New owners usually buy one bag of seed and a cage. Here is a better first list, in buying order.
1. A dry base with a real ingredient list
Not the cheapest mix sold by weight. A mix that names its ingredients, declares the nuts and sunflower, and includes a fortified pellet. One jar with 30 named ingredients beats five bags with three.
2. Vegetables — the part everyone skips
Dark leafy greens, sweet pepper, carrot, squash, green beans. Daily. Chop small for small birds. This is where vitamins and fibre actually come from in most Egyptian households.
3. A calcium source
Cutttlebone, mineral block or a calcium supplement your vet recommends. Seed-heavy diets are low in calcium; that is the single most common deficiency in pet parrots. Do not skip this because the bird ignores it at first.
4. Water bowls you can scrub
Two bowls, rotated, washed daily. Egyptian heat turns standing water into a bacterial culture fast.
5. A gram scale
The cheapest piece of parrot equipment you will buy and the one that tells you the most. Weigh weekly and write it down. Weight trend catches problems before behaviour does.
What to ignore
- Bags with no ingredient list.
- "Complete food" claims with no definition of what complete means.
- Colourful seed mixes with dyed pieces and no nuts, fruits or botanicals.
- Advice to feed freely all day.
Which mix first
Budgie, lovebird, cockatiel or parrotlet: start with the EPS Premium Small Parrot Seed Mix + Pâté, 800 g — a declared formula with percentages you can read.
Conure, ringneck, Senegal, African Grey, Amazon, cockatoo or macaw: start with the Complete Parrot Feed Mix — 30+ human-grade ingredients plus NutriBird P15 Tropical pellets.
First month
Weigh the bird on day one, then weekly. Introduce vegetables gradually. Do not remove the old food abruptly — a parrot that refuses a new diet can lose weight dangerously fast.
More: how to judge parrot food in Egypt · storing food in Egyptian heat.