I just would like to start a new topic about switching my budgies from a diet of seeds, and pellets that they barely eat to a new way more nutritious diet with fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, etc. They haven't ever eaten anything other than seed and pellets before (Except my deceased budgie Bubbles who ate carrots) and I am very excited to introduce some fresh vegetables to them. To start them off, I went to buy some groceries for them yesterday. Here's what I got:

 

Groceries:

• Grapes
  
• Apples
  
• Celery
  
• Broccoli
  
• Carrots
  
• Almonds
  
• Green Lentils
  
• Peanut Butter (For making my homemade treats)
  

Aready had in stock:

• Seed
  
• Millet Spray
  
• Pellets
  
• Cereal (All-Bran)
  
• Bananas
  

All of the groceries were organic (Even the peanut butter ) except for the almonds. The grapes I got are what I'm going to introduce to them first, because they will be what I will be 'wasting' with getting my budgies to try them. (I have a huge container of them). First, I will be trying to hand feed Kasper some of the foods because Koko is in the proccess of being hand tamed and she doesn't trust me as much as Kasper does, plus she will try what he eats which will make it easier. I will be updating on here what I give them, how I serve it, what they eat/try, asking questions, and so on. I'd be more than happy if anyone gives me ideas or suggestions as to what else I could give them.

 

Oh, I also forgot to add that I bought a few pizza pans made out of aluminum foilware that I thought would be useful for putting out food for the budgies. Would they be safe to use for that purpose? We are also growing a garden that is huge with many different types of vegetables and stuff that could also be feed to my budgies. Here's the link to the topic I started on my garden: http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index....c=28926&hl=

 

Thanks in advance!

Edited June 23, 201015 yr by Kassidy

You forgot sweetcorn......budgies favourite

 

 

PS celery is as bad as lettuce..........all water little nutrition

You forgot sweetcorn......budgies favourite

 

 

PS celery is as bad as lettuce..........all water little nutrition

 

 

Okay, corn is on my grocery list now. I thought that celery was as bad as lettuce, I read it in the FAQs. But I just figured it would be okay for getting them ued to eating other foods right now. Are the leaves of celery okay for the budgies to eat?

Are the leaves of celery okay for the budgies to eat?

 

 

Yes

My log for the last 4 days:

 

June 24 -

I handfed my budgies some halved grapes with millet spray sprinkled on top to get them used to the taste. I had to really get it close to them for them to actually try to nibble it.

 

June 25 -

I did the same thing but I took them both out at the same time on their playstand and they shared one at a time. They started to actually nibble on the grape part this time instead of the millet spray.

 

June 26 -

This morning I stuck two halves of grapes in between the bars of each of the budgies' cages and they started to eat them! Koko tried them first and kept nibbling until I took them out, then Kasper started nibbling after a couple minutes of just staring at them in complete fear.

 

June 27 -

This morning I did the same thing but they recognised them easily and inched over to start eating them right after I stuck them in. I left and came back after a half an hour and found the grapes half eaten on the bottom of their cages. They ate them aggressively!

 

I'll try to get some pictures to show you guys the evidence for tomorrow!

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited June 27, 201015 yr by Kassidy

Well done! My budgies aren't that into corn, more strawberries and carrot tops. Keep us updated!

Sorry for taking so long for an update, besides I didn't have the time to be feeding them too many extra foods, so here are the things I gave them this past week:

 

June 29 -

Gave Koko a new cuttlebone, she shredded it up before bedtime. :yuck:

 

July 1 -

I mixed some pellets with seeds for the two budgies, but they didn't go anywhere near them.

 

July 3 -

I poured some pellets on top of their seeds thinking that they would try them first, but instead, I found seed husks on top of them at the end of the day.

