose is growing a bit irregularly. It looks like this:



That's not her, just some random pic on the net. I'll try to take a picture later though I'm not sure if I can get a camera close enough since she gets frightened extremely easily. I'm pretty sure it's this and not something else like face mites. She's had that cere for months now and is okay otherwise. It's not blocking the breathing holes at all.

EDIT: @kksuns - Just read through that list of foods that illusive fantasy provided. Parsley is listed as a toxic food on that site. Googling gave me mixed results (it's either okay, not okay, or only good in moderation). Can't find any warnings against cilantro but cilantro and parsley are very similar, aren't they?