parakeets health, and food questions

first of all i would like to say that the date enterd for the last vet visit isnt true it wont let me choose never,
i have two english bugies a male and female and the isuess are as folows
hi i have two enlish bugie parakeets a female and male both around 7 to 8 months i adopted them at age 6 months old and probably around feburary or march, i taught my female parakeet to stand on my hand by the command of up preaty bird or up and she used to let me pet her my male though still bites me and isnt confident in me at all. i used to let my female parakeet vered have a break outside of the cage and do what she wants she usually sat down un the top of the cage, both my parakeets eat from my hand and may stand on it to get the food. but since i let them fly in the bathroom once and put them back they lost there trust to me. i get my hand close to vered to make her stand on me and then she gets used to me to tell her the comand up for a little wille but fergots when i come back the next day, and i have noticed they seem to eat alot and have become more chuby but they only eat the millet and nothing bigger or anything ells we usually have to grind the food in order for rthem to eat the rest. but i read on a site about traing birds that foods with nuts lowers there life span and has site affects like long beak growth, wet poop, and and more here is the site for more information
http://www.birdtricks.com/Parakeet/
and also these sites talks about the chemicals used in toys and food
http://www.birdtricks.com/parrot-toys.html
and http://www.birdtricks.com/store/food.html
i am just curiose what to chose for the health of my parakeets
.also my female parakeet has something on top of her right eye.
but my parents dont believe parakeets should see a vet
what should i do
thanks
sincerely,
s.
p.s sorry for how long this is.
i checked out information on the sex of parakeets and i believe the one that has a pink cere which i thought is female might be male and the one with the blue purplee wight cere that i thought was male might be female, but since there babys its hard to tell
Type of Animal :   parakeet Age of Animal :   around 7 to 8 months Sex of Animal :   Female Breed of Animal :   english bugie Last date your pet was examined by a vet? :   February 24, 2009

[ireneo]

I wish I could help you with the training protocol but I'm sure training parakeets is a lot different than training a wild Peregrine Falcon or an Owl or Vulture. When we have a bird in that can't be released and we decide to keep it for education purposes, it takes months to calm the bird and train it to step up on the glove. One way is to reduce the food they get each day so we can use the food as reward. Also the hunger drives them to come to us, to allow us to get them on the glove. But again, it's a different story working with a wild bird.

I sent you a note about the male/female differences.

[sapsapy]

there not wild i bought them at an adoption center were there paranets gave birth to them, so im kind of confused as to what you meen, and whats a protocol, my birds arnt wild so im confused as to what you mean.

[ireneo]

Sorry. I know your parakeets are pets, not wild birds. I just meant that I don't know how to train a pet bird. The only birds I work with are wild birds and the plan for training them (protocol) is different.

[sapsapy]

oh sorry, i wasnt trying to sound mad, but thanks anyways, do you have any wild birds at home that you train, it sounds harder to do. thanks

[ireneo]

The few birds that we train for educational purposes are kept at work. Right now we have 7 - a Turkey Vulture, Great Horned Owl, Spotted Owl, Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, Red Tailed hawk and a Raven. I am licensed to care for wildlife at home but do not have any at the moment. Those that I care for at home are released back into the wild when ready.

[sapsapy]

oh i was tackeing care of a baby turtle about a week ago and was planing on relising him when he was older and able to care for him self, but we cept him outside and it rained and his bowl over floated with water and he went to the river behind my house i hope. well at least his happy were he belongs.

[olivia13]

If you are worried about the trust between you and your budgies, you don't need to be. I currently have five and only two are fully and "remain" hand trained. I recently acquired another last month and at first she would step up and now she's changed her mind and will only "kiss my finger" (I do this thing where I put my hand in the cage with one finger sticking up and make the kiss sound. Then I lightly tap their beak. I find that it is a good way to gain trust). You could try this or if you are comfortable with holding your birds then I would suggest just taking them out of the cage and holding them. I do this with my two, well now three, that don't seem to "like" me. Just take the budgie out hold them against maybe your neck or your chest. I read an article with different training techniques and they said you should do this in 30 minute intervals. Whether you do it once a day or more... or maybe less. Make sure you do it one bird at a time as well. What I found that works is to take them into an unfamiliar room while your holding them and just sit there talking to them.

Sorry for typing so much! Hope this helps.