Hi Em,
I think the key here is the fact that it is a treat and it contains a lot of seeds and sugars. If your parakeets normally eat a pelleted diet, then it is normal for them to react this way to seeds. Wild parakeets eat a lot of seeds. But the difference is the seeds are fresh and still have all of their nutrients. Most seed sold for pet birds is not very fresh and has lost most of the nutrients. Anything that is added is lost when the bird hulls the seeds. Wild parakeets will also encounter some sugars in their natural diet, but treats often have a high sugar content and need to be offered sparingly. So when offering a treat like this, no more than once a week is recommended. Especially if it is keeping them from wanting to eat their regular food.
If your birds eat a pelleted diet, you might want to try them on some of our diets. All of our daily diets are nutritionally balanced the same as a pellet, but they contain fresh whole, hulled seeds along with other whole ingredients and supplements, including a balanced amount of sugars that are similar to what they would encounter in the wild. These diets offer foraging exercise which is more natural for a parakeet since they spend most of their energy during the day foraging for food in the wild. Pellets are fine, but don’t offer the flavors they crave of any foraging exercise. We also make a nutritious treat, Popcorn Nutri-Berries, which can be offered daily in small amounts as long as your birds eat their regular diet also.
Here is a bird food guide where you can learn about nutritional needs and more about our diets.
Bird Food Guide
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda