IndianRingNeck.com

My birds always have a bowl of pellets available in their cages. They usually eat anything else they are given rather than pellets, though Nila seems to really like his pellets at the moment.
Check out the pellet conversion pdf here:
http://www.brisbanebirdvet.com.au/BirdC ... fault.aspx
Sapphire does eat small amounts of pellets, so I tried only giving her a small amount of seed in foraging toys. I can't really say it's working 100% yet, I tend to give in and give her more seed. She will now do anything for a sunflower seed.

I feed roudybush pellets mostly, when Nila gets bored of them he gets vetafarm maintance. The vet convinced me to buy some coloured vetafarm pellets, but they taste really weird and Sapphire prefers roudybush (from Nilas bowl).
I really would prefer an organic pellet, but they seem impossible to source over here.

How about one of these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/coop-cup I don't know if you can source them where you are, they are in every pet store here.
I got the bolt on type for Sapph.
I only leave chop for a couple hours on hot days, cos it goes a bit gross after that.

DO NOT GIVE GRIT.
They cannot handle grit and do not need it anyway. Billie has a mixture of seeds and pellets but she wont eat pellets. ALSO buy a water bottle it is essential to have clean water all the time and a bottle with ball drip is best. That way you can convert the water bowl (Which is not a good idea anyway beacuse it is easy for your bird to contaminate her water with droppings, the spare bowl can be used for fresh greens and fruit. In the mornings l fill a bowl with fresh fruit and and in the evening she gets fresh vegratables. I have three bowls one is used for oat meal and museli. And one is used for parrot mix. But Billie does not like groundnuts and peanuts also she does not like dried veg or dried fruit so l fish those out when l buy her seed at the pet shop. Billie also has a dog's water bowl as her indoor swimming pool but l have not seen her drink from it. I think a diet that is as varied as possible is best because they change their tastes and if they are allowed to pick and chosse they get all the choice they need.
AJPeter

Just thought I'd add my thoughts.

I only use two food containers in my bird's cage although it does have space for three. I use one for water and one for pellets. I don't use a water bottle, although I definitely understand the rationale for that - I've just placed their water bowl in a place where it it hard (but of course not impossible) for them to defaecate in. I've tried having a separate bathing bowl but find they are just as likely to drink out of the bath and bathe in their water bowl, so I've gone back to just one bowl for both. The rest of their food (chop mix and treats) are in foraging toys that either hang from the roof or grip onto the bars of their cage. I found introducing foraging was the single best thing I did for my relationship with Janey. Suddenly getting treats from my hand was the easy way to get treats - so this stopped her from lunging and grabbing treats.

Ellie.

Billie rarelly lunges l think she has two sets of spectacled close vision and one distant it take her a moment to adjust between the two. If i go in to quickly she cannot focus and lunges, so l find the best policy is to approach very slowly and if that fails l say the magic words "Take it nicely!"
AJPeter

Janey was lunging when she got annoyed with me for giving her treats because she was already full. Foraging does a lot more than just that. It also prevents boredom and related behaviours and is a very "birdy" thing to do. In the wild, birds spend lots of time foraging for food. More information on foraging is here:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 01&p=69400
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =4&t=13466
http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ - this site has some free ebooks to download

Ellie.

I have also heard not to give parrots grit. Grit is for birds whose digestive systems need help digesting the hard stuff they ingest. Parrots are hookbills who peel off the husk/shell of the seeds they eat, so they don't need grit. Apparently, grit can actually harm a parrot's digestive system. Correct me if I'm wrong please!

I don't give grit. I have been told to by some very experienced parrot keepers though. When I said I had read not to, they said that is an American idea the grit is bad. .. I hadn't thought about it further. My guys always have pellets available, so I figured they are getting what they need when they do decided to eat pellets.

I tried to get Billie onto a pelleted diet and made the msitake of mixing pellets and seeds together Billie stillpne ate the seeds. I think l will have another try giving 1/2 tablespoons of seeds in one bowl and pellets in another bowl.
AJPeter

The idea that grit is bad came from some cases of crop impaction from birds eating the grit when not needed or eating too much and causing crop-impaction and death. Especially cockatiels.

Even birds that require grit can kill themselves if they just eat it constantly.

It was generally concluded that it might be safer, since parrots don't need grit, to not feed grit. I am of the opinion that it should be more a case of paying attention to our birds. Crop impaction can happen with many things that should not be ingested so as always it is important to pay attention to what your birds is doing with such things.