Budgie wont eat out of dish

Question
Hi,

I recently bought a very young hand raised male budgie. He's very sweet but I can't get him to eat out of his dish of food, he'll only eat out of my hand. I'm worried about him not eating while I'm at work how can I get him to eat from the dish?

Answer
Hi Heidi!

This may sound cruel but you have to stop feeding your budgie out of your hand. Stop feeding him out of your hand and eventually he'll get hungry enough to eat from a dish. I know this sounds terribly cruel, but he has to learn to grow up and eat himself without your help. If he goes 24 hours and still isn't eating then you can feed him out of your hand, but he just needs a little tough love and he should be fine.

Hope this helps!
Erika