Hi and welcome to TB! :wave:
It's wonderful you have so many questions--it's a mark of a truly vigilant budgie parent
Soren is indeed a little girl! She is a light green opaline and is absolutely stunning.
Hens have pale blue ceres that turn crusty brown when in condition, and males start out with pink or purplish ceres that mature into royal blue. It's a little strange!
I think Soren is a perfect name her her as it is and I think it's very gender neutral, so I would stay with it!
As for diets, pet store birds are usually fed on mainly seed diets. Although they do eat mostly seeds in the wild, there are lots of other factors that play into this diet, and domesticated budgies need a diet of pellets and seed (always offer more pellets than seed) supplemented with daily fruits and veggies, as well as cuttlebones/mineral blocks for good overall health. Converting to pellets is hard, but definitely worth it! I recommend Roudybush (smallest size possible), Harrison's, or ZuPreem Fruitblend (get XS canary size).
The best way to feed pellets is as 70-75% of the main diet.
Seeds can be given 1-2 tsp. a day, either separate or mixed in with the pellets.
Most birds will not touch pellets as long as there are seeds in the cage, so I would recommend maybe switching them onto pellets first so they learn to recognize them as food and not ignore them after they've finished their daily seed.
Weaning budgies onto pellets can take forever and be extremely frustrating. The best way is to do it in ratios: Every time you change Soren's food, add in a few more pellets, then a few more, then a few more (about a teaspoon more every two days) and after a week, the ratio should be at about 25-30% pellets to 70-75% seed. At this point, they usually only ate the seeds, and then begged for more seeds, ignoring the pellets.
Do not give in to their begging for more seeds! Most birds will only begin to eat pellets after there's no other option.
Eventually, increase the pellets until they are 50-50 with the seeds, and finally mostly pellets, then cut out seeds entirely. Budgies can go for 2 days without food, so don't worry if they don't eat. They're usually inclined to take a nibble during this time!
After a few days or so with just pellets, you can add seeds back in and offer like 1-2 tsp. of seeds separately as mentioned.
Also, romaine lettuce, kale, parsley, carrot and broccoli are easy vegetables to give. Just wash them well, stick them in the bars, clip them to the cage with a binder clip and remove after a few hours. That way, she can have a balanced diet! :thumbsup:
Try not to give her too many honey sticks, as they can be very fattening
Hope this helps, keep us posted! Hope to see you and your pretty little girl around here
