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How Much Does A Budgie Eat?


Guest whit3tig3y

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Guest whit3tig3y

This may sound silly but how much should a budgie eat? I'm just wondering because i fill up Skye's food bowl before i go to work and when i get home its empty again. Her food bowl holds about 1/3 of a cup, maybe a little less. I've given her apples and carrots as of late and she hasn't touched them. She also has one of those stick things made out of seed/honey etc. It seems slightly touched. Also, how much does a budgie drink? When I get home her water bowl is empty and thats about 1/3 of a cup also. I'm wondering if I need to make an alternative water dish if thats not enough for her.

 

Also, should you always keep seed in the cage? Like some animals they need to be let to eat then food taken away otherwise they'll just keep eating even though they're full. Is that the same with birds or having seed in there all day is okay? Should it be taken away at night etc?

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Is she kicking it to the bottom of the cage or is she actually eating it? She should always have food

Edited by Neat
typo's
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Good question MB ....

 

Budgies Need food quite often, As they have a high metabolism. YES you should always have seed in their...

 

How much - Depends on the activeness of the bird .... The weather .....

 

If you put in 1/2 cup a seed morning and check at night you can't go wrong ....

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Guest whit3tig3y

She isn't very active at the moment. She just sits on her perch unless i have my hand in her cage then she goes skitzo. I think she may kick a little of it, but after that she can't kick much. Its in a feeder, so she can get her head down there but not her feet. Most of her seed looks eaten, i'll just keep topping it up when I see its empty. Thanks guys :D

Edited by Neat
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Has she been wormed?

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If you have a cage with a grate in the bottom, check to see how much whole seed is in the bottom.

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Blow the husks off when you wake up , When you get home from work and before you go to bed :D

 

Then you will be able to see, how much is actually eaten .....

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Yep that is what I was going to say Neat, budgies in reality seem like they eat a lot but they really don't, they pick throughout the day. The best time to introduce veggies is in the morning. You can remove the food during the night and then add the veggies topped with seed in the AM. The best type of veggie to start with is kale or broccoli, I find apples are bit intimidating for the beginner.

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Kale A.K.A Spinach ;)

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Kale is Kale here and Spinach is Spinach here in the U.S. 2 different plants ;)

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Guest whit3tig3y

Ahh thanks! Because the only thing she has eaten other than seed since i got her is lettuce, which i'm told isn't very good for her. I've tried carrot and apple and she didnt touch either. Will have to try some other things :question: How do you feed it to them? I've just been pushing it in the slots in the cages around perches and food and water. I tried to put some carrot in a small container at the bottom of her cage but she just poo'd in it haha

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Don't put food on the bottom budgie will rarely go to the bottom of their cage unless they are used to foraging for their food which most are not. You should cut it up and put it on a flat small plate or you can use another seed bowl or the same one you use for seed. Mix seed with the veggie and add to her cage for the first 4 hours of her morning when she first wakes up. Take out the food at bedtime and place in this combination first thing in the morning for her. After 4 hours you can discard the food, wash out the bowl and replace with seed. Introducing new food takes a while and patience start with leafy greens they are more apt to try those along with grated carrots. We also have very good suggestions in the FAQ section under Food and Nutrition.

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whit3tig3y thank you for the opening thi topik!

 

I feel like my little one is eats at all the time as well. I've tried to introduse vegies as well but nothing.. just seed.

I've made for him a salad with corn, carrot and cupsicum... I think that he've tried just a little of corn. Nothing alse is working...

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Don't forget we have a whole section of questions and this same question is always asked from time to time all you have to do is do a search on the forum :laughter: and of course look in the FAQ's.

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When I first got my budgie, he would try to escape from the cage by climbing into his seed dish and burrowing out. It had a lid on the top like yours seems to as well, but he actually managed to squeeze in. Then he tried to do it in the water too, so I took the lids off because I didn't want him to drown in the water or get stuck in the seed dish and not be able to turn around. He's stopped doing that now though, but when he was, he would totally empty his seed. You'd know about it though - it was all over the floor of his cage and also the floor outside his cage! You really have to check where all that seed is gone. It's not like her dish will be totally empty even if she has eaten the seeds - they always leave the husks behind. So if you can only see husks then your budgie probably is eating a lot... but most likely you'll be able to find full seeds, either mixed with the husks or on the bottom of the cage.

 

Budgies really don't drink that much, so unless you have the cage in direct sunlight and there's no lid on it either, I doubt she's drinking that much and I doubt it's evaporating. So if she runs out of water, she's probably been paddling in it.

 

Although 1/3 cup doesn't sound like much? But I'm not sure, because I'm no good at visualising spatial things haha.

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When I took Coco to an avian vet, the vet sent me home with a tiny little cap, a tiny bit bigger than a coke bottle lid and said that is how much seed I should be feeding every day (my seed bowl is pretty big and I know I do put too much in there but I just worry about getting tied up somewhere and Coco not having enough food).

 

I haven't actually followed his instructions, I just can't bring myself to do it.

 

As for your problem with eating veggies, I had the same problem. I just kept putting veggies in there and throwing them away again, now after 9 months he finally eats them! He will only eat them served in certain ways though - with anything leafy like spinach he likes it hung up. With anything else like carrot and broccoli he likes it grated/chopped really fine on a small flat plate so he can pick at it. Anything bigger is just a game to him. Don't give up, she will come around!

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