I have been told that I should mix grit with my budgies food. Is this true and if so how much. I have read numerous items on this and some say you should and others say you shouldn't so I am confused. Can anyone help?

 

I have two budgies in the same cage.

most people on here will say no because that what the vets say but i found this artice interesting

 

http://www.masterbreeder.co.uk/

 

go to the The Role of Grit in a Budgerigar Diet

 

i feed mine grit 24/7 never had any problems and i totally agree with the part about grit and the role in bringing chicks up

I provide grit for my birds. I'm a great believer that the bird knows what it needs. If it uses the grit, great, if it doesn't then great too.

I agree-but I use oystershell instead.

By the way-you will need to put your armour on and duck down because this is a subject which arouses many high emotions!

It has been discussed before so if you do a search you will probably find out what you need to know.

Julie

I don't provide it to my outside birds but there is shell grit in the seed i feed Blinkie, not sure if he eats it or not.

My opinion on grit is pretty simple: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. In other words, if they don't need grit, why give it? The chances of it causing problems (like crop impaction) are probably small but why take even a small risk on something that isn't even necessary?

 

Grit's purpose is to help a bird digest its seeds. Budgies are parrots, they hull their seeds so they don't need grit to help do this.

I don't provide grit to my budgies either but I guess even if you put it in the cage, they will only eat it when they need to as Lin suggested.

it is true that all birds require some form of grit. what a lot of people get confused by are the different types of grit.

 

have a look at this article: grit it makes a lot of sense and i madeup my mind after reading this and a few other similar sources.

 

its quite common for budgie breeders to breed types of finches or canaries that do need grit in their diet, so i think it was a common misconception that has since been investigated scientifically.

every breeder i know provides grit to their birds. I believe in choice so i give Gooby a choice by providing him with grit. Its his choice whether he wants it or not.

To a point you can't really rely on a budgie choosing or a budgie knowing what it needs. If you gave him a choice between a honey seed treat and a bowl of pellets which would he choose? What if he wanted to eat an apple seed? I wish it were that simple.

 

That was a good article pixie. It points out some really good facts such as birds in the wild must eat whatever they can and so grit is more important in that situation. Grit is one of those things that seems to be drilled into our heads much like an all seed diet. Like you said, modern day research has shown that grit is not needed by small parrots the way it is needed for softbills such as finches and canaries.

breast or bottle?

disposables or terries?

clip or not to clip?

grit or no grit?

 

individual choice.

Edited August 19, 200519 yr by budgeover

We used to give mine grit, but Libbi used tosit on the bowl, and instead of eating it, pick up each piece individually and drop it off the side of the dish and watch it fall. She made such a mess and was not eating it we decided to take it away.

It's a choice, definitely. But it's just another one of those things where people should know the facts and a lot of information is extremely outdated. It's known that grit isn't necessary and that it can cause crop impaction. All decisions should be educated ones.

oh most definately Eterri!