Budgie diet by Mona

[mona]

Feedback invited please. Educate me, where ever this could be wrong. Sometime back, I had done a bit of research and reading to devise this food chart for my budgies. This chart has reserved its place on my kitchen wall.
Pardon my long post.. too excited when it comes to budgie diet.. also, pardon my local language in the chart, along with english. Too lazy to write everything 🙈





I'm sure most of the people might know it already here...

Oily seeds: need to be in proportion, unless breeding is intended. These seeds cause rise in hormonal behavior
I couldn't sprout Chia seeds in the right way. Read a lot about the issues caused by Chia seeds if not fed properly on different forums. So, i decided to leave it off until I'm sure about it. Mustard and fenugreek are really easy to sprout with less germination time, whereas fennel took a long time. For fennel seeds, i crushed it in a mixer, then put it through sieve and stored it. I sprinkle it sometimes on their chop sprout mix.

For the oily seeds, sunflower seed is there for my birds. Apart from that, they didn't like anything else. So, i ended up crushing poppy seeds, brown flax seeds and sesame. I just sprinkle this powder on the top of their sprout and chop mix. I'm not sure if millet and quinoa form a part of oily seeds - could have been wrong there


For sprouts, green mung beans, white chickpea, brown chickpea works well for me. I have not tried any other pulse beans.

I have also stored dry fruit powder to sprinkle on the chop sprout mix during their moulting. Other than moulting, i give that rarely once or twice a month. They love it
For the veggies, i got to know later that cucumber and lettuce have to be provided in a limited manner. It has high water content and can cause dehydration for the birds (i observed that for breezie too) - though they love it. 

My birds haven't ever tried any kind of fruit. They literally run away if I put any kind of small piece of fruit there! I haven't tried that further consistently.
Based on tweetiepiesmom 's suggestion, I am gng to try wheatgrass with them too.

I didn't try oats with them too yet, though have listed it in my chart 🙈
My birds aren't still completely off the seeds. Breezie literally starts screaming and becomes very fussy, if he doesn't get his seeds. Otherwise, he is always busy singing and playing. So, they have their seeds mixed in the chop too.


I've had no success with hard boiled - mashed eggs. Being a hardcore vegetarian, I haven't tried it consistently, to be honest. They literally ran away from the food when it has egg mixed in it. Might have to try and check how they like it. 🙈

I have read something about spinach containing oxalic acid and its impact on calcium intake. I'm not yet sure and would need other people's opinion on it.

It's a treat looking at these guys going crazy over their food. The moment they see me with the green fresh leaves or the sprout mix, they go all crazy, tempted to eat it all. Sometimes, they don't even let me put down the bowl. They attack it and they keep going at it for a long long time, until I have a pain in my hand & I have to put it down first! 😃 I can sense the happiness and change in their mood after getting anything apart from seeds.. Totally love it!

Please correct me with any of the data and my chart.

[mona]

The weather at my place keeps changing, every few months. To help my birds with cold related issues, me and my mom have been providing herbs to them, whenever required. We use the following:

1. Very small piece of ginger, carom seeds and turmeric powder. All in very small quantities. Add them to water to boil. Let it cool down. Dilute it with water to change the water color to very light yellow, filter it and provide it in the drinking water. However, i'm never sure, if they have consumed that water, since I've to remove it within 4 hours. Cookie breezie love spinach and coriander stems. So, i dip that in this water and feed them lil droplets using these stems. I don't use the multivitamin always - it's always once or twice a month.

2. Mint leaves help with digestive discomforts for humans and for budgies both. I provide them fresh mint leaves once in a week. I have read that excess of mint can cause issues to them. They love it's aroma as well. They weren't interested in the beginning. But, started nibbling the leaves after a while.

3. Ginger: have heard that it helps with motion sickness during travel. My birds don't suffer from motion sickness, so I have never tried it out for that reason. It has been always to help with the changing weather, which causes me sore throat round the year!

4. Coriander/cilantro leaves - i give them daily. They love it. It's a great source of potassium, vitamins and antioxidants.

I've heard about basil, sage leaves and lemongrass. But, have never tried them with my birds. Not sure, if this was the right thread to post..just went with the flow! 🙈

[tweetiepiesmom]

I enjoyed reading through your information mona. I need to go back and re-read it to digest the information.

American vets tell people to feed their budgies pellets so they get a nutritious diet. I keep debating that with myself. I think anyone who cares enough about their bird to take it to the vet probably will care enough to feed it an appropriate well rounded diet. One of the better pellet manufacturers here says all budgies need at least 25% seeds in their diet. I've also read that elsewhere. I put about 25% pellets in my guys food dish but I'm not sure they are eating it.

We have our final (I hope) heat spell this week. I'm going to sprout some grass seeds to plant at the end of the week. The grass I already have planted is almost worn out. It has very few seed heads left. My guys get so disappointed when I give them grass without the seed heads!

I have a bag of budgie seed mix that I have been sprouting. I've got some that I just started sprouting. The last batch I fed it to them when it had a little tail. I'll let it grow more and see if they like that.

[mona]

tweetiepiesmom Oh, they will love atleast some of the sprouts, if not all. You are really working very hard on your bird's diet. I totally admire it..and it inspires me to not give up too! 🙈

It was pretty difficult for me, in the beginning to absorb everything and put it in schedule, but I guess it seems to get easier with time.

There are many other items in herb/oily seeds etc, which weren't available at my place. I just picked up the ones that were. I recall that seeds aren't nutritious,if their shelf life has expired. To check that, you need to sprout the seeds. If it doesn't sprout, probably the seed is nutrionally dead.

I'm not sure if pellets are even available here. I also read about seeds somewhere in an avian vet post, later. Breezie never allowed me to put them off seeds entirely.

Rest,I agree with you. I believe that every mom tends to provide all the nutrition to their kids by hook or crook. I have been trying sprouts with them since past 4 months.. out of all the seeds, they have picked up a few and play/leave the rest! But, they like it swollen or sprouts with little tail. I have been on sprouts my entire childhood.. the sprouts with longer tail taste a bit bitter than the earlier ones - not sure if they feel the same! 😅

[Hezz]

Oil seeds should only make up 5% of the budgies' diet; 10% is too high. Millet is not considered a oil seed but the oats can be added to that category. You may as well add nuts to the fatty, oily part of your menu. All of these are added extras that aren't necessary for house-bound birds. A miniscule amount is not going to hurt.

Fruit doesn't have to be on the menu at all. If it is, only in very small amounts. Again added extras due to the fruits' high sugar content.

For moulting times, times of depleted energy levels try using dry commercial eggfood instead of hard boiled egg.

A little spinach is fine but I wouldn't feed it every day. Calcium and iron uptake can be affected, but to what extent is not really known. Humans yes, budgies no.

[mona]

Thank you Hezz for validating the diet. I am noting down these points. I will take care about their spinach intake too.

I'll try and search the dried commercial eggfood at my place.

[tweetiepiesmom]

My guys are really finicky about their food! They'll decide they really like something and dig in every time I give it to them. Then I give them something else and they'll decide they like it. When I then give them that first food, they'll act like they've never had it before! I always give them at least three different things everyday. For instance yesterday I gave them wheat grass, basil, sprouts and a mixture of freeze dried veggies. At about noon everyday I put their seed/pellet mixture in their cage. I thought about rotating the green to different things everyday but then they're not used to it, its too "new" and they don't eat any of it! Do my guys just have bad memories for food?

[Hezz]

Oct 14, 2020 11:46:59 GMT mona said:

Thank you Hezz for validating the diet. I am noting down these points. I will take care about their spinach intake too.

I'll try and search the dried commercial eggfood at my place.

I've just re-read my above post ... it might have been a bit confusing re spinach and its calcium and iron binding properties. This is what I meant to get across: It is known to do so in humans, but no studies have been done on our little feathered friends.