Protein powder.. I never thought of that, how dumb. I actually have a tub of it sitting here (I have it in my breakfast shake!). Interesting stuff.

would that protein powder be safe to give to birds? Its Whey but I never thought about giving it to my birds...

The point i'm trying to make is feeding high protein (80% does seem a lot) is the not the only thing to consider. Diet need to be in balance.

The point i'm trying to make is feeding high protein (80% does seem a lot) is the not the only thing to consider. Diet need to be in balance.

 

 

Agreed, You must have the vitamins, minerals. I give fresh Vegis twice a week and add them to the soft food.

 

80% is very high.

Edited April 6, 200916 yr by Daz

What are budgies supposed to eat?

Give them that.

What are budgies supposed to eat?

Give them that.

 

 

what do you mean DrNat?

Some interesting information on budgerigar nutritional requirements.

 

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/reprint/121/11_Suppl/S186.pdf

 

In poultry production it was found that lysine, methionine and tryptophan were the most limiting factors in regards to growth and production. I have a strong suspicion that the same is the case for budgerigars.

Feed them a good variety of real food that they are supposed to eat. You breed for what you feed.

 

Find a natural source of plant protein to feed them. Organic plant based proteins are probably the best and most easily digested and assimilated by budgies, since budgies are mostly vegetarian and that is how they have evolved.

 

We may be creating health problems in our birds by feeding them unnatural and unbalanced foods that they are not supposed to eat. Excessive protein consumption in humans causes gout. (Of course there are other causes for gout as well.)

I don't know what too much protein consumption in budgerigars causes, but I am sure that "like gout" it is probably not a pleasant condition.

 

Where do the protein powders come from? Cows? Are budgies supposed to drink cows milk? What are the cows fed on and how are they managed? What are the cows being fed? Do we really know what is going into the food?

All kinds of antibiotics, hormones, drugs, pesticides and herbicides. We are living in an increasingly toxic world.

 

Foods fortified with artificial vitamins and minerals are not the same as natural sources of vitamins and minerals found in good quality organic foods.

 

Synthetic vitamins and minerals are unbalanced and many are not bio-available (can't be absorbed and used), or worse, they act as slow poisons and cause health conditions such as tumours because there is an excess that is not balanced.

 

Even soil and air quality and environment that food is grown in has a bearing on the quality of food that is produced. Same as the environment that budgies are kept in has a bearing on their health. You can't have good quality budgies, or food, or even humans unless the environment is good. We ought to be undoing some of that damage.

 

At the end of the day, it is individual choice of what you do with your birds. However, you may be unwittingly creating problems for your birds by giving them supplements. Research the supplements. Contact the companies and find out what goes into them, and where they source their feed stock from. Find out what chemicals are being sprayed on the feedstock and soil.

 

Be satisfied yourself that it is a good thing to feed to your birds. I don't have all the answers, just here to encourage thought.

 

What you eat is assimilated by and becomes a part of your body, this is true for all living creatures. Take care that you don't weaken your budgies long term by looking for short term gains by feeding them unnatural things, because they will evolve to become dependent on whatever you feed them.

Very Good points DrNat. It should be the underlying drive to feed a balanced diet with the requirements that the birds need and require.

 

The basis of the protein I am currently feeding them is as follows

Ground cereals, bread crumbs, whey and soy proteins, hydrolysed casein, lysine, methionine, vegetable oils, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, vitamins A, B₁, B₂, B₆, B₁₂, C, D₃, E, K, nicotinamide, pantothenic acid, folic acid, choline, inositol, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, zinc, iron, manganese, copper, iodine, selenium.

 

 

We do know that they need and seek out animal protein. In the wild, insects do make up a part of there diet.

In the seventies it was comon to feed them meal worms.

In the flights we do come acroos the one that, due to misfortune, didn't make it through the night and the others made sure that there wasn't much left of him.

 

So it should be considered that a percentage of Animal Protein should be part of their diet. How much I don't know.

 

The moden bird now requires more intake in general to the wild bird. We only need to look at the differences

 

 

2001

 

 

2007

 

You need to adjust the feeding management to suit the birds.

Edited April 7, 200916 yr by Daz
additional information

My budgies made short work of a cooked chicken carcass I gave them the other day. The day before that they also made shortwork of a poor budgie who died of testicular cancer, as he died overnight in the flights, and the budgies ate a good part of him.

I was speaking to Dr Rob Marshall yesterday and we discuss this point. There is a very good book coming out very soon that you should all try to get. It is very good in the way we will be looking after these birds.

My budgies made short work of a cooked chicken carcass I gave them the other day. The day before that they also made shortwork of a poor budgie who died of testicular cancer, as he died overnight in the flights, and the budgies ate a good part of him.

 

A few months ago a bird died in my aviary, I found him bleeding and mostly eaten on the floor. Maybe it was the other budgies who ate him? I never knew they ate eachother.

IMO alot of the problem we face (and this is the same for many different domesticated species) has been caused by taking a free ranging bird that is not over exposed to high levels of disease causing cocci, virus', bacteria due to their unconfined living arrangements and expected them to thrive in a confined living environment. As soon as you confine animals and concentrate the pathogens into a smaller area you increase the challenge on the animals and often their immune systems cannot cope, this is true for cattle, sheep, chickens, etc, etc, etc. Keeping the area clean is made difficult by the ability for these pathogens to survive well in the environment (cocci for example) and even the cleanest of aviaries will have a bacterial, cocci and virus load.

 

We have changed the entire system of living for these animals and therefore we are no longer dealing with a "natural" anything. Routine anitibiotic, anticoccidial etc treatments become a necessity in these circumstances, just to allow the animals some breathing room without overwhelming them with pathogens. Obviously if we can breed birds with a robust immune system that can cope with these burdens (and therefore reduce the need for as many treatments) that's great but remember that not so long ago these birds did not need to deal with such a high challenge to their immune system by being in constant contact with high levels of pathogens.

Confucious said, "With our mind we create the world"

 

Man has changed the budgerigar.

 

From this

 

 

to this

 

 

so we must now give them what their bodies require.

Daz, whose budgie is that can I ask?

Daniel Lutof's

Its amazing how different the birds over their are to the birds here.

I give my birds cooked chicken carcase and the breeding cages and babies get race horse blend in their bowls in the morning it has molasses in iot the birds love it a breeder put me on to it from Canberra.

I give my birds cooked chicken carcase and the breeding cages and babies get race horse blend in their bowls in the morning it has molasses in iot the birds love it a breeder put me on to it from Canberra.

What is the racehorse blend Splat ? I give my birds whey protein powder, vanilla flavoured, which is formulated for racehorses