Well I am getting quite confused.

 

I give my birds vegetables every day, but they still eat a lot of seed. It has got worse since getting Piccolo... because he is a lot smaller and needs to eat more often, but the two of them never eat alone, if one eats the other always goes to eat too. So now Cosmo is eating more often than he used to (copying Piccolo) and he eats heaps every time. He is very heavy (53g, Piccolo is only 35g) and looks quite solid.

 

When he got sick recently and we took him to the avian vet, she said he should go on pellets. I bought some and they didn't take to them, and I read more on here and decided I don't think I want to. I would like to wait until the new year and try to get them to accept pellets so I can at least get the use out of the ones we've got, but I don't want it to replace seed.

 

 

But I think something needs to change. The vet warned me that seeds are oily and full of carbs and are an unbalanced diet and related to all kinds of health risks... although they do eat veggies too and some fruit, I am certain Cosmo is eating too much seed.

 

I've browsed through a lot of threads already about seed but I would like some specific questions answered.........

 

- Are there any good websites that have a photo of each budgie seed type and explain whether they are nutritious or fatty?

- Is there such thing as a "bad seed" in terms of it being less healthy?

- Is there a certain seed ratio that is recommended and how can I get my head around remembering what it is and how to make sure it's right?

- What should I do next? I use trill and am more than happy to get off it onto something else. But I haven't been able to find anything - can't find Golden Cob anywhere and I don't have a pet shop in my local shopping centre so every time I walk past pet shops I go and look, but they only have their own mixes in a plastic bag without any brand name or description. Without me having a detailed knowledge of which seed is which, I can't evaluate their seed mixes.

- Is there anything else I can do to help Cosmo with his overeating/weight? He's still fairly active, not sure how I could possibly get him exercising more.

 

I live on Brisbane's north side, if anyone knows of a good place to get a good seed mixture please let me know.

 

Thanks!

Hi Krosp....

 

I do not consider myself a "expert" in budgies by any means....but what you are feeding your birds is excactly what I do....a good seed.....(at a guess yours would be better quality being Trill as I know it is quite expensive).....veggies every other day or daily.....egg and biscuit, a bit of apple and orange and a bit of millet spray....fresh cool clean water daily, love and attention..... :fear

 

Cosmo has been unwell of late so maybe he is making up for lost time...??

 

I don't think you are doing anything wrong....I don't think you can get much heathier than what you are doing....

Have you tried mixing the pellets in with the seed, in their food bowls?

Thanks Anne. Cosmo has always been a big eater but it's been worse since Piccolo came (I think about 4-5 months since they were first put together).

 

Kate - yes I did try that... he mouthed at them but didn't eat them. I do have a few ideas of how to try next time, but in the meantime I want to make sure I'm doing the best I can with the seed (since Cosmo eats SO MUCH of it lol)

I've browsed through a lot of threads already about seed but I would like some specific questions answered.........

 

- Are there any good websites that have a photo of each budgie seed type and explain whether they are nutritious or fatty?

- Is there such thing as a "bad seed" in terms of it being less healthy?

- Is there a certain seed ratio that is recommended and how can I get my head around remembering what it is and how to make sure it's right?

 

 

I have the same questions, Krosp. I feel like "budgie mix" contains a lot of seeds they don't eat, and I would like to find a mix that only contains the "right" seeds. It bothers me to throw away so much uneaten seed.

 

The only seed I have heard referred to as "bad seed" is millet. Supposedly it is only good for occasional treats, since it its high in fat. But every seed mix I find contains it. I sometimes wonder if that is the only seed my birds are picking out, and rejecting all the rest!

 

I recently read Kaz saying that they will eat up all of the "canary mix" (I think that's what it was). So next time I'm in a pet store, I'm planning to check the label on that.

 

It would be nice if I could just buy seed separately, in bulk, and make up my own mix. But that doesn't seem to be an option. (Around here, anyway)

im pretty sure it is canary seed yes but just make sure its not canary mix. there was another seed you can mix with it but its just excaped my mind LOL x

Well, while buying dog and cat food today, I checked the labels on the bird seeds. Almost all of the different formulas for different species (finch, canary, budgies) had red or white millet, canary grass seed and oat groats. The canary ones had more on the list such as flax seed and nigerseed, and the finch ones had even more seeds listed. Then they all went on to list non-seed ingredients, such as wheat, soy flour, vitamins, etc.

 

I checked several different brands in "regular" and "deluxe" or "gold" or what have you. None of them seemed to vary too much. One might have had flax in their budgie mix, some included poppy and sesame seeds!

 

It seems as if budgie mix is basically millet, canary grass seed, oat groats and fortified pellets. If I could find a way to get each of these things separately, and put them in separate feeder cups, maybe I could find out which ones are being eaten and which ones are passed over. And if I'm buying fortified, nutritionally balanced pellets in one bag, why do I need to buy them in the seed bag, as well? Maybe a lot of what I'm seeing in the waste is the pellet part of the mix.

My birds have seed which is what they eat in the wild well sort of , as far as I am concern they are birds and birds eat seed, I find that all vets try to get you onto pellets which I think are not natural and I think they are doing for the companies that make it as they are probably their sponors.

A good balanced seed with fruit and veges should be fine.

 

BUT then years ago I had a dog that went skinny as his name was flea and it was a very suitable name for him well any way we could never get weight on him, and back then all aour dos were show dogs and they were fed a home made meat mixture no can ****, they had steak minces with all the additives needed for a healthy dog. All the dogs did well on except for flea.

We took him to the vet and discovered he had a heart problem so from there on his diet was boiled rice peas, carrot etc. and believe it or not he scoffed it all down, this little dog was not allowed to eat meat.

BUT he was sadly put down a few months later as his heart got worse.

 

Good luck with finding the right mixture

To be honest I do not really pay too much attention to seed mixes, I try to provide the best seed I can and I leave it at that. I was using Colden Cob's Supreme Breeders mix and just recently I have started giving my aviary birds a 2:1 mix of Triangle's Budgie mix and Finch mix. The main thing is they eat it all up.

 

I have heard that at different times budgies prefer different seeds and will sift through the mix till they find the seeds they're looking for.

 

You know I wouldn't fuss too much but I would increase his flying time so he burns off a bit of weight. :celebrate: