I recently had a huge scare with Soda. He was acting quite strange and not chattering as much as usual. I took him to the vet only to find out, to my chagrin, that he is 18 grams overweight! This has opened my eyes to how important nutrition really is.

I used to let Soda and Pony eat as many seeds as they wanted and gave them millet and seed bars when they started squawking at their treat holder. I also gave them parsley, a sprout pot, and romaine lettuce. I thought I was doing a good job where their diet was concerned. Boy was I wrong.

I now have a hugely obese bird that can hardly get off the ground.

Please, try to get your budgie to eat as many veggies and fruits as possible. Even though their diet is not as varied as that of the larger birds', you can still have fun with their food. Make them some pasta with simple tomato sauce or try making birdie bread. You could also offer them hard boiled egg yolk with a bit of low-fat cottage cheese mixed in. All these things have minerals and vitamins that seeds lack. Please be careful when feeding your budgie, moderation is key!

I will thanks for your advicce and i hope your budgie gets to normal weight

I think it's something we all need to be aware of. We can all get carried away spoiling our animals (dogs, cats birds ALL pets) with their favourite stuff that we can sometimes be damaging to them

It's always a good idea to keep this in mind. I've been doing a lot of reading about budgie diets and all I've really found out is that we know VERY little about what they need. The only thing we can do is work with the little knowledge we have and give them as much variety as possible.

 

Just like a little child we have to teach them not to be so picky and to eat healthy. Even when it comes to treats I think there should be a lot of discrimination. Instead of honey/seed bells and sticks they should learn to enjoy birdie bread, fruits, veggies, etc. Almonds are good as a treat, my birds seem to really love them.

Oh, thanks for the almond hint. I introduced pellets today...guess what is being flicked out of the food cup onto the floor. *glares at birds*

(Laughing out loud)!

 

A really knowledgeable lady in another parrot group wrote up a very useful guide to converting to pellets. Let me find the link for you, it really does work. (It might be what you're doing now but we'll see I guess!)

(Laughing out loud)!

 

A really knowledgeable lady in another parrot group wrote up a very useful guide to converting to pellets. Let me find the link for you, it really does work. (It might be what you're doing now but we'll see I guess!)

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Gimme!!

 

Central time where you are? Aren't you tired??

Edited July 21, 200519 yr by morethanrubies

http://piantala.org/~lark/diet.html

 

It's quite long, but very much worth the read.

 

And yes, I need to go to bed soon.

Edited July 21, 200519 yr by eterri

Thanks for the link. Going there now...

You're welcome!

I think it's something we all need to be aware of.  We can all get carried away spoiling our animals (dogs, cats birds ALL pets) with their favourite stuff that we can sometimes be damaging to them

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This is true. I also have some heavyweights, but they have never had a seed bell or honey treat or anything with sugar in their lives. I have never fed them "birdie junk food". They eat pellets, seeds, millet, canary grass on the stalk, sprouted wheatgrass, Beak Appetit (yes, they eat it a little now), and all manner of veggies. They eat better than me some days - LOL - yet they still weigh too much. It is a very common problem, and I'm glad Millimi brought it up. There are all sorts of other health issues involved when our birds carry too much weight. It is not only caused by eating the wrong foods, also by (apparently) too much of the right foods. Do you have a plan of action for Soda?

Seems we have a few fattys eh. My Candy is 20g overweight and has started his diet. I am only feeding him, 1 pot of seed half full, 1 pot of dried egg mix half full, as from tonight a small portion of pellets, along with apple, spinach, carrot and broccoli, nothing else. I bring him out and make him fly 3 times around the room with a breather in between. This I will continue to do for a whole month to see how he gets on and then go from there I guess.

 

As everyone else I am all for other suggestions though.

Does Candy share a cage? Blinkie gets 2 teaspoons of seed with some egg and biscuit mix sprinkled on top. 1 budgie needs 2 teaspoons a day of seed, that's all. Restricting their seed also means they have to eat ALL the different seeds not just their favourites.

Yeah he shares with Bobby but Maxwell and Tobi both have access to the cage too on a night when Im home.

Does Candy share a cage? Blinkie gets 2 teaspoons of seed with some egg and biscuit mix sprinkled on top. 1 budgie needs 2 teaspoons a day of seed, that's all. Restricting their seed also means they have to eat ALL the different seeds not just their favourites.

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It's easier to measure out if you only have one or two birds, but with ten the problem I have is that I would not know which ones were eating all the seed...I can't think of a good way to ensure that no one bird isn't eating two or three other bird's portions... Some of them will eat the pellets to fill up, others won't eat as much. For the bird at the bottom of the totem pole there may not be any seeds left, and he is the worst about eating pellets. I would just be sick if any birds were starving in the midst of what I thought was plenty. Any suggestions to avoid that? Right now I just don't leave seeds in all the time. When I add them it's only for 30-45 minutes then I take them out again. Right now they really get nasty with each other when the seeds go in, and act like they haven't eaten in days.

 

And although veggies are good for them, we all know how many you have to eat to feel full...that's just not feasible to expect budgies to eat that much of them.

I've heard a lot about egg food. Which kind do you all feed? Do you feed it at all, or just give them hard boiled eggs?? Mine are ignoring the pellets. Day 2. Grrr...Following the seed in the AM, PM and pellets/fruit all day like the woman in eterri's link. Any tips? Is this removal of seed going to hurt them? Heeeelp.

It's not always what people recommend, but the only way all mine would eat pellets was if I mixed them with the seed, and gradually reduced the amount of seed. Given a choice, mine would choose a dish familiar seeds over a dish of unfamiliar pellets any day. Removal of the seed will only hurt them if they are "small, stubborn birds" (LOL) and refuse to eat the pellets. Then they will starve themselves. Watch their droppings, if they become very dark green or black, or consist only of urine put that seed back in for a few days until they return to normal, then try again. It sounds easy when you read about how to convert your birds to pellets, but there is a lot more "fine tuning" it than anyone ever told me.

 

Mine never liked egg food, but all I've seen is egg biscuit and they are hard. I wouldn't eat it either. I think I will look for crumbles like everyone else feeds and try it. Any good brands? I see Quiko on Drs. Foster and Smith website, but I've never tried it.

I use Cede egg and biccy mix, all mine absolutely adore it - they prefer it dry than soaked (you can add water to make it stpdgy!

Thanks, when I go out today I will look for some. Can you get it in pet stores?

I got mine at Pets At Home so I reckon Pets Smart will have it I paid about ?3 for mine and you get a big box.

Great! I'm off to PetSmart....

I've never seen it at Petsmart. Just the hard biscuits. I've seen the powder from Drs. Foster & Smith. Maybe I'll order it while it's on sale. I've taken away their seed for the morning....*bites nails* I'll give them some again this afternoon, as they usually get very active then. Then I'll remove again & offer pellets. Then give seed again at night. Sheesh, you're right about the fine tuning. However, the Harrison's website recommends the seed removal method, too. I'll try for a day or two & see how it goes.

I tried with great failure last time but I need to get Candys weight down somewhat so Ive got more supplies. Ive got superfine and mash both High Potency, Im gonna mix them together.

Let me know how that works. I've also given a pot of moist pellets. Sorta trying all methods at once. "immersion" therapy. We'll see...

One girl I know had some success soaking them in pineapple juice. I've never tried it but that might work for you too.