Smokey has been with us for four months and he was a baby when we got him. He is a fairly small budgie (compared with previous budgies I've had) and I am wondering if it is just that he is genetically a little guy, or whether he should be bigger?

 

I weighed him about a week ago and he weighed 35g. I can feel his little chest bone when I run my finger down his front, but it isn't visibly protruding or anything. I think he is a little on the skinny side, but he has a constant supply of seeds and water, and I have even added one of those millet munchie things (we call them birdy num nums... the block things with sultanas etc through them) to see if he'll fatten up a bit. He is VERY active and apparently happy, but I know budgies are the masters of disguise when it comes to their health.

 

Is he just little, or should I do something to get a bit more weight on him? I am so used to having bigger, more solid budgies that I have no idea if he's just on the little side of normal.

His weight sounds good to me for a pet type budgie.

Yay!

okay......I have to ask.....HOW do you weigh a budgie?? I just cant imagine them sitting long enough on any kind of scales

okay......I have to ask.....HOW do you weigh a budgie?? I just cant imagine them sitting long enough on any kind of scales

 

I had wondered the same thing, but we have a set of electronic kitchen scales and I popped him on them and he just sat there!! It might have been a very lucky first attempt, I haven't tried again since, but I did have a little box ready and would have zeroed in the scales with the box sitting on them, then put Smokey in if plan A hadn't worked out so beautifully!

Since none of mine are tame budgies I pop them quickly in a lightweight paper bag and pop it on my digital scales.

before I found the box, I had considered a cotton sock!

Aahhh.......mystery solved lol

My boy was always slightly skinny too, but was very healthy. he was also alot smaller than most budgies. I think sometimes its just genetics

FAQ's people, no matter how much Kaz preaches it LOL you all forget about it Weighing My Budgie

I think he sounds fine. Harley weighs about 38 but has been as low as 28. To fatten him up we give him extra oats and as he is feeding hen sitting on eggs at the moment I am watching his weigh pretty closely.

 

I found that there is a bird seed that is about $15 a little bag called Bird treats or something like that it's in a red bag. If I put him on that for a few days then BAM his weight can jump up a gram or two.

 

If you are worried I would just add a few hulled oats & sunflower seeds to his seed mix and that will put weigh on him.

try and remember drastically changing the birds seed can force it to go into a moult.

and a food strike, I know that personally

I offer a very small amount of the to him in his treat bowl and he still gets regular seed, sorry did not explain well. I give him his daily bowl and when he has had his fill I add the treats bowl to his cage he goes straight to it and eats that as well so it's like getting him to eat twice but other birds might not do that.