My Budgies' Garden Foods

[Kassidy 0]

Hi,

Currently my budgies will only eat their seeds. I include pellets in their seed mix, but they will only pick out the seeds to eat, and fling the pellets out of their dishes. I have been researching lately reading particularly about what budgie diets should include, and I found out that fruits and vegetables, along with other grains, and greens, should be offered also. Now that I know that they should be eating fruits, vegetables, etc. I started researching on what types I could be giving them. Since pesticides and other toxic things to budgies could be on or in store bought fruits/vegetables, I'm going to be feeding them home grown veggies and maybe fruits from the garden my family will be starting this summer that includes some of the types they can eat. Here are the types of seeds we bought so far:

• Salsa Garden Collection (Includes Pepper, Onion, Tomato, Herb - Cilantro)
  
• Cucumber
  
• Carrot, and Organic Carrot (Seperate)
  
• Bean (Bush) Stringless Green Pod
  
• Peas - Laxton's Progress
  
• Corn - Peaches and Cream Bicolour
  
• Lettuce
  

If any of these would harm my budgies in any way, be good for them, or could be given to them only every so often, please let me know. Also, if you have any other suggestions as to what other kinds we could grow for them, please suggest all you want. (We have a lot of room) We might grow some kale, and maybe celery, so please comment on that also.

 

Thanks in advance,

Kassidy

[anne101 0]

Hi Kassidy,

 

I personally don't feed lettuce, I would try Silverbeet instead...

[Brucies Mum 0]

I started Bruce off on celery tops, he wouldnt eat any fruit or veg to start with but was instantly attracted to celery tops. Once he got used to eating that he then felt confident to eat other veg but is still not keen on fruit except a small piece of apple.

Go easy on celery tops though as it can make their poo a bit runny if they eat too much.

 

Another thing he loves is salad cress, this is simple to grow you dont even need a garden, you just sprinkle the seed on a damp unbleached tissue or cotton wool and you have a crop in a matter of days.

[splat 0]

The main things I give my birds are..... silverbeet, carrot, beetroot, broccoli, celery, corn cornels and corn on the cob, parsely and fresh lucerne.

[Kassidy 0]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I guess I'll be adding a few more things to my shopping list! Are any of the other types of vegetables that I'm going to grow dangerous to my budgies? Just to be on the safe side.

 

Kassidy

[splat 0]

Have a look at budgie FAQs there is a list of what's safe and what's not.

[rachelm 0]

I grow silverbeet for my budgies. It grows all year round and is easy to grow, it even does well in a pot. Just pick the leaves as you need them(like coral, coz, butter lettuce). And they love it

Also, i have added pellets to my budgies diet, at first i crushed them up and sprinkled over their seeds.

Edited June 2, 2010 by rachelm

[Ratemymate 0]

bok choy, pak choy and silverbeet here

 

love them because you can pick one bit every few days for the birds without having the feast or famine situation you often get with veges where you get it all ready at once

[Ratzy 0]

I've found you can plant the budgie seed mix. It is like sprouted seeds, just longer and it is like grass. You can trim the top bits then it will keep growing. I grow apple, pear, strawberry, corn, carrots and a lot of other stuff. My budgies get the occasional tiny bit of lettuce. We don't use sprays so everything is organic. Also, we get our own eggs daily.

[meeka 0]

I feed my budgie celery, celery tops, corn, watercress, bean sprots, snow pea shoots and alfalfa. He isnt much into fruit. I have tried many different things but these seem to be his favourites. I think he enjoys the picking and throwing things around more than actually eating them.

[**KAZ** 0]

Budgies also like ENDIVE which is easy to grow as well.

[Kassidy 0]

Sorry for the delay for my reply. I have been busy finishing school and with other stuff. Anyway, we started our garden and I'm proud to say it has a bunch of little green sprouties popping through. My Mom did Reiki on it before we planted all the seeds about a week or so ago. (Search it up on Google) And now the sprouts are all about 2 inches tall. Here's a picture of the garden before everything started popping up:

 

 

See how big it is compared to my mom? This is our very first garden! I'll post the list of vegetables we decided to plant later. And I'll take some pictures of the garden in the present time.

 

EDIT: Here is the list of what we have planted in our garden so far:

Drill 1:

 

• Potatoes
  
• Pumpkins
  

Drill 2:

 

• Carrots
  

Drill 3:

 

• Turnip
  
• Lettuce
  

Drill 4:

 

• Spinach
  
• Beans
  

Drill 5:

 

• Peas
  Drill 6:
  
• Cantaloupe
  
• Onions
  

Drill 7:

 

• Nothing Yet
  

We're still transplanting at the moment, so I'll be updating this.

 

Thanks!

Edited June 21, 2010 by Kassidy

[Kassidy 0]

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions! I didn't get a chance to add everything in to our garden plans, so maybe next year round. Sorry it took so long for an update, but here is what's growing in the garden:

 

Monday, July 5^th Update

 

Full Garden View Now:

 

(From Drills Left to Right)

 

Drill 1:

> Pumpkins

> Potatoes

 

Drill 2:

> Carrots

 

Drill 3:

> Lettuce

 

> Turnip

 

Drill 4:

> Beans

Drill 5:

> Peas

 

Drill 6:

> Onions

 

> Melons

Drill 7:

> Cucumber

 

Top Right Corner:

> Corn

We are going to transplant some Cantaloupe and Tomatoes soon, they are already big enough to transplant, so we'll have some new additions into the empty spots in our garden.

 

> Tomatoes and Cantaloupe

 

And here is our flower bed....

 

And our herb pot garden:

> Summer Savory

 

> Sweet Basil

 

> Parsley

 

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

 

Kassidy

[Ratzy 0]

:fear Sooo jealous!

[Kassidy 0]

Update for July 14, 2010 -

 

Pumpkins

 

Potatoes

 

Carrots

 

Lettuce

 

Turnips

 

Beans

 

Peas

 

Onions

 

Cucumbers

 

Tomatoes

 

Corn

 

Cantaloupe

 

I'll get some pictures of the whole garden view, the herb garden, and the flower bed tomorrow.

 

Thanks for viewing!

 

Kassidy

Edited July 15, 2010 by Kassidy

[RIPbudgies 0]

Kassidy your garden looks great. I see your soil is rocky. This will cause a problem with your root veggies. The carrots etc will tend to malform when they hit a rock or possiblly fork around them. Yoú could end up with some awesome shapes though and they will still be edible, just a pain to peel.

 

You corn. Have you sown it lengthwise or in a block. Corn is grown in blocks to aid in the pollen reaching the corn tassles.

[Kassidy 0]

Kassidy your garden looks great. I see your soil is rocky. This will cause a problem with your root veggies. The carrots etc will tend to malform when they hit a rock or possiblly fork around them. Yoú could end up with some awesome shapes though and they will still be edible, just a pain to peel.

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when we start harvesting them and see some wacky shapes.

 

You corn. Have you sown it lengthwise or in a block. Corn is grown in blocks to aid in the pollen reaching the corn tassles.

 

They are growing in a 5 x 6 plants block in the corner, I forgot to mention. :hap:

Edited July 15, 2010 by Kassidy

[Richmanaust 0]

In my yard and around the neighbourhood are various types of grasses that seed regularly. My budgies love it when I forage that and place it in their flight cage. As soon as I arrive they wait for it. They like to chew the stalks as well as the seeding heads.