Anyone know of a good diet for both parakeets and cocktails?

Sprouts may work for you.

You do have to keep trying, never give up presentation is the key. And also where new foods are put.

Chopped, grated, sliced. Anyway you can think of.

Soak seed is better than dry seed mix.

But there are also many seeds and grains you can add to the seed mix that will help.

Peas, sweetcorn, silver beet, chards, chilli peppers. fresh grass in seed, safe tree tops in flower.

And just for the record Budgies and Cockatiels are not so prone to vitamin A deficiency other parrots are, as they are basically seed eaters in the wild. Not that you should feed them just any one thing. A good varied diet is the key to good health.

Forget pellets, evidence is starting to show that Budgies and Tiels are not doing so well on high percentage pellet diets.

Remember do not give up. keep trying and you will win.

Eating just seeds is not healthy for either bird. I don't know much about cockatiels, but I have two parakeets, have done plenty of research, and asked my vet about their diet.

Fresh veggies is a must, as well as fruit (but not as much as veggies). Think of it like this; in the wild, they're eating all kinds of fruits and veggies, not nothing but seeds and pellets. My vet, as well as many others, agree that two tablespoons of seeds a day is the max. Too many seeds can lead to the bird being unhealthy and even cause premature death, if that's ALL they're eating.

However, also research if a fruit of veggie is okay for them to eat. I know avocados will kill, and lemons aren't good for them, either. Apple seeds also aren't good.

If you need to slowly transition them into eating other things, that's fine. I'm currently doing the same (my budgies don't eat as many fruits and veggies as I'd like, since they prefer pellets, but I sprinkle some pellets on the food to get them to eat it). You can mashup the pellets and seeds together, since if you just mix it in, they'll just pick out the seeds and leave the rest.

We fed ours seeds and a well balanced diet of our table foods, and they thrived on the foods. Some guidance below.

I buy a packet of plain oats from the cereal aisle and scatter some on the grass for the blue faced honeyeaters and they love it.