 

July 4 -

Gave Koko another cuttlebone, but she also shredded this one to pieces, and left the mess there for me to clean up. :fear

 

July 5 -

I didn't have time to make anything for their breakfast, but I'm gonna cut up some pieces of broccoli up for their supper. Then I'll hang them up by strings for them to play with inside their cages. (I'll update on their reaction to the broccoli)

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Kassidy

Edited July 6, 201014 yr by Kassidy

:fear

July 6 -

Since I couldn't feed my budgies their broccoli last night, I decided to feed them some tonight. First, I hung some pieces up from hemp twine. Then I picked a few to hand feed to them. Kasper was too scared of it to try any, but guess who loved it? That's right, Koko started to nibble on the tiny pieces I was giving to her, then once I gave her some bigger pieces, she tried it and kept eating it! I managed to get a few photos and some videos of her eating it. Sorry they were blurry, I had to use one hand to take them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is their first time seeing anything like broccoli, so this is a huge step for Koko! Kasper is still afraid of them. The only other thing I ever tried giving them were the grapes, they also nibbled on those on my 2nd try.

 

Thanks for reading and watching!

 

Kassidy

Edited July 7, 201014 yr by Kassidy

Kassidy ....can you try growing sunflowers too ? They grow easy look fantastic and then you dry out the seed heads for the birds.

Aren't sunflower seeds high in fat?

Aren't sunflower seeds high in fat?

 

they are good for birds when added as en extra, for treats or used when colder weather is happening like we add oats to the seed for winter.

My budgies need to lose weight. Marigold is a bit...... fat.

With 2 budgies,you could go to the green grocer & ask if you could take a sample

of each of the vegs & a pce of fruit & that would last for the weeek.

Kassidy ....can you try growing sunflowers too ? They grow easy look fantastic and then you dry out the seed heads for the birds.

 

I was actually wanting to grow some, but I had no clue that their dried seed heads are okay to feed the birds! I'll try to find some seeds as soon as possible, because we actually do have extra topsoil that we aren't using.

 

Aren't sunflower seeds high in fat?

 

they are good for birds when added as en extra, for treats or used when colder weather is happening like we add oats to the seed for winter.

 

Will do, I'll tell you when I get some planted. Could you give me a step by step guide to dry them and stuff? I'd be very happy if you could. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

Kassidy

July 14 -

The budgies have been very good with trying out their new foods, I think it might be time to try something different soon.

 

Here are some pictures I got of them eating their grapes:

 

 

 

 

I'll update the next time they try something different!

 

Kassidy

Edited July 15, 201014 yr by Kassidy

Well, I tried sprouting some seeds and they did. So I offered them to the budgies like I normally would and Kasper loved them! Koko also liked them but Kasper kept on going back for more. He even got some stuck on his beak!

 

How are almonds for budgies? I finely crushed the ones I got but I don't know how to prepare or serve them. Does anyone have any advice?

July 14 -

The budgies have been very good with trying out their new foods, I think it might be time to try something different soon.

 

Here are some pictures I got of them eating their grapes:

 

 

 

 

I'll update the next time they try something different!

 

Kassidy

 

Kassidy............you seem to have played around with your photobucket photos ??

With 2 budgies,you could go to the green grocer & ask if you could take a sample

of each of the vegs & a pce of fruit & that would last for the weeek. :doh:

lol thats cheeky i like it :angel:

Kassidy............you seem to have played around with your photobucket photos ?? :angel:

 

 

Yea, sorry about that. I am in the proccess of cleaning and organizing my photobucket albums and I can't really edit my post to fix them....

 

Anyone have any more suggestions? :doh:

Edited August 13, 201014 yr by Kassidy

Anyone have any more suggestions? :angel:

BEETROOT. I grate it up and my birds love it. They all have cute red stained beaks and facial feathers after too.

Anyone have any more suggestions?

BEETROOT. I grate it up and my birds love it. They all have cute red stained beaks and facial feathers after too.

 

Thanks. :sad: I'm not sure if I have seen any around where I live, but I'll try to find some.

 

What do you guys think of Chickweed? I've been trying to find some around my house for a while, but I visited my grandparents house and I found some in their garden. I'm still not 100% sure it is Chickweed, but I'm pretty positive. I tried taking some home but I failed at keeping it alive. (They still have some more left in their garden)

 

If I could get a hold of some and start growing it, what parts do I give to my budgies?

 

Oh, also Cow Vetch is very common around here, along with Dandelions. I've read that these have lots of Vitamin A and are safe for budgies to eat, which I think is pretty good. What do you suggest I try? The Dandelion leaves get really big, almost as big as those Bok Choy leaves I saw in pictures.

 

Thanks in addition!