Summer special diet suggestions for birdies

[mona]

With 40 degree Celsius temperature, I had been wondering about a summer friendly diet additions to birdie diet.. Just like we humans have some healthy drinks meant to protect from summer like raw mango juice, onion etc, I wonder there must be a few things for birdies too..

I am seeing them drinking water at least 3 times a day..if they don't, I have been giving them water droplets via a green leafy stem.

Is it okay to mix some cold water with normal water or put ice cubes in their water bowl? Is cucumber okay to give to hydrate them during summers? Mint is soothing to stomach as I know.. What else can help them with the hot weather?

I have trouble luring them with leaves for bath.. Not sure how can I get them to take bath. Cookie has been feeling hot and taking bath in her water bowl since past 2 days...and spreads her wings (heart wings) and shows her leg pants.. We got our AC fixed today and they are in our room.. Hoping that would comfort her a bit..

I understand there shouldn't be a direct flow from AC towards them.. but with the ceiling fan, do I keep the cage covered from top.. she feels very hot if I cover the cage from the top.. a bit confused.. if I cover half the cage from top, they'll come and sit in the part without the cage covered. That makes me think they don't want the cage covered from top.. She has been having some large poops too and it makes me feel it she is constipated.. she has her share of green leafy veggies seeds soft food and is chewing the cuttlefish bone a lot. Her brown crust is going off from top and sides.. Does coming out of breeding condition need some special care?

[Hezz]

Did you do anything to her diet when she went into breeding condition? I’d be guessing not, so there is no need to doing anything special for her coming out of breeding condition. I really do think you are over-thinking the whole feeding issue, making it more complicated than it needs to be.

Ice cubes are not necessary, but make sure the water if fresh; cool is okay. If in aircon, turn the vents to oscillate if possible. The birds have already told you what they want as far as the fan is concerned. I don’t believe budgies need to bathe as often as people make out, and I have often noticed that they don’t necessarily want to just because it is hot.
Give them the opportunity to do so by all means, but don’t force the issue. If you feel they need something, a little misting might help, but I doubt they will like it. . Also, I wouldn’t have them in the air con if they are wet.

[Morgan]

My budgies did fine in the summer, which got to at least 38C. I had them outside often though, shaded, and they liked the breeze. They did bathe more often, maybe three times a week as opposed to once a week or even once every two weeks since it cooled off. I always let them decide with a big water dish placed in their cage while they are outside (also the best time for a photo shoot!) A few of my budgies actually do like to be misted, but only three of the eight, and only one pretty consistently - and the other two not always. I always mist on one side of the cage away from them so they can move towards it if they want to, or not.

I know people with outdoor aviaries feed more food in the winter if it will be very cold, even with the heated rooms, to make sure their buds have some extra fat on them to keep warm. But since your birds are inside a lot I don’t think reducing their food would make sense if you didn’t increase it in the winter, like Hezz mentioned. However, I feel like (and just a feeling) providing more wet fresh veggies in the summer may help them out. But then you may notice they just drink less water because they’re getting it from the food. And you already feed a lot of fresh foods, so in your case you may not need to do anything special.

Eastern medicine and ways of thinking about health are a bit different than western though (although we have been adopting some Eastern ways in certain areas I think!) so I understand the thinking that if as a human you practice eating different foods in the summer it might apply to our pets too. I also eat more salads, smoothies and cold foods in the summer, and more cooked veggies, soups, and meats (yep, I’m a meat eater, only one probably on this forum from what I have gathered) in the winter.

I am not sure how wet seasons (maybe somewhat akin to springtime?) versus dry (akin to summertime?) in Australia affect budgie diets exactly, but I’m sure they do experience variations too - but probably much harsher ones than the pampered lifestyle your budgies have!

[mona]

Thank you for the responses! 🤗

[tweetiepiesmom]

I don't have too much to add to what has already been said. Someone here had posted that celery leaves are good if your budgie is constipated (sorry for my poor memory on who that was) so you can try giving that to Cookie to see if it makes a difference. Just like we eat the fresh foods that are available in each season, you could feed your budgies what is in season. Hopefully you are all adjusting to your new home.

[mona]

I will try that out tweetiepiesmom
We all are having some trouble adjusting to the weather, but have the home almost set.

Clearing up the birdie room these days & working on growing the plants for birdies again.. and we got a curtain rod almost in the middle of the room as a perch and to hang the toys.. Excited to work on a setup for birdies again.. 🧡

[Morgan]

Ooo I like the curtain rod idea! I have been keeping mine off lately so I don’t have to wash the curtains so much, and they have other places to perch so it’s mostly been working! Giving them their own curtain rod is super cute though!

And great suggestions tweetiepiesmom - much more concise than what I wrote and gets to the heart of the matter. I usually have celery but didn’t buy any last month. I think I’ll pick some up on my next trip too.

[mona]

Yeah Morgan, but I'm sure they will still perch more on the actual curtain rod.. they'll do everything opposite of what we expect 😅

[Deleted]

It's like the bird equivalent of giving cats a fake keyboard.

[Morgan]

@sillycat84 - I actually haven’t heard of this!! But I did see a cockatiel on Instagram taking the keys off a keyboard, with juman present to remove the keys so they would be swallowed or something I presume), so maybe they did the same thing xD

[Hezz]

Loki can have the keys off a keyboard in the time it takes to glance away. . No challenge at all.

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2021 1:29:13 GMT Hezz said:

Loki can have the keys off a keyboard in the time it takes to glance away. . No challenge at all.

Cheeky beggar